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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  1. MauiNowie
    Sep 3, 2022
    0
    The acting is terrible other than the black elf. The writing is also terrible.
  2. 2daaria
    Sep 4, 2022
    1
    The first episodes just confirmed what I feared before - this is not Tolkien, this is not Middle-earth. This is a generic fantasy with wokeness and current agenda. Galadriel is some Mary Sue from a fanfiction.net story written by a teenage girl. This is bad. And totally disrespectful towards Tolkien lore.
  3. MrJPrime
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    Imagine this board meeting. Remember when we did a bunch of stuff fans hated for the beloved ring of time? Let's do all that same stuff, but worse, for a more beloved property.
    It's obviously gotta be a political agenda cause on what planet would they think this is a good idea?
    Too bad cause the production quality is good. If they'd have given the FANS what they want they'd have had a slam dunk.
  4. omiranha57
    Sep 4, 2022
    2
    “Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin good forces have invented or made"

    J. R. R. Tolkien
  5. 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
  6. DeeJayE
    Sep 3, 2022
    2
    What an absolutely terrible, disrespectful **** show. We all knew this series was going to be awful, but this series is actually worse than i myself, and many, many others had expected. What a phenomenal piece of **** this show is. The only reason i have given it a 2 is because of the special effects, everything else, literally everything else is just **** awful.
  7. kokoG
    Sep 3, 2022
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Don't listen to the paid 10/10 reviews of people claiming to be "real" Tolkien fans. This fictional tale of the second age contradicts almost everything canonical Tolkien wrote. From the elves only Gil-Galad is portrayed faithfully and fells like an elf. All of the elves act like humans with the slight difference that they speak overly complicated, in fact so complicated it's hard to understand them sometimes. GalaDRiel gets bullied in the beginning. The worst offence is certainly GalaDRieL if you know what I mean. Nothing about her character is canon starting from how her brother died and how she is a commander of the northern armies to how she is commanded to go to Valinor ??? (as if you can be commanded to go there) and then refusing at the last minute and deciding to jump off the ship(I guess her genius plan is to swim back to Middle Earth). The funniest thing was when Elrond the actual commander of Gil-Galad's armies told GalaDRieL how she is the commander of the northern armies and she replies with something of the sort of spoken like a true politician. I kid you not I totally expected Elrond to respond with "What is a politician my lady?". It was so stupid how they showed the darkening of Valinor and The War of Wrath for like 30 seconds casually skipping 2 thousand years. For the amount of money they spent they could've at least shown us Morgoth, Eärendil, Gothmog, Ancalagon or at least the Valar throwing Melkor through the door of night. They didn't even bother to tell us the name of the war, like everyone is just supposed to know. Episode 2 was just very boring to be honest with you. I liked how they made Moria, although it seems like they copied DA Origins. I was expecting the dwarves to have a scottish accent, but I think they went overboard with it to the point where it seemed like they were just mindless/primal brutes who care only for drinking, eating and mining. And I spotted a scene at the end that troubles me a lot, I think we might get a plotline where there's conflict over a Silmaril in the second age?, but we'll wait and see. The whole plotline with harad and the southern lands is somewhat interesting which proves the point that they should've just made a series about the travels of the Blue Wizards in the East and South. Oh and we have a wizard in the second age as well now, how very original. Also I thought his fall as a meteor was very Tyrael-esque. All in all this is total fanfiction, and the acting and dialog aren't very good either. I only place 2 stars because the visuals are on a very good level.… Expand
  8. MentosFreshner
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    The only reason why I don’t like this show because everyone has dumb heads in it.
  9. dldavi0428
    Sep 4, 2022
    3
    The Rings of Power was boring. The first hour feels like two, and the second episode really does nothing to advance the plot. Come to think about it, I still don’t know what the plot is. It’s like they used every idea the writers came up with, so there is no clear focus. This show had nearly $1 billion budget, so they said “We can do whatever we want!” and they did. Plus every music youThe Rings of Power was boring. The first hour feels like two, and the second episode really does nothing to advance the plot. Come to think about it, I still don’t know what the plot is. It’s like they used every idea the writers came up with, so there is no clear focus. This show had nearly $1 billion budget, so they said “We can do whatever we want!” and they did. Plus every music you sounds like “The Rains of Castamere”.… Expand
  10. celtaheaven
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    Soulless modern garbage. Also Amazon, just stop. You are a delivery computing company, nothing more than this.
  11. cruel_frames
    Sep 4, 2022
    2
    Good cinematography and CGI ruined by absolutely attrocious screenwriting and insufferable main character. You had it all in your hands Amazon, well crafter world and a myriad of great characters... how could you F this up?
  12. PrinceSid
    Sep 4, 2022
    2
    Gorgeous and Sonorous but a disgrace to Tolkein's legacy. The writers clearly hate Tolkein's work, and in their shear ******* hubris, they think they can improve upon his legendarium by shredding it into a billion pieces. The show is overflowing with current-year faddishness and the typical utter contempt for race, sex, class, and culture. I feel sorry for the artists who had to work soGorgeous and Sonorous but a disgrace to Tolkein's legacy. The writers clearly hate Tolkein's work, and in their shear ******* hubris, they think they can improve upon his legendarium by shredding it into a billion pieces. The show is overflowing with current-year faddishness and the typical utter contempt for race, sex, class, and culture. I feel sorry for the artists who had to work so hard to gild this rot. Wake up, Hollywood.… Expand
  13. kamgeforce
    Sep 4, 2022
    2
    Golden turd. It is all we expected it to be, incredibly high production, visually stunning, woke as **** no soul, doesnt feel like Tolkien. Galadriel is a pouty boss **** soldier for some reason, not MC material, no desire to follow her a single season, let alone 5. Above average for a generic fantasy show solely for the production, but as a lotr show, its garbage.
  14. EverCore
    Sep 4, 2022
    2
    I cant believe what I was just watching. I knew it was bound to be controversial and I wanted to give it a try, but thats unwatchable. If you want to watch anything "Lord of the Rings" related, you will not find it here. They have created a generic fantasy show, slapped some Names created by Professor Tolkien on it and called it "Lord of the Rings". Even if you take away their blatantI cant believe what I was just watching. I knew it was bound to be controversial and I wanted to give it a try, but thats unwatchable. If you want to watch anything "Lord of the Rings" related, you will not find it here. They have created a generic fantasy show, slapped some Names created by Professor Tolkien on it and called it "Lord of the Rings". Even if you take away their blatant piggybacking on more creative minds, this isnt worth watching. Its focus on controversial current year politics takes every bit of fantasy out of the script, their inaptitude to tell compelling stories denies all immersion, their disregard for character arcs ruins even the most unimportant original side character. It is not a Zero or a One, the visuals are sometimes stunning to behold. That is thanks to the visual effects artists, whose work is the only thing consistently great in modern Hollywood. If you must see for yourself, watch the first episode. But overall, there is sadly nothing in recent TV or cinema history I would recommend less.… Expand
  15. Naamtar
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    Bad in every possible aspect: Script, plot, casting, music, cgi, comedy, clothes, action and adaptation. Everything is wrong in this series, dumb and boring. Souless product.
  16. MMM3
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    Soooo boring. They made it a kids' show. Too much cgi. Bad dialogue, story is told incoherently, the harfoots are ridiculous and gratuitous childishness. Poorly cast actors for the characters they're meant to be. Story and dialogue is too basic, predictable and innocent to maintain adult interest.
  17. Chrogio
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    It's a fresh new modernized fantasy tale with only the cover of LOTR accompanied by a bunch of characters with known names but no semblance of the original ones.
  18. lordofthetrolls
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    its really disjointed with some bad acting, its a shame because the story is a muddled mess with absolutely overbearing marketing campaign put me off emails from amazon even though i dont have prime anymore
    Visually its great it looks good most of the costumes and sets are nice but the casting and acting really throw it off, then theres the media and social blitz about how woke it is    its really disjointed with some bad acting, its a shame because the story is a muddled mess with absolutely overbearing marketing campaign put me off emails from amazon even though i dont have prime anymore
    Visually its great it looks good most of the costumes and sets are nice but the casting and acting really throw it off, then theres the media and social blitz about how woke it is which is greatly exagerated the whole controvosy is all manufactured for buzz which will predictably start to die down now that its actually out.
    i hope the show improves becuase amazon deleting user reviews on imdb is disgusting i was gonna leave it a 5/10 but the behaviour of the cast crew and amazon leave much to be desired    … Expand
  19. Franmart
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    Falta de respeto al legado de J. R. R. Tolkien y propaganda política progre.
  20. abhimanyumeta
    Sep 4, 2022
    2
    The show's main hero – a young boy named Kaguya – is struggling to understand his newfound status as a teacher. He's no longer with the same company as his father, so it's up to Kaguya and his team of friends to fix his problems – only for him to find himself at odds with one of the most revered gods. As the series progresses, it gets to the core of the issue: how could Kaguya learn all ofThe show's main hero – a young boy named Kaguya – is struggling to understand his newfound status as a teacher. He's no longer with the same company as his father, so it's up to Kaguya and his team of friends to fix his problems – only for him to find himself at odds with one of the most revered gods. As the series progresses, it gets to the core of the issue: how could Kaguya learn all of the answers he needed, or not? In order to do that, our protagonist must learn from one teacher who's been making the same mistakes Kaguya made.

    The finale of the anime series will feature two seasons, the first featuring a five and a half hour single episode of the series – which will be released later this year. However, in addition to the previous four episodes, two episodes of the sixth season will also be released through the streaming service Sushi Shinkansen (which will follow the end of the five-episode season).[1]

    Plot & Sound Composer/Storyboard

    The anime series is scheduled for release this year for various platforms. If you want to watch the two episodes (shown below), there's also quite a few other video game related information from the series below.

    Final Crunch

    (Japanese title) Episode 3 is a 10-episode season that introduces characters from Game Boy Color as they try new things.    … Expand
  21. BlueRed44
    Sep 4, 2022
    2
    After watching the first episode I find myself wondering who this series was made for. It isn't for hardcore Tolkien fans because it destroys the lore. It can't be for casual Tolkien fans either because it's boring and soul-less. It isn't for fans of witty repartee, or fans of comedy, or those who want escapism because it fails to be engrossing. Perhaps there are people who want agendaAfter watching the first episode I find myself wondering who this series was made for. It isn't for hardcore Tolkien fans because it destroys the lore. It can't be for casual Tolkien fans either because it's boring and soul-less. It isn't for fans of witty repartee, or fans of comedy, or those who want escapism because it fails to be engrossing. Perhaps there are people who want agenda driven, boring stories with good visuals and decent music but I'm not aware that any exist… Expand
  22. CHIEFMEGADETH1
    Sep 4, 2022
    2
    This show is without a doubt the most boring Fantasy show I have ever watched. WTF Amazon? If you didn't focus on Diversity and trying to redefine the powerful female characters. What you give us are the most cringe and boring dialogue and crappy stories.
    Got through half of the second episode and turned it off :(
    I'm not even going to watch it anymore. Time is precious to me. this is a    This show is without a doubt the most boring Fantasy show I have ever watched. WTF Amazon? If you didn't focus on Diversity and trying to redefine the powerful female characters. What you give us are the most cringe and boring dialogue and crappy stories.
    Got through half of the second episode and turned it off :(
    I'm not even going to watch it anymore.
    Time is precious to me. this is a waste of time IMO    … Expand
  23. Five_Arregate
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. terrible writing, unlikeable main charecter, and totally off when it comes to accuracy in relation to the books.… Expand
  24. Gabythedog
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    Decepcionante . Guión nefasto . Galadriel es como capitana Marvel . Aburrida .
  25. NoelN
    Sep 4, 2022
    0
    How did it come to this?

    This first two episodes were the worst pieces of tv or cinema i ever watched! Just another great franchise ruined through the continuing woke agenda that plagues the whole movie industrie. For example: in the first episode galadriel defeats a troll in like 10 seconds after 5 male elves had not a slimmer of chance. And of course there is a LOT of token casting    How did it come to this?

    This first two episodes were the worst pieces of tv or cinema i ever watched!
    Just another great franchise ruined through the continuing woke agenda that plagues
    the whole movie industrie. For example: in the first episode galadriel defeats a troll in like 10 seconds after 5 male elves had not a slimmer of chance.
    And of course there is a LOT of token casting like black elves black hobbits
    asian hobbits and black dwarves. The stupid thing is the southlanders are all white the ONLY people that have actually darker skin in the books! I guess they dont want all the people that were allied with morgoth to be black.
    The few good actors let the other actors seem even worse than they are, let me quote from an interwiew: "We are both offscreen activsts." Just look at the difference between critics score and audience score: at the moment it is 85% Critics to
    34% audience, that should tell you everything you need to know.
    Im just burnt out from all of this agenda and propaganda.

    I will now go back to reading the silmarillion once more, so
    Goodbye and Aurë entuluva    … Expand
  26. ZheakanRUS
    Sep 5, 2022
    3
    Скучно, сюжет не очень, некоторые герои деревянные, графика только хорошая но слишком много ее (3 только за графику)
  27. TwoThe
    Sep 3, 2022
    2
    An attempt of making a great TV show made by people who obviously have no idea how to do that. Attempts at epic dialogues which just sound cringe, massive plot holes, ridiculous character decisions, boring costumes, bad writing all over the place. The landscape shots are nice, the music is great, but that's about it. It feels like they didn't even try to make this a good show.
  28. Mystichydra
    Sep 4, 2022
    2
    Where to begin with this predictable disappointment? Seriously... For starters, it feels amateurish through-and-through. I could just 'see' every scene getting shot, and the poor editing (it really is bad. No fluidity between cuts, often noticeable lack of background continuity, etc) and merely adequate acting only exacerbated that. It felt like a lesser homage to so many things. The sceneWhere to begin with this predictable disappointment? Seriously... For starters, it feels amateurish through-and-through. I could just 'see' every scene getting shot, and the poor editing (it really is bad. No fluidity between cuts, often noticeable lack of background continuity, etc) and merely adequate acting only exacerbated that. It felt like a lesser homage to so many things. The scene near the beginning which introduces the multiracial hobbits (sorry, 'harfoots'...) was taken straight out of Hook with the lost boys. Only very poorly done. This series so far is sappy, saturated, unengaging, unimmersive, and dismisses the source material in fundamental ways, only to replace it with unnecessary drivel. Totally formulaic, with undeserved swelling orchestral music over pretty and ultimately vapid imagery. Hope you like glittery shots of shimmering forests of soft lighting. So much soft lighting.

    They bastardized Galadriel, and basically turned her into a less charismatic Xena. In general, elves are cool. Or at least they should be. They were impressive for all kinds of reasons in Middle Earth. Rankin/Bass elves were amazing. Jackson's were... ok. For some reason nowadays, it's common to portray them as effeminate, preppy-emos. Well, they certainly did here. When not trying to force awe with a sledgehammer, the dialogue is just facile words coming out of a sad-puppy-dog-type face. Unless it's Galadriel, who's a neurotic-paranoid Xena, talking about the arbitrary evil she senses.

    And of course the polarizing issue - the rather inorganic multi-diverse representation. I don't have a problem with elves as whatever colored skin as a general concept. I think racism is anachronistic and disgraceful. I also think one can criticize the opaqueness of the casting choices, within the parameters of the Middle Earth universe, and not be considered racist. It saddens me that we are in a place where this distinction cannot be made. It breaks immersion, and totally thwarts the long-nurtured understanding of the ins and outs of how Middle Earth works.

    That universe happens to not really have any people of color in it, canonically speaking. Largely because Tolkien was inspired by Norse mythology and things like Beowulf. If there were a show about African mythology and had some Asians in it, i'd be making the same points. People love Tolkien. Serious fans who have had LOTR embedded in them since growing up might get reactionary if fundamental aspects are changed for the alleged sake of equality. And the ones who don't care about these common sorts of modifications or appropriations, in my opinion, are not truly fans. Probably of anything, since ideology supersedes any kind of taste refinement whatsoever.    … Expand
  29. Monkrag
    Sep 2, 2022
    5
    Visuals are amazing but there are some annoying choices like short hair elves

    Soundtrack is great Writers and dialogue pull down the show heavily With the first lines and scenes the writers show they do not understand Tolkien or LOTR as there is a strict diversion of Good/Evil. Gald Is poorly written as the vengeful, "can't get over it" warrior and feels far more like a Mary    Visuals are amazing but there are some annoying choices like short hair elves

    Soundtrack is great

    Writers and dialogue pull down the show heavily

    With the first lines and scenes the writers show they do not understand Tolkien or LOTR as there is a strict diversion of Good/Evil. Gald Is poorly written as the vengeful, "can't get over it" warrior and feels far more like a Mary sue/Karen critics are talking about.
    Writers annoyingly devote significant screen time to awkward racism against the black elf and interracial relations as a statement about race in US again shows lack of interest in writing a LOTR story and priority of sending a message rather then making a good show. Half foot Frodo copy n pasta is unnecessary but I will say I enjoy the chief shaman one.

    Another potential good show ruined by writers who just want use a IP and "correct" it as their new chief Tolkien expert says after they fired the other one who disagreed with their choices. Also as an extra I will say do not positive or negative review bomb as this obliviously isn't a 0 or a 10    … Expand
  30. Rozen21
    Nov 10, 2022
    0
    Why don't black people create something of their own, and not defile the established lore of existing projects? Surely Africa also has its own stories and legends, go ahead. But this is a rhetorical question, it is clear that the agenda is not controlled by black people .. the question is why this is being done .
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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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