Elon Musk criticized the new “Lord of the Rings”

The wrath of a millionaire does not prevent the series from breaking viewing records

If the creators of the series “The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” wanted a resonance around their project, then they got it in full after two episodes. Viewing records are set, critics’ spears are broken, celebrities are included in the discussion.

Tolkien is turning in his grave. So far, all male characters are either cowards, or jerks, or cowardly jerks. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and sweet.” – Elon Musk wrote on the social network and thus joined the group of haters of the new series.

Mr. Musk is not original in his criticism of the project. But unlike the opinions of other viewers, Musk’s remarks were immediately replicated by many media outlets. The billionaire’s biting phrases provide a good click-through rate, whatever he says there. At the same time, Musk’s reflections on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are no more valuable than the conclusions from people who clean our porches, drive public transport, or just live in the neighborhood. The usual philistine criticism, the significance of which, frankly, is not great. It must be admitted that in his assessment, Mr. Musk was even benevolent in places. Unlike other critics from popular resources Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.

“Not at all like The Lord of the Rings. More like a fantasy fanfic with superficial characters,” writes a user under the nickname MRNXVR.

“The most disappointing adaptation I have ever watched. One gets the impression that the show’s creators deliberately undermined Tolkien’s work just to shove their identity politics down the throats of viewers. I wish we could just enjoy entertainment without all that crap, especially when it comes to adapting the works of the great writers of all time. You should be ashamed, ”Jbwing is indignant.

“While the visuals are great, the characters and dialogue are very boring. If it wasn’t for the title of the Lord of the Rings prequel, no one would care. This is money laundering. Peter Jackson’s films were amazing in terms of plot and characters, but in the new version, neither. It’s sad, although it could have turned out well. The story moves slower than a turtle! Characters are very easy to forget…” — says A_Yuki.

There are true and more balanced estimates. “The show’s haters want to make you think it’s bad. It’s just that there are selfish people who are not able to admit that the show is excellent. Please watch it and decide for yourself,” writes Paras S and his opinion can probably be called much more objective.

However, the overall audience rating of the new series, despite timid praise, still does not rise above four points out of ten. At the same time, the first two episodes of the project were watched by more than 25 million people, which is an incredibly successful indicator and a record for the Amazon platform over the past fifteen years.

Audience interest and angry rebuffs often go hand in hand. There is a suspicion that the most evil haters are also the most devoted audience, especially when it comes to film adaptations of Tolkien’s works. Fans of these books sometimes resemble a sect, and of course they perceive any attack on their faith as a personal insult.

Professional critics of the series are still more often praised. Many of them are predictably confused by the too commercial approach to everything that a Tolkien film should consist of. The first episodes clearly lack irony, which is replaced by geopolitics, but as far as the beautiful fairy-tale world is concerned, everything is far from being in the worst way. Probably connoisseurs of the books of the legendary writer and those who consider Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy to be an exemplary film adaptation can find in the series everything for which it is customary to scold modern cinema and TV shows. However, 25 million people are hard to fool, or keep in front of the screens just to write a devastating review later.