The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

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Season 1
Season #: 3, 2, 1
User Score
3.0

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 2938 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 711 out of 2938
  2. Mixed: 141 out of 2938
  3. Negative: 2,086 out of 2938

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User Reviews

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  1. TmatoCE
    Sep 3, 2022
    2
    This is not Tolkien material, it's a story based on 2 sentences in LotR. They don't have the rights over the books so they can't use any sentence from the hobbit, the silmarillion or LOTR itself.

    Not Tolkien nor Christopher would have allowed this show, they would have protected the books. It's not just bad on the merits of acting, scripting, and plot, it's actively an insult to Tolkien's    This is not Tolkien material, it's a story based on 2 sentences in LotR. They don't have the rights over the books so they can't use any sentence from the hobbit, the silmarillion or LOTR itself.

    Not Tolkien nor Christopher would have allowed this show, they would have protected the books. It's not just bad on the merits of acting, scripting, and plot, it's actively an insult to Tolkien's memory. Amazon should be ashamed of what they've done.    … Expand
  2. Seimax
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    The simple fact that bezos is trying to censor the reviews prove that this series is real bad.
  3. Jeremio
    Sep 3, 2022
    8
    a good start to the series that takes its time to introduce us to new landscapes, kingdoms and characters
  4. Russel2000
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Редкостное гавно
    this is not Tolkien material, this is a fake story that Amazon completely made up based on like 2 offhand sentences in LotR. So it is not a true reflection of real LotR, it's just silly modernist deconstruction by people who would hate Tolkien if they met him in real life. - They initially planned to release the show on the anniversary of Tolkien's death. No way was this an accident - This show only got made because Tolkien's son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien died in 2020 and was no longer around to protect the books from predatory corporations looking to subvert them (he was disgusted with the results of the Hobbit movies and didn't want to let any more of that crap get made) It's not just bad on the merits of acting, scripting, and plot, it's actively an insult to Tolkien's memory. Amazon should be ashamed of what they've done    … Expand
  5. aydarkh
    Sep 3, 2022
    2
    This is not at all what the fans wanted, this is not Tolkien, unfortunately a cheap show without a plot, stuffed with all sorts of nonsense.
  6. Masawrath
    Sep 3, 2022
    1
    An absolutely terrible "adaptation" of Tolkiens work. Pays no attention to the lore and is only using Tolkiens name to drum up interest in a bland, badly written, badly acted generic fantasy show. If Amazon had the intelligence or creativity come up with their own IP and made this show it would have been mediocre at best. However, piggy backing on Tolkiens name and then producing thisAn absolutely terrible "adaptation" of Tolkiens work. Pays no attention to the lore and is only using Tolkiens name to drum up interest in a bland, badly written, badly acted generic fantasy show. If Amazon had the intelligence or creativity come up with their own IP and made this show it would have been mediocre at best. However, piggy backing on Tolkiens name and then producing this drivel is beyond the pale.… Expand
  7. swpDworkin
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    Totaly not The Lords of the Rings.
    It can be wathcable if change the name and make just common serial about elvesdworves etc.
    But if you took this name you should follow Tolkien story.
  8. Larkan237
    Sep 3, 2022
    9
    Truly great art is interpreted through generations, and every interpretation should be subject to critique. However, attacking every interpretation with hateful language, regardless of its actual quality, will only serve to make the original artist lesser in the minds of the public. Because every interpretation, regardless of quality will bring new people to the original work of art, andTruly great art is interpreted through generations, and every interpretation should be subject to critique. However, attacking every interpretation with hateful language, regardless of its actual quality, will only serve to make the original artist lesser in the minds of the public. Because every interpretation, regardless of quality will bring new people to the original work of art, and make them fall in love with it in the same way as the "haters" once did. In my own opinion, truly loyal fans of Tolkien should wish the series success, even if they hate it, because for every adaptation, more people will buy, read and love the only thing that will ever be truly Tolkien: his books… Expand
  9. Ballamiki
    Sep 3, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Very cool series.
    Theoden said:
    "What can men do against such reckless hate?"    … Expand
  10. jane193
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    -ROP was boring, even prologe didn't help. Galadriel is **** girl, worst character of this show. +I like Halbrand, actor is good, looks convincing.
  11. Misha813
    Sep 3, 2022
    10
    Очень красивое и интересное начало. Приятно вернуться в Средиземье )) к сожалению слишком много зла и негатива, как мне думается надуманно. Персонажи нравятся, локации замечательны, музыка увлекает.
  12. Subikinubi
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    Tolkien was the greatest writer of all time before this came out and after watching TV is he clearly still holds this title

    If you don’t have the rights to something, don’t think you can do it better than the original, he has captivated minds for decades, people from all different walks of life

    This should have been a tribute to him, instead it’s an atrocity Poor form Amazon, poor form
  13. Dupreehere
    Sep 2, 2022
    0
    What the point of this tv show?
    All the fans want are a show true to the lore.
  14. Nikolas_super
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    Неуважение к первоисточнику, сериал разрушает наследие Толкина.
    Унылый сюжет, мало экшена, плохая актёрская игра.
    Единственный + это в графике.
  15. NIKOSMALK
    Sep 3, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A very nice adaption of Middle Earth lore, perfect cgi landscapes and wonderful scenery, good crew playing and a perfect job from Bayona. I'd rather it started by First Age … Expand
  16. Jefferson13
    Sep 3, 2022
    3
    I liked the visuals, but that's it. Terrible Casting. Galadriel is completely unlikeable, the Elves are looking ridiculous. It's also really boring. I stopped several times doing something else. Will watch the next two Episodes and then decide if i keep going.
  17. GutsAkimbo
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    Re-posting my review here because IMDB (owned by Amazon) deleted all negative reviews left there. What a lovely company.

    Summary: Fundamentally broken and irredeemable. In terms of the storytelling structure, it's a kiddie version of Game of Thrones jammed into middle-earth and it absolutely does not work. The structure, tone and style is completely different from the stories Tolkien    Re-posting my review here because IMDB (owned by Amazon) deleted all negative reviews left there. What a lovely company.

    Summary: Fundamentally broken and irredeemable.

    In terms of the storytelling structure, it's a kiddie version of Game of Thrones jammed into middle-earth and it absolutely does not work. The structure, tone and style is completely different from the stories Tolkien wrote and doesn't mesh properly with the world he created. Besides this, I feel to take the mans work, the amazing and beautiful world he created and simply use it like any old vehicle to tell your own story is just so disrespectful, perhaps even immoral. There really is nothing of any value or substance to review here, it's empty and meaningless and not worth watching.

    Because the show is built on these rotten foundations, the high production value does not matter at all, none of the music, none of the expensive cgi, props or costumes, none of it matters. It's all just meaningless fluff trying to cover up a horror.

    How Amazon managed to spend a billion dollars to make something totally worthless, I will never know. It's an abomination that should never have been made. If I could rate it -10, I would.    … Expand
  18. kyrosoftkin
    Sep 3, 2022
    10
    I am absolutely loving this show. From armors and weapons to every scenery, the production is absolutely outstanding and I can't wait to see more!
  19. LastGreyWarden
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    I was eight years old when my father took me to see Return of the King in Cinema. A week later my grandfather took my sister and I. All these years later I can still remember how it felt watching the Rohirrim charge, I was entirely awestruck.

    As older children my siblings and I would sit entranced by Rob Inglis' wonderful narration of the book. As a teen, a third of the repertoire I    I was eight years old when my father took me to see Return of the King in Cinema. A week later my grandfather took my sister and I. All these years later I can still remember how it felt watching the Rohirrim charge, I was entirely awestruck.

    As older children my siblings and I would sit entranced by Rob Inglis' wonderful narration of the book.

    As a teen, a third of the repertoire I prepared for my music exams was from the films.

    There is no fictional work that has had a greater impact on me.

    So I was genuinely optimistic when the Prime show was first announced. As the trailers arrived I became increasingly trepidatious however. Good thing for Amazon that Youtube had already hidden dislikes without you installing a Chrome browser plug-in.
    Because you're looking at a 10-to-1 dislike ratio across trailers. Amazon can't explain that away as simply a bunch of trolls, although they are trying hard to. (current stats on the latest trailer at time of writing are: 43k Likes and 469k dislikes..)

    Yet despite all that, I still went in hoping for the best. Boy...

    It was gut wrenching to see flickers of brilliance from Weta Workshop (Eregion and Lindon being examples for me) but the overall quality of their output didn't touch the original films. The costumes are poor, especially the elven plate armour. I know that heroes like Richard Taylor still work for Weta, and I'm sure that he put his all into this, but whether it's a reflection on who's there now more broadly, or on the direction they received themselves, it doesn't hold a candle to what they achieved 25 years ago.

    I'm sure that John Howes welcome return for concept art also helped produce those flickers or brilliance, although it's a shame that Alan Lee was not there to join him for this second effort.

    Anyhow, now that their work has been acknowledged, there is little else worthy of praise. Owain Arthur put out a solid performance as Prince Durin and Elrond was better than average too. That's about everything positive that I can say.

    When you spend a Billion dollars on a show, you ought to offer a blank check to the best composer you can get through the door bar Howard Shore as they couldn't get him back (Horner, Zimmer, Giachino etc.) but they settled on Bear McCreary, with Shore returning only to contribute to the main theme. McCreary did well enough with games like God of War but he's woefully out of his depth here.

    Despite the shills hyping up an epic prologue in their early access reviews to rival what we saw in Fellowship of the Ring, what we were given was pretty underwhelming. We barely saw anything that hadn't been shown in trailers and the 'war' itself lasted less than a minute.

    The writing throughout these episodes was utterly abysmal. The dialogue was unbearably bad and there was a total lack of plot development over two whole episodes.

    Cordova's delivery is particularly wooden. He had a nice modern haircut, though..

    Galadriel was ruined. Gone is the ethereal grace that Cate Blanchett brought to the role. Gone too are Galadriel's husband and child, apparently. Now we have a bitter woman who is 'nothing without her sword' and berates everyone around her. How could they reduce Galadriel to such a 2 dimensional character? Tolkien would be horrified.

    Clark herself seems like a half decent actress but it's the way her character is written which makes her impossible to like.

    Tolkien wrote his work precisely because he lamented the loss of English Mythology after the French defeated them at 1066 and destroyed what they had recorded previously. He wrote the Legendarium to replace that. While you could see the Anglo Saxon inspiration for the design of Rohan in the Jackson films clear as day, there is nothing quintessentially English here at all. Tolkien wrote extensively about Middle Earth and how it paralleled the continent of Europe, how Harad, Umbar and other places places further afield represented other ethnic peoples. There were no aeroplanes in Middle earth. These racial groups were entirely homogeneous and lived within specified geographic areas. Had Amazon found a way of incorporating a group of charecters from Harad etc. in to the story - e.g a migration of people fleeing war, explores or cartographers etc. - in order to represent greater diversity in the cast, this would have been entirely appropriate and not been seen as an issue by fans. I'm aware that a couple of the characters were actually from Harad in the story which makes the whole thing even more frustrating.

    i.e It is not the diversity being present within the cast itself that people are taking issue with, it's the lazy and implausible way that Amazon brought it about. The fact that their spokespeople and members of the cast are trying to dismiss this valid critique as merely racism is intellectually dishonest and shows a failure to address their total lack of care when it comes to the established lore.    … Expand
  20. Ahlgren
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    How can you fail this bad?
    IF... if you compare it to Peter Jacksons trilogi its dog pop.
    A lot off taking about **** that no one care about.
    This fels like a 80s soap opera.
    Talking and stare into the the far, rinse and repeat.
    it took me two time to get thru ONE episod.
    This is not a fantasy it a woke drama.
  21. evint1973
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    I've never in my life gone from absolutely loving a character to despising one the way I have with Clark she is the most insufferable unlikable character in the show. The dialogue sounds like it was written by teenagers none of this feels like or looks like middle earth THIS IS NOT TOLKIEN!
  22. Emilie931
    Sep 3, 2022
    9
    So far so good, it definitely gave the Lotr vibes though i felt they made the character a little too overpowered
  23. redhawk
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    Horrible & a disgrace to Tolkien and the films. The plotting and pacing is atrocious. The dialogue is cringeworthy—and the acting is some of the worst I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t be more disappointed for a show with such an interesting world and beautiful writing surrounding it. It doesn’t capture the spirit, joy, or adventure of Tolkien’s works—and feels just about as soulless as AmazonHorrible & a disgrace to Tolkien and the films. The plotting and pacing is atrocious. The dialogue is cringeworthy—and the acting is some of the worst I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t be more disappointed for a show with such an interesting world and beautiful writing surrounding it. It doesn’t capture the spirit, joy, or adventure of Tolkien’s works—and feels just about as soulless as Amazon itself.… Expand
  24. pwnco
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    Utter garbage! It is weird to see black elves and gnomes but it is not an issue. It's the story, poor writing, acting and everything else about this show that makes is so boring and unwatchable. I was waiting for the show for years but had to sit through the first two episodes. The only good thing about the show is a beautiful female lead.
  25. sirchance
    Sep 3, 2022
    2
    This could have been so good if they stuck with the source material and didn't try so hard to inject 'today's' valuesTM into a mythical saga written by an obsessive master craftsman.

    VFX were great, story and casting were not.
  26. Mrkrabs228
    Sep 3, 2022
    1
    We all knew what was coming. Big money, beautiful views and costumes… good things end here. “Nice work” Amazon
  27. rassx6
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    The series does not show the world of Tolkien, but some kind of parody of it.
  28. bania
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    Not faithful to the source material. No beard for first female dwarf. No score.
  29. payne888
    Sep 3, 2022
    10
    May not stick to the lore but great to have middle earth back, just a shame some woke people get upset over nonsense
  30. Enzyme_X
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    A disgrace to the legacy of Tolkien. It could have been so beautiful. But sadly "other priorities" were given than lore and quality.
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Most Discussed TV Season of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 40
  3. Negative: 0 out of 40
  1. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Jo Livingstone
    Sep 16, 2022
    80
    Adar’s début drips with signifiers. ... When Adar informs Arondir in Episode 4 that he has been told many lies, some that “run so deep even the rocks and roads now believe them,” it is still a thrill. Tolkien succeeded in creating a mythic world, one that has now grown vast enough through acts of typological repetition and imitation to conquer television, too.
    Read full review
  2. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Chris Barsanti
    Sep 16, 2022
    63
    With war brewing and the forging of the rings seemingly still far off, the first half of The Rings of Power’s first season constitutes little more than stage-setting for the struggle to come. Given the lack of quests and central commanding figures, it often makes for less-than-gripping drama. However, given that there are four more seasons already planned, and potentially dozens of new characters to be introduced, the slow and throat-clearing build is possibly a good sign.
    Read full review
  3. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Sep 9, 2022
    90
    The Rings of Power is a reminder of what drew many of us to epic fantasy in the first place: wonder. ... This series set in an ancient realm displays one dazzling and painterly landscape after another. Power also doesn't skimp on action. [12 - 25 Sep 2022, p.10]
    Read full review
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