The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

:

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. TrophyHunters
    Sep 2, 2022
    10
    The days of review bombing is so cringy.

    I myself went to a pre screening event on the 31st and it was magnificent, I do have my nitpicks, but I went in with an open mind, deactivated Facebook for a while and just watched, and there isn't a series out there quite like this one. If you are on the fence, and aren't toxic sheep haters. Give it a go.
  2. Phadrus
    Sep 9, 2022
    0
    It simultaneously looked expensive and cheap at the same time. Weird. The characters were boring and forgettable. They made the mistake of telling about the action and not showing. Very sad.
  3. jtrim_77
    Sep 13, 2022
    0
    The show so far is visually gorgeous, but sadly the characters are bland & the story boring. I very much hope that it improves. The first two episodes start a story that is Tolkien adjacent at best. The non-Tolkien characters are meh. The Harfoots are cute but why does that small tight-knit community have so many different accents? Disa could be good but is relegated to being a trope. I doThe show so far is visually gorgeous, but sadly the characters are bland & the story boring. I very much hope that it improves. The first two episodes start a story that is Tolkien adjacent at best. The non-Tolkien characters are meh. The Harfoots are cute but why does that small tight-knit community have so many different accents? Disa could be good but is relegated to being a trope. I do have some hope for Arondir. He at least looks cool. Unfortunately, Galadriel is the saddest part of the show so far. They've given us nothing to like about her as of yet. The only thing she seems to be good at is emotionlessly staring into the middle distance.



    Sent from my Galaxy    … Expand
  4. NormalUtahn
    Sep 8, 2022
    1
    Garbage. Filthy, stinking, fly riddled, bloated carcass garbage. Disappointed beyond words by how awful this show has been. The script alone should never have seen the light of day. Throw this show in to the fires of Mount Doom, from whence it came. I can see Agent Smith standing over the lava screaming, "Cast it in to the fire! Destroy it! Bezos!!!!!"
  5. tarq
    Sep 7, 2022
    0
    To clarify , i don't care about anyone's skin color. What i care is quality , and there is none. Horrible script from two people that have zero previous experience and they belong in Dumb and Dumber movie as main characters. Tolkien stories are not Marvel action movies , and they failed to realize that.
    Actors that belong in , not B rated , but C rated movies and have no connection with    To clarify , i don't care about anyone's skin color. What i care is quality , and there is none. Horrible script from two people that have zero previous experience and they belong in Dumb and Dumber movie as main characters. Tolkien stories are not Marvel action movies , and they failed to realize that.
    Actors that belong in , not B rated , but C rated movies and have no connection with real acting.Amazon even managed to find actors from UK that don't appear to finish their famous acting academies , which is visible from complete lack of basic vocabulary in their interviews. And now they are trying to blame failure on racism,bigotry etc., that is showing utter desperation..again no one cares about skin color.    … Expand
  6. Limandreluis
    Sep 7, 2022
    3
    The main actress - nothing against her person - is very blend and emotionless in this series (kind of reminds me of 80's and 90's actors like schwarzenegger and Stallone).
    I welcome inclusion, but it does feel strange and disrespectful to force today's views into the Tradicional and ancient European mythology that inspired Tolkien's work.
    Not really exciting. It will be forgotten, although    The main actress - nothing against her person - is very blend and emotionless in this series (kind of reminds me of 80's and 90's actors like schwarzenegger and Stallone).
    I welcome inclusion, but it does feel strange and disrespectful to force today's views into the Tradicional and ancient European mythology that inspired Tolkien's work.
    Not really exciting. It will be forgotten, although leaving a scar in our souls.    … Expand
  7. Mauraer
    Sep 13, 2022
    0
    Bland, boring and poorly produced. A disappointment
    How something that costs so much can look so cheap is beyond me.
    The music is also quite bad and it does not come even close to LOTR. But most importantly, everyone has the emotional maturity of a high schooler. I can't take this show seriously. Characters are 2 dimensional and boring. Galadriel feels like she is only capable of anger    Bland, boring and poorly produced. A disappointment
    How something that costs so much can look so cheap is beyond me.
    The music is also quite bad and it does not come even close to LOTR.
    But most importantly, everyone has the emotional maturity of a high schooler. I can't take this show seriously. Characters are 2 dimensional and boring. Galadriel feels like she is only capable of anger and confusion.
    This may have worked as an original child aimed fantasy, but to put it in the same category as lord of the rings is just not going to be accepted by fans.
    It seems that the people who made this do not know what makes lord of the rings what it is. It is not the orcs, hobbits, sauron, elfs or whatever. It is the feeling of epicness, friendship, danger and stakes. All of this is lacking here.    … Expand
  8. azuljp
    Sep 11, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Una serie que no tiene nada que ver con las películas del señor de los anillos. Está repleta de progresismo y no es más que una herramienta de propaganda y adoctrinamiento de políticas de izquierda. Una serie feminista que aborrece y odia a los hombres.… Expand
  9. Solonn
    Sep 12, 2022
    0
    It's very funny to see how the negative reviews are downvoted hundreds of times in a very short time, and the positives are upvoted in equal amounts, even though only 600 people have rated the series itself positively.

    But of course only the negative reviews are reviewbombing, Amazon would never manipulate the ratings for their outrageously expensive series ;) That and the defamation    It's very funny to see how the negative reviews are downvoted hundreds of times in a very short time, and the positives are upvoted in equal amounts, even though only 600 people have rated the series itself positively.

    But of course only the negative reviews are reviewbombing, Amazon would never manipulate the ratings for their outrageously expensive series ;)

    That and the defamation of their own customers as racists and trolls is actually enough to boycott Rings of Power and Amazon.

    For the actual review:

    If you force diversity contrary to lore, it usually comes across as very artificial and immersion disturbing. But that's no reason for a series to be considered bad per se, as House of The Dragon shows.

    If you take one of the most important writers in world literature to sell his product, but then rewrite the story of this writer to the point beyond recognition, that is highly outrageous.
    On the one hand it's disrespectful to someone's life's work, on the other hand it's cheating on the viewers who expect something specific under this title.
    But even that doesn't have to be a guarantee that the series is bad.

    But with these terrible conditions, it doesn't stop there.

    First of all, many reviewers think that the series looks good. It's certainly a matter of taste, but I can't share this impression. The world looks extremely artificial. The original Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as Harry Potter and Game of Thrones have created much more organic looking worlds. The look of Rings of Power doesn't create any immersion for me, I feel like I'm in the cinematic opening credits of a video game.
    And then there are the horrible costumes including Elvis hairstyle for the elves...who would think it was a good idea to depict Middle-earth in this way when Tolkien's work has been illustrated for over 70 years.
    But even bad costumes and cold backdrops cannot completely destroy a show.

    But Rings of Power also has extremely stereotyped characters. For example, Galadriel is the worst Mary Sue I have seen in ages, and of course she is the lonely heroine who is held down by everyone else, when on her own she could liberate all of Middle-earth if only she were let... who does that please written? A writing class to avoid the worst rookie mistakes might have been helpful

    Speaking of writing: where it really gets cringe here are the dialogues. A schoolchild could have written it. "You didn't see what I saw" "Yes I did" "No you didn't" ...

    "The evil here is so strong that the torches no longer warm us. This way."
    "How can you be so sure?!"
    "It's colder than anywhere else."

    "It's a miracle that the tree grows here with the little light." "Where there is love there is always light."

    Wow

    And then we have the tiny little problem that the series (so far) has no story.
    We see Galadriel's brother Finrod for 3 seconds, then it is told that he was killed and now Galadriel hunts Sauron, who will definitely show up at some point, even if nobody believes it for whatever reason... This must be enough.
    Again, for a modern video game, such a story start would be thin. For a film, let alone a series, this is simply insufficient.

    I can still remember a German video game series that was very popular in this country. The last part came out in 2006: Gothic 3. Since there were massive time bottlenecks and money problems during development, the game was never really finished. The starting quest of this unfinished game was "Find Xadras" (For he is apparently a traitor). And this quest then drove you all over the continent of the game world.
    At the time, players were upset about this lack of imagination. That was in 2006 in a video game, a small German studio that had massive development problems.

    Now here we are, 16 years later, the international giant amazon is producing the most expensive series ever made and the starting quest is: "Find Sauron" (Because he murdered your brother (so even simpler than in Gothic 3)).

    lol just lol

    The most positive thing I can say about the series is that it doesn't look as cheap as Xena. In relation to the budget, however, Rings of Power still looks very cheap. And Xena at least had more likeable characters.    … Expand
  10. D-d-dont_shoot
    Sep 9, 2022
    0
    I feel the cast did a really poor job here. Especially the hobbits. Who at Amazon looked at their storyline and thought it would be well received? And the writing... oh lord the writing.

    Two and a half episodes is enough for me. I'm out. How could Amazon foul this up so badly? Did they really look at the story of Numenor and say to themselves 'What this really needs is a big dose of    I feel the cast did a really poor job here. Especially the hobbits. Who at Amazon looked at their storyline and thought it would be well received? And the writing... oh lord the writing.

    Two and a half episodes is enough for me. I'm out. How could Amazon foul this up so badly? Did they really look at the story of Numenor and say to themselves 'What this really needs is a big dose of modern day identity politics, sraight from Twitter'? I mean... Words fail me...    … Expand
  11. Djangofidelis
    Sep 12, 2022
    2
    Um desastre, muito mal feito tecnicamente. Quem viu a Roda do Tempo também feito pela Amazon vai reparar que tem os mesmos problemas, só que muito pior. Péssimo produto de entretenimento para os amantes dos livros e também para quem não conhece aquele universo. A propaganda e marketing foram enganosos, a qualidade visual é pior que os trailers e as musicas não encaixam com o clima e osUm desastre, muito mal feito tecnicamente. Quem viu a Roda do Tempo também feito pela Amazon vai reparar que tem os mesmos problemas, só que muito pior. Péssimo produto de entretenimento para os amantes dos livros e também para quem não conhece aquele universo. A propaganda e marketing foram enganosos, a qualidade visual é pior que os trailers e as musicas não encaixam com o clima e os cenários. Uma decepção total. A falsa diversidade é o menor dos problemas dessa serie tendo em conta as gritantes debilidade técnicas e amadoras, que vão desde erros de gravação, erros de edição, erros de direção, falta de um enredo e roteiro definido, diálogos sem sentido e medíocres, atores trocando subitamente de sotaque ( na versão inglesa ), transições de cenas completamente sem nexo e terrivelmente mal executadas. Se os 2 primeiros episódios foram essa tortura, os restantes 6 devem ser mais da mesma atrocidade. Ninguém merece perder tempo com essa aberração.… Expand
  12. Mack_Bolan
    Sep 6, 2022
    0
    This tv show has some good scenery and cgi special effects, but there is nothing else of quality in the show at all. It has the usual modern woke agenda you often see in low quality tv shows and movies. It has poor casting, poor acting, poor direction, poor script writing and an extremely poor story structure. Perhaps the biggest failure of all, is that it claims to be true to Tolkien'sThis tv show has some good scenery and cgi special effects, but there is nothing else of quality in the show at all. It has the usual modern woke agenda you often see in low quality tv shows and movies. It has poor casting, poor acting, poor direction, poor script writing and an extremely poor story structure. Perhaps the biggest failure of all, is that it claims to be true to Tolkien's setting, but this could not be further from the truth, it completely and utterly fails in every way possible to be ture to Tolkien's creation.… Expand
  13. Woodland_Ranger
    Sep 7, 2022
    0
    First, a message from Jeff Bezos: 'good job amazon workers, proud of you scoring our series a 10/10, as a reward you get a pіss break in a real toilet once a day for 3 days'.

    The show itself? Poor writing. The hubris of Hollywood hacks who think their 'talents' amount to even a shadow of Tolkien makes you shake your head in wonder. The acting is awful too. Very immersion breaking.
  14. roelani
    Sep 9, 2022
    0
    Review only applies to the first episode as I haven’t seen the second yet.

    So far, this is a disaster. CGI is mostly good, with some very impressive landscape shots which I expect will get re-used as the season goes on. Casting is a mixed bag, but it hardly matters because the show seems to do its level best to prevent the audience from giving a single sh*t about any of its characters.    Review only applies to the first episode as I haven’t seen the second yet.

    So far, this is a disaster. CGI is mostly good, with some very impressive landscape shots which I expect will get re-used as the season goes on. Casting is a mixed bag, but it hardly matters because the show seems to do its level best to prevent the audience from giving a single sh*t about any of its characters. The pacing is atrocious, and destroys any hope of getting any sort of handle on the stakes. Too little time is spent on character-establishing scenes, and way too much of the audience’s time is wasted on inconsequential “remember this guy from the books?” nostalgia introductions that backfire immediately because of odd casting decisions and introducing new characters with little to no context to them.

    Why they insisted on front-loading their story by dumping all these nobodies on screen all at once is anyone’s guess, but it completely destroyed any investment I might have had in wanting to learn more. Galadriel’s character assassination is so complete that the only scene where she displays any sort of personality trait beyond “revenge-obsessed stubbornness” is unearned, because it relies on a relationship that happened off-screen, several hundred years before the events of the show.

    In short, whoever approved this screenplay likely doomed the show for a lot of folks. People are saying that episode 2 isn’t quite as horrendous, but now it’s feeling like a chore to have to sit back with this mess.

    It’s not a zero, obviously. A lot of painstaking work went into the effects and the sets. But when you have artists carefully sculpting fake wood statues that are then used as elven mausoleums carved into LIVING TREES, you know you just ruined all that work because it’s all pointless.

    This isn’t Tolkien.

    Edit: My score hasn't changed after watching episode 02 and I don't think I'll continue.

    Edit 2: I lowered it because it keeps getting stupider.    … Expand
  15. Ninkasi
    Sep 9, 2022
    0
    Not sure what this is but is isn't LOTR. With the money involved Amazon should have created it's own brand new fantasy series. Obvious money grab riding on the coattails of Peter Jackson's excellent epics and the LOTR books. Dull all around. Dull acting. Dull music. Dull writing. Dull choreography.
  16. Mrkrabs228
    Sep 3, 2022
    1
    We all knew what was coming. Big money, beautiful views and costumes… good things end here. “Nice work” Amazon
  17. Stah
    Sep 10, 2022
    3
    If I'd try to be short I'd say - 'do not waste your time!'. But such a sharp opinion requires some details, indeed.

    Let's be it. First of all: The storytelling is dull and chaotic. I.e., Gal is going to North 'several years', at least, - but returning from there by 'one moment' and nothing is in between. Oops! Acting and dialogues are rough, pathetic and without any meaning.    If I'd try to be short I'd say - 'do not waste your time!'. But such a sharp opinion requires some details, indeed.

    Let's be it.

    First of all: The storytelling is dull and chaotic. I.e., Gal is going to North 'several years', at least, - but returning from there by 'one moment' and nothing is in between. Oops!

    Acting and dialogues are rough, pathetic and without any meaning. Fighting cruel elvish children? Mutiny in elvish team? Gal, jumping from the ship and swimming back from the Far West gates and Light of Valinor? Are you kidding?

    Women as the 'acting force'... Let me not to explain that it cannot be in THAT world. It ruins one of milestones of story. Rare 'women with sword' in LOTR are just forced to take this role - and they hate it. Here we have, at least, three of them in a first episode at once. And they LOVE it.

    Then, again - I presume, creators do not know what is the 'race' word meaning. They ruined races of elves, dwarves and even those we call 'hobbits' to the 'modern requirements' (you know what I mean).

    What a saga without good fight? Here's some, in the first episode. And it looks ugly - i.e. troll ruins FIVE elves, but fiercy Gal is coming, camera shows 'zig-zag-zag', and boom! - troll is dead. Game over. Another one is epic fight between elves and orcs, and I don't even want to discuss about this. It's just a one big mess.

    Elves are perfect, we all know. But not here. Old elves. Ugly elves. Muscular elves. The only thing you can recognize the elf is his ear.

    I don't even want to remark about 'gipsy hobbits' or 'middle age men' (hey - it's Middle-Earth, not middle-age!). Full picture is total waste.

    I watched only first episode. I want to see body-positive dwarves - and then I'll drop the show to trashcan. Sorry, Professor! - and I'm glad you don't see it.    … Expand
  18. Metalcamper
    Sep 10, 2022
    0
    Series is complete trash, cgi is horrible especially for 60M on episode, scenes are borring, dialogues are like 5year old wrote them, for now in first 3 episodes actually nothing happened.
    You are watching 8 stories happening at the same time and in none of them nothing happens...
    Music is bad at best and totally horrific at some poits it sounds like shi* flutted (youtube it). If i wouldnt    Series is complete trash, cgi is horrible especially for 60M on episode, scenes are borring, dialogues are like 5year old wrote them, for now in first 3 episodes actually nothing happened.
    You are watching 8 stories happening at the same time and in none of them nothing happens...
    Music is bad at best and totally horrific at some poits it sounds like shi* flutted (youtube it). If i wouldnt be watching it with my friends during coffie i would turn it off after 20 min or fall asleep. If it show would be called rings od prime and wouldnt be connected to tolkien i would give it 5, but since its Tolkiens work it deserves less than 0.    … Expand
  19. gapakos
    Sep 7, 2022
    0
    If Tolkien considered things like the 'mom buy me an ice cream or I'll scream' look a virtue as the show-runners do, he probably didn't write The Lord of The Rings. He'd absolutely love this show!
  20. mocan
    Sep 13, 2022
    2
    It shows there is alot of interest and time invested in the series but the character development and narrative is poorly, they dont either represent the series or the writter intend and show to let the watcher identify the situations. Things like appearing a raft in the middle of the sea and getting rescued its ridiculous. It seems they put too much effort in showing a beautiful scenaryIt shows there is alot of interest and time invested in the series but the character development and narrative is poorly, they dont either represent the series or the writter intend and show to let the watcher identify the situations. Things like appearing a raft in the middle of the sea and getting rescued its ridiculous. It seems they put too much effort in showing a beautiful scenary but not dept of the story wich results on little interest in the story arc or loss of a character. After watching 3rd episode i lost all hope on the series.… Expand
  21. fbnaulin
    Sep 7, 2022
    0
    Bad fanfiction. Not Tolkien: Gil-Galad and Elrond, Lord of the Eldars, are here two clueless idiots.

    Lack of consistency: Galadriel climbing with chain mail in frozen waste, an elf speaks with a shady attitude on her just to say they need to camp. Later, she will be swimming in the ocean, just to find a man who she blame to be coward, after a huge monster destroyed his people (!), and    Bad fanfiction. Not Tolkien: Gil-Galad and Elrond, Lord of the Eldars, are here two clueless idiots.

    Lack of consistency: Galadriel climbing with chain mail in frozen waste, an elf speaks with a shady attitude on her just to say they need to camp. Later, she will be swimming in the ocean, just to find a man who she blame to be coward, after a huge monster destroyed his people (!), and they will talk about recovering a kingdom instead of urgent matters: how to survive the actual situation. This lack of danger, makes the character feel souless, I couldn't care less about Galadriel drowning.

    In the Men plot: elves doing guard for 70+ couldn't have any intel about the burned village in less than a day of travel. Harfoots plot: a meteor crash very near, but none except Nori will go to look. And so on. Dialog and action are so low standard, I couldn't believe how toothless, emotionless, and tiresome this thing is.    … Expand
  22. Starfree
    Sep 2, 2022
    1
    The show couldn’t keep my concentration. 15 minutes felt like 2 hours and nothing happened. The show jumped around every 5 seconds. I stopped watch 30 minutes in, because you have a B plot where there is no conflict and the characters have no development. Then the A plot you spend 20 minutes learning how the pretty elf queen from Lord of the Rings is a **** Karen who literally leaves herThe show couldn’t keep my concentration. 15 minutes felt like 2 hours and nothing happened. The show jumped around every 5 seconds. I stopped watch 30 minutes in, because you have a B plot where there is no conflict and the characters have no development. Then the A plot you spend 20 minutes learning how the pretty elf queen from Lord of the Rings is a **** Karen who literally leaves her men in her dust to die.… Expand
  23. LothlorienElf
    Sep 2, 2022
    1
    I don't even really know what to say to this. I gave it a shot, even though I wasn't too interested in it after the trailers and actually didn't even want to watch it at all in the first place. But I did. And this is what I think:
    After two hours I am still not interested in the characters. I can't even remember their names. I still don't feel like I am in Middle Earth, a place that a lot    I don't even really know what to say to this. I gave it a shot, even though I wasn't too interested in it after the trailers and actually didn't even want to watch it at all in the first place. But I did. And this is what I think:
    After two hours I am still not interested in the characters. I can't even remember their names. I still don't feel like I am in Middle Earth, a place that a lot of us call home, where we like to go after a stressful day.
    This here, this seems like watching a Version of "Game of Thrones/The Witcher", not a TV Show that has something to do with The Lord of the Rings. All I can really say is that nothing there caught my attention. And the supposed "Elves" in this TV Show are a disgrace, especially to Tolkien.    … Expand
  24. nictom
    Sep 10, 2022
    0
    CGI: Amazing!
    Story adaptation: Horrible! Tolkien must be turning in his grave because of this...
  25. Hiltifinger
    Sep 9, 2022
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I wanted to give this show a fair chance, but holy Hobbit, what a mess!

    Where to start? Elves whose hairstyles are reminiscent of a poorly made Pop music video from the 80s and for whom actors have been cast who don't look like immortals at all. Plus: A one-dimensional main character who, miles away from the shores of Middle-earth, goes for a swim in the biggest plot hole since the penultimate episode of the final season of Game of Thones - and who, thousands of years later, still behaves like a defiant child whose self-made paper ship has just been sunk. For whom nothing is at stake at any time, because this very special elf is able to kill a troll in 30 seconds, which took Legolas and the Fellowship almost ten minutes in the mines of Moria. Infantile harfoots, whose scenes are sometimes reminiscent of a sitcom from the 50s, but where you wait in vain for the laughter to fade in in the background. And when two elves, without provisions, without horses and above all - without any presentable delegation, walk miles to get an audience with a dwarf prince, only for one of them (who, by the way, is the most important blacksmith in Middle-earth) to be allowed to make the long, arduous journey back...then, dear viewer you truly wonder whether this Is High Fantasy or a Brigand's Tale.

    Fortunately, it turns out that the diverse cast, which some "so-called trolls" have questioned in advance, cannot and will not have any influence at all on this review. How could it, given that we live in an age in which heated discussions are justifiably triggered when historical or fictional films are not cast with appropriately ethnically correct leading actors because people want to renounce the "white-whashing" of times past. It is anything but politically correct and respectful to miscast, for example, Scarlett Johannson in the live-action adaptation of the Japanese anime masterpiece "Ghost in the Shell" or John Wayne as Genghis Khan. Who would think of casting Disney's live-action adaptation of Mulan with Caucasian actors, like in "Breakfast at Tiffany's"? And just to make it absolutely clear: I think that's a good thing! But why do the opposite here? Especially when you know in advance that the majority of Tolkien fans seem to worship all his works as "history" with almost religious zeal.

    Leaving aside the pointlessness of such a discussion: not everyone will have the opportunity to see the first two episodes in the cinema on a big screen, so that at least some of the really great images can unfold their effect. And this despite the fact that the CGI effects are unfortunately clearly perceived as such and some things look like ultra-graphic settings in a computer game. But if, like most people, you can only watch the whole thing on a normal TV, then the sheer glamour of this big visually blown-up nothingness fades very quickly and you concentrate on what really makes a good TV series: A compelling script with main characters that you can and want to sympathise with. Unfortunately, the vast majority here is reduced to a moderately written soap opera full of clichés. And no - I don't expect the quality of the whole thing to improve significantly, at least not in the first season, but I sincerely hope for a more differentiated development of the main protagonists in the future - especially that of a certain person.

    In the end, all that remains for me is the realisation that this is probably more of a retelling of the fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes". Only this time, the majority of critics praise the sheer finesse and epic grandeur of the "outfit", whereas the majority of hardcore fans will put it more honestly:

    "The emperor isn't wearing anything at all!"    … Expand
  26. ThankMeLater
    Sep 7, 2022
    0
    If the annoying invented or twisted characters (most prominently Kaladrie-L) making stupid decisions without consequences, teleporting from here to there and back while still managing to drag on forever, the almost cartoonish bad dialogue, an one-atom-thin storyline and other... uhm, qualities of this show don't convince you that it's not related in any recognizable shape or form toIf the annoying invented or twisted characters (most prominently Kaladrie-L) making stupid decisions without consequences, teleporting from here to there and back while still managing to drag on forever, the almost cartoonish bad dialogue, an one-atom-thin storyline and other... uhm, qualities of this show don't convince you that it's not related in any recognizable shape or form to Tolkien's work that you think you know and love (or if you never liked Tolkien to begin with) -- then by all means, you'll love it.

    Kind of funny how the not so favorable reviews talk about the show, and the few positive ones talk about the other reviewers.    … Expand
  27. bibi4
    Sep 7, 2022
    0
    In the first minutes Elf-children are shown as being bullies...Elves, the epitome of purity & wisdom. That's just the 1st in a long series of Tolkien deconstruction exercises that make me wonder if the writers either never read Tolkien, or hate all his themes & philosophy.
    The script literally sounds like it was written by an AI.
    The characters are more projections of ideas than people    In the first minutes Elf-children are shown as being bullies...Elves, the epitome of purity & wisdom. That's just the 1st in a long series of Tolkien deconstruction exercises that make me wonder if the writers either never read Tolkien, or hate all his themes & philosophy.
    The script literally sounds like it was written by an AI.
    The characters are more projections of ideas than people you can care about.
    The armor and swords look like they are made of plastic.
    Everyone talks about the CGI and but that's all this show is: wallpaper.
    This is not Tolkien, this is that awful modern thing: "content".    … Expand
  28. ZubriQ
    Sep 6, 2022
    0
    Haha, this is so funny to see how admins fight the User Score bellow; they programmatically make the same Dislike Count as the Like, but with a little bit more high number (+2). The score tells by itself that the show sux.

    You probably won't find any rings here; it's too black over here, can't see anything.

    The score is totally deserved.
  29. Tjale
    Sep 7, 2022
    0
    Insult to Tolkien fandom.
    Except that one scene when Galadriel says "You're a wizard, Gandalf" and he answered " I'm a what?!?"... I almost cried.
    Not rating bombing, i genuinely dislike the show!
  30. Mooncitadel
    Sep 7, 2022
    2
    Very bad so far! The 2 first episodes are boring and I did not recognize Tolkien lore & universe. Actors are not memorable to say the least. The story is poorly written and uninteresting, the motivations of the characters are cliché and we don't care what will happen to them. I find it difficult to understand considering the monumental money invested in the series, how did we arrive atVery bad so far! The 2 first episodes are boring and I did not recognize Tolkien lore & universe. Actors are not memorable to say the least. The story is poorly written and uninteresting, the motivations of the characters are cliché and we don't care what will happen to them. I find it difficult to understand considering the monumental money invested in the series, how did we arrive at such a mediocre result?… Expand
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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.
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  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.
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  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]
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