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I really wanted to like this show. As someone who has studied and written about the interplay between different mediums, and as a lifelong Tolkien fan, I was excited to see what Amazon Studios would offer. That said, one would not think this is the ‘most expensive TV series of all time’. Where did all the money go? It doesn’t take half a billion dollars to pump out some impressive CGI. For writing, wardrobe and props, story development, and casting, it looks like they spent the bare minimum. At first viewing, the impressive visuals serve to obscure the bad writing, but after you’ve had time to let it sink in, you realize how poor it is. You have little parables, like the already infamous ‘floating boat’ scene, that are stretching for profound meaning but fall far short and end up confusing. It’s the equivalent of a poorly written comic book or school play. Then there is writing that is lazy or out of place in an ancient/mythic setting. Think use of the word, ‘ok’, or Elrond’s cutesy, “why didn’t you say so.” Or, “you smell like an orc” (do ethereal being like elves stink?). I thought some of the best writing came in the Harfoot scenes (‘The Sky is Strange!’), but they are all speaking those lines with an odd southern Irish accent. The wardrobe, sets, and props are of inconsistent quality, at best. Some costumes are passable, some look like they were 3D printed and made out of plastic or cheap metal. Again, at first viewing some of the sets look fantastic, but later you realize they felt sort of empty and lifeless, like you could tell they were shot in a warehouse studio. The hair choices for the elves is baffling. Why anyone thought it was appropriate to feature barbershop fades, buzz cuts, and pompadours with copious hair product is beyond me. Bear McCreary’s score is passable but does not thus far have the range and grandeur of Howard Shore’s LOTR. The acting is also a confusing mixed-bag. Once again, at first viewing it seems passable, but something still feels off. Only upon second viewing or later reflection do you realize that the elves (especially Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel) are wooden and expressionless. If you compare with the acting in Jackson’s LOTR, it is crystal clear that the acting quality is simply not there in Rings of Power. One might be tempted to think that elves are supposed to be stoic and expressionless, but this could not be further from the truth! The truth is elves are supposed to more human than humans, almost, express more, emote more, simply be more bright and divine than humans ever could be. Peterson’s original trilogy did a fantastic job at capturing this, while Amazon studios failed miserably. The casting follows the general theme of: wtf were they thinking? The supreme controversy, both contrived and genuine, about diverse casting is the least of the show’s problems. Though there have been perfectly valid arguments that inclusivity could have been artfully done through Rhun (analogous to Asia in Tolkien’s universe) and Harad (analogous to North Africa) storylines that intersected with those in Middle Earth and Numenor. As it stands, it is awkward and cheap tokenism, which used to be considered offensive to people of color. Again, elves are supposed to have a timeless quality about them. In this show, Galadriel and Elrond look about forty human years younger than Celebrimbor, while all three are thousands of years old at this point in the story. Elves are supposed to be the fairest and most beautiful beings, some of whom seem to almost emit a holy light. The Rings of Power producers failed miserably at capturing this quality. Furthermore, where are the top class actors? Half a billion dollars couldn’t manage to bring in any recognizable actors? The plot is jarring at times because there are simply too many events that flatly defy logic. In the first two episodes, a character jumps off a ship in the middle of a huge ocean with the prospect of swimming at least a thousand miles to land with no plan or guidance. Characters are shown arriving at a destination hundreds of miles away without equipment, guides, or horses, as if they got there while taking a leisurely morning stroll. Supposed elite elven warriors are made into hapless bowling pins for an ice troll. These add up and really hinder the ability to suspend disbelief. All this ultimately amounts to a humongously baffling missed opportunity. Seriously, it makes almost no sense! It seems like this show was rushed to the cutting room floor without any edits, reshoots, or recastings. One can only surmise that the producers thought they could ride the wave of goodwill that the Lord of the Rings name carries without putting the care, time, and hard work necessary to create a good final product. This is the end of the main review. Below I’ve posted some slightly philosophical thoughts on Galadriel. --- Why did the production team want to turn Galadriel into an expressionless, hardened, badass action hero trope? She is the main character of this show. We need to be able to identify strongly with her. The Galadriel I came to know and love from the books and Jackson’s trilogy was like a representation of the divine feminine. For myself, I came to regard her as the supreme divine archetypal Anima (from Jung’s concepts of the feminine in men and the masculine in women) that is worthy of deep awe and respect. That is to say, she represents a fully integrated (masculine and feminine) character and therefore otherworldly and supremely powerful. All that is not to say that she could not be a fighter! Even with a sword and full plate armor! Of course she could! But in either case, the actor needs to portray a certain level of emotional depth that is simply not there. I could not believe that Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel could ever develop into the powerful, feminine, and divine Queen of Lothlorien that is Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel. The misguided effort, presumably, is to make some of these female characters as ‘badass’ as the stoic male action hero that has been portrayed countless times in movies and TV in the past three or four decades. Not only is this a bad approach because those portrayals of one-dimensional male badasses have mostly been plain bad and/or forgettable, but also because it takes the defining power away from the character of Galadriel. It leaves her with practically nothing but a hollow imitation of badassness. It is a total bastardization of what Tolkien wrote and it shows that modern Hollywood does not know how to write compelling female characters.
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Sep 10, 2022 00:18
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Hmmmm
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Sep 10, 2022 00:32
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there's already a thread gently caress yourself and die
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Sep 10, 2022 00:35
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ok
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Sep 10, 2022 01:30
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Sep 10, 2022 02:09
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