The Rings of Power is a complete snoozefest. Stuff is happening, but it's a confusing mess and there are no stakes to make anything interesting. The dialogue is stilted and cringeworthy.
The show just isn't good, and Amazon knows it.
In contrast House of the Dragon is better written, equally gorgeous, and is far more interesting. At least it is 3 episodes in compared to the 1 RoP I’ve seen.
By episode three, it had my devoted attention. This is definitely a great show.
HOTD, to me, lacks even one compelling, relatable, or likable character and has a boring story that feels as though is lacks any weight.
maybe it's because i just rewatched all of GOT thrones though and it's been a few years since i watched any of the Peter Jackson films. (and even longer since i read the books from both authors)
I've enjoyed this show more than any other I've watched recently. I like basically every actor. I've really appreciated the attention to detail in the world. The dialog was awkward at first but after I acclimatized to the style I actually kinda like it—it's quirky, but consistently so.
It turns out, people like and dislike different things! But both sides of this ragefest are in all seriousness accusing the other of not existing because no one could possibly have a different opinion. It's weird.
Meanwhile, this conflict is padded with needlessly elaborate, yet meaningless side storylines and fake drama appealing to the 18-25 demographic.
I listen to the audiobooks to fall asleep or if I don't want to start something new. When you have like 10 books you want to listen to in theory but can't decide, listen to some Wheel of Time.
In total Wheel of Time was terrible, and didn't look good. Rings at least has some good visuals.
Lets hope Rings gets better. Sadly for now it looks like both shows will end up rated button tier.
At least House of the Dragon and The Sandman didn't disappoint.
It looks good so far, except for one huge problem, which I think is by far the biggest problem with the whole show so far: the lens flares.
saw a few ads for it, and watched it.
Well-written, picturesque, excellent acting, and a number of fresh faces. The visuals for Gault's suit found to be better than anything I've seen thus far in the Marvel universe, which are themselves no slouches.
I think it is turning out rather excellent, and would be a great source for spin-offs too.
Well, obviously. I mean, the goodies have access to giant eagles and all they have to do is to give the ring to one of them and drop it in Mount Doom and the whole thing is solved, right?
Wait, it must be that eagles are easily corrupted? Or not fully sentient, and thus the ring can control them?
Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't. Big risk either way.
Anyway, this theme is why the most meek people of Middle Earth -- the Hobbits, who desire basically nothing more than a quiet life -- are the only ones in Middle Earth that could actually cart the ring into Mordor. Even then it's not a sure bet, considering Gollum.
The eagles showing up at the end is more like an 'Oh we were so awesome and heroic that even the high god sees considers this a worthy cause'.
The eagles help Gandalf because of a personal relationship
Unknown to all in LOTR, while the volcano is hot, it has cooled in the thousands of years since the ring's forging. It does not completely dissolve the ring, instead, it melts yet remains together.
Fast forward 10000s of years, the area is mined, and the precious metal is used for fillings in teeth.
Surprise! It's Bezos! And he now has part of the ring of power in his lower right molar.
Now he is understood. One sales platform to rule them all, indeed!
Really nothing, I guess. /s
Elrond is trying to recruit the dwarves to help build the forge to create the rings.
The comet guy I’ll grant you is the show’s one mystery, granted, but I have a feeling he’s going to have something to do with the reemergence of Sauron and the creation of the rings.
Perhaps it's Saruman... it would be interesting to see some backstory on him.
I don’t want to over analyze though as they are obviously trying to be ambiguous for suspense.
Also that was a really dumb scene in so many ways.
Gil-Galad shouldnt really have the power to just send people away. The just invented some lore to get characters where they want them.
Even outside that, a character that shows up for 2 scenes and make one vagly interedting incredibly cryptic remark isn't exactly a barn burner.
Ok, Orcs still exists, amazing who would have thought. And a random person fell from the sky that is a total mystery and unconnected to anything so far.
So yeah its not much for 2h+ of runtime. Not sure wht you added ' /s'.
Its also not really a good slow burn either. If you want to see that done expertly check out True Detective Season 1. That story draws you in.
And this episodes were very long and all the story lines are slow.
- A Story: Galadriel wanders around without doing much in the first episodes and swims around not doing much in the second episode. She has basically 1 expression, her motivation is the most basic revenge story plot ever and its totally clear that she is right and everybody else is dumb. The scene of going to Valinor standing on boat in full armor looked dumb and it was totally clear she would not go, but I guess show runners wanted to drop a couple million on special effect.
- B Story: Hartfoots mostly slice of life and some interaction with a mysterious wizard that amount to nothing so far. Kind of cute but not interesting and totally different tone then everything else. Including with slap stick humor.
- C Story: Basic Elf-Human love story with neither of the characters being very interesting and they have little chemistry. Also evil is rising, but I don't really care about those characters so I don't really care, for now its just random orcs. Nothing to connect to, no large conflict or the other characters. This is even worse then the love-story the added to the hobbit.
- D Story: Elron goes to the dwarfs and we get lots of exposition about (mostly nonsensical) backstory that is required for the current plot to make sense and some character setups for the dwarfs. Honestly maybe the most interesting part of the first 2 episodes, but not actually that interesting.
The tournament/birth sequence in the first episode of House of Dragon had more interesting character moments, character development, story progression then all of the Rings of Power had in the first 2h.
Or compare it with the story that happen in the first 2h of Lord of the Rings (~10h) total vs Rings of Power (10h).
That's in line with a mediocre Marvel movie.
Why is it so hard to believe the reviews?
For comparison, The Room got a 9. Maybe metacritic scores follow a bathtub curve with "worst possible" sitting somewhere in the middle?
It's sitting in the 70s in other review aggregators, so I think it's okay.
It's worth also considering that many critics are not reviewing this with Peter Jackson's LotR trilogy in mind, but rather with the exceedingly mediocre The Hobbit trilogy.
I really can’t understand how people can yet have good or bad opinions or how they can say it isn’t good.
That’s a pretty strong review itself.
That begin said, I haven't watched any RoP, the "nothing" could be complete fluff because the story is too thin.
Amazon seems like it would rather hide reviews than fix the story telling. I couldn’t finish episode 1 without falling asleep
Instead, they dumped as much of the setting as possible into those first few episodes. We learn so much about the players, cultures, technologies, physics, histories, economies, even languages, etc. It’s exhausting. So much detail! Go back and watch. But then when the Donnager battle hits, you get it, and the payoff is huge.
I don’t think the writing is bad. I think they had to rush the setting-onboarding to get to the good parts of the story, to create excitement, to better their chances of justifying additional seasons, all within the constraints of their budget. I think the writing is excellent in hindsight.
I always have to advise people, when I recommend The Expanse to them, to make sure to sit through the first 3-4 episodes even if they don't feel like they're really getting hooked. By the time they get to episode 4, they're hooked.
Rings of Power is so far turning into an interesting show. I would say give it a shot. The second episode is definitely better than the first. Hopefully it will improve from here.
They’ve established the backstory.
There is already a conflict within the elves.
Galadriel meets a human who seems like he will be important.
Elrond has a contest with a dwarf as a negotiation tactic.
Orcs are now tunneling under villages to steal the human inhabitants.
We meet proto-hobbits and a man who fell from the sky.
Same thing about the dialogs: the "epic prose" style would work on paper, but not so much in a live action movie.