Amazon’s ‘Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Receives Criticism Despite Being The Most Expensive Show Ever Made
Middle-earth may have defeated Sauron, but it seems they now have a new enemy destroying their world: Amazon Prime.
The Rings of Power – the prequel to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings – is set to release today on Amazon Prime. Even though users have only seen trailers and promotional videos, the show is already receiving significant backlash for its lackluster dialogue and acting – despite its $750 million-dollar budget.
“Turkey is not the word. No turkey, however bloated and stupid, could ever be big enough to convey the mesmerizing awfulness of Amazon's billion-dollar Tolkien epic,” wrote critic Christopher Stevens from the Daily Mail.
“Amazon's prequel is kind of a catastrophe,” added Darren Franich from Entertainment Weekly after the premiere. “It takes six or seven things everyone remembers from the famous movie trilogy, adds a water tank, makes nobody fun, teases mysteries that aren't mysteries, and sends the best character on a pointless detour.”
Luckily for Amazon, most critics actually had positive things to say: "All of that Amazon money is very much up there on the screen," says Alan Sepinwall from Rolling Stones. Indeed, the money is evident in the show’s beautiful scenery and mystical backgrounds. But everyone knows that Tolkien’s worlds go far beyond aesthetics. Will the show satisfy Lord of the Rings’ fans through its story, characters, and impactful dialogue the same way the trilogy has? Probably not. Some fans fear that the plot of the series may be watered down due to its intended audience. Co-creator Patrick McKay told Vanity Fair that their goal was "to make a show for everyone, for kids who are 11, 12, and 13, even though sometimes they might have to pull the blanket up over their eyes if it’s a little too scary.”
For die-hard Tolkien fans, this might be a concern. The masterful poet himself was largely critical of his work being turned into an adaptation for children. In an excerpt from his essay titled “On Fairy-Stories,” he writes: “It is true that in recent times fairy-stories have usually been written or 'adapted' for children. But so may music be, or verse, or novels, or history, or scientific manuals. It is a dangerous process, even when it is necessary. It is indeed only saved from disaster by the fact that the arts and sciences are not as a whole relegated to the nursery; the nursery and schoolroom are merely given such tastes and glimpses of the adult thing as seem fit for them in adult opinion (often much mistaken). Any one of these things would, if left altogether in the nursery, become gravely impaired. So would a beautiful table, a good picture, or a useful machine (such as a microscope), be defaced or broken, if it were left long unregarded in a schoolroom. Fairy stories banished in this way, cut off from a full adult art, would in the end be ruined; indeed in so far as they have been so banished, they have been ruined.”
Perhaps I’m biased, but I have to echo Tolkien’s sentiment. The Rings of Power may be suitable for children, but maybe not for the individuals who are looking for a Tolkien-dominated masterpiece that features an adult-themed heroic plot like The Lord of the Rings.
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