An uninteresting guest is worse than an orc – Newspaper Kommersant No. 165 (7366) of 09/08/2022

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series, one of the most anticipated television projects of the season, has started streaming on Amazon Prime. The film rights to the works of John R. R. Tolkien cost the studio $250 million, and the production of five seasons was estimated to cost about $1 billion, which already makes the series the most expensive in history. The first season has already spent almost half of this amount, so perhaps the budget will grow even more. However, after watching the first two episodes, Julia Shagelman I doubted that this game was worth its amazingly rich dressing.

By signing an agreement with Tolkien’s heirs, Amazon, whose owner Jeff Bezos is a longtime fan of the writer and therefore was personally interested in the project, did not receive anything that had not been filmed until now. The studio can only use The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and its Appendices that expand and complement its world, but, for example, The Silmarillion and other works were not included in the deal. So showrunners Patrick McKay and John D. Payne had to rely heavily on their own imagination to come up with their own series, which takes place several thousand years before the story of Bilbo and Frodo. And at the same time, try to make their brainchild look decent against the background of not only the literary source, but also the paintings of Peter Jackson, which are considered an exemplary adaptation of Tolkien’s works. And this is not an easy task for people behind whom there is so far only one dubious achievement – participation in writing the script for the film “Star Trek: Infinity” (2016).

Difficulties with “Rings of Power” began as soon as the first trailers appeared on the network. They caused a wave of discontent: they say, everything was wrong with Tolkien. Why are elves and dwarves dark-skinned, while dwarf women don’t have beards?

The explanation that Tolkien wrote his novels in the unenlightened times of racism and colonialism and expressed the consensus of that time, otherwise the inhabitants of a fictional world can be of any color, did not particularly reassure anyone, as well as the promises that the gnomes would definitely have beards. With the release of the first episodes of passion flared up with renewed vigor. Despite the fact that Amazon reported record viewing figures (according to streaming, the season premiere drew 25 million viewers in 240 countries – by comparison, the first episode of “House of Dragons” on HBO was watched by “only” 10 million), the reaction of viewers was far from enthusiastic. On the IMDB service, he was given so many low ratings that in the end such an opportunity for users was frozen, and then the critical aggregator Rotten Tomatoes did the same. At the time of the suspension, the viewer rating of the series there was only 39% “fresh”, while professional critics give it 85%. The most frequent complaints are again the skin color of the characters and the notorious beards of female gnomes, or rather their absence.

One of those who did not like Rings of Power was Elon Musk, who condemned the series for the fact that almost all the men in it are “cowards or jerks” and only Galadriel is brave, smart and sweet.

If the first part of this remark is not entirely fair, then it is difficult to argue with the second. Courage and nobility are inherent in the elf Galadriel (Morveth Clark), who is one of the main characters here, in such a high concentration that it is more annoying than admiring. True, you can’t just call her cute – in two episodes she manages to quarrel literally with everyone she meets, including her old friend Elrond (Robert Aramayo), the courtier of the Elven king Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker). But the quarrelsome character is explained by the fact that Galadriel is obsessed with a lofty goal: to find the villain Sauron and avenge him for the death of her brother (the background of this mission is briefly outlined by her voice-over in the prologue).

In addition to the elves, there are people in the series – they live in the south of Middle-earth, and it seems that they are threatened by the invasion of orcs. But the main focus of the audience in this storyline should be on the impossible love between the healer Bronwen (Nazanine Boniadi) and the elven warrior Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova), which is condemned by both her and his fellow tribesmen. And then there are the mochnolegs – these are such proto-hobbits – with their own strong and independent heroine Nori (Markella Cavena), who finds a mysterious giant who has fallen from the sky (Daniel Weyman) in the field. And of course, the dwarves and their sadly beardless women: Elrond wants to make an alliance with them, but each side is hiding something.

Alas, the negotiations between Elrond and the dwarven prince Durin (Owain Arthur) are the only moment when the series comes to life a little. Of course, the visual part is great: the landscapes are breathtaking, and the thoroughness of the elaboration of costumes and other details proves that millions were not wasted on production.

However, both first episodes are essentially spent introducing characters, none of whom are charismatic enough.

At the same time, the dialogues are full of pathos, and there is vanishingly little humor – Middle-earth is in danger, what kind of jokes are there. But after all, the success of any series depends not on the beauty of the picture, but on how ready the audience is to let people from the screen into their homes every week and follow their adventures. From the heroes of the “Rings of Power” guests so far do not come out too entertaining.