TV

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" has everything it needs to succeed.

Now she needs to find Gandalf

After two episodes, the ever-precious series struggles to introduce a compelling character to carry the series until it lays all the game pieces on the board.

However, it is already justifying the hype around it with impressive cinematic standards, and a screen width that produces great potential.

Review

Ilan Kaprov

31/08/2022

Wednesday, August 31, 2022, 5:00 p.m. Updated: 5:12 p.m.

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Trailer for the series "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (Amazon Prime Video)

With all due respect to "Dragon House" and the impressive ratings records it broke already in the opening episode, the biggest story of the year on television happens outside the borders of the HBO network.

After all, when was the last time we witnessed an unfolding bet on the fate of one of the world's leading streaming services before our eyes?

The answer is: probably never.

Although Amazon Prime Video includes the word Amazon, the service has operated for years as a kind of boutique chain.

Niche series such as "Transparent", "Mozart in the Jungle" and "The Space" were never aimed at essays, even the successful and appreciated "The Boys" is a matter of acquired taste.

Amazon itself seemed to live in peace with this story.

A nice complement to its Amazon Prime service, which also provides subscribers with a reasonable library (if you're not a customer from Israel) of content to watch to increase the sense of value.

Then, in November 2017, the Amazon on Prime Video woke up.

In the face of major rivals pouring money into existing and future services, Jeff Bezos has decided to stop playing nice.

Amazon stormed the auction opened by the Tolkien family (owners of the estate of the creator of "The Lord of the Rings") for a television series in the universe of the original creation, with an offer that broke even the deep pockets of Netflix and HBO.

A quarter of a billion dollars for the rights, along with an advance commitment for five seasons and the possibility of spin-off series - all with the personal involvement of the owner.

The result: With a total budget of more than a billion dollars for the entire project, "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" is the most expensive TV series ever.

And at a time when the technology giants are looking at ways to cut and reduce costs, it is not certain that this title will be taken from Amazon in the foreseeable future.

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That insane price tag also brought with it a great deal of stress.

Success could finally catapult Amazon into a real battle with the streaming giants, as it has an exclusive property that brings in subscribers on its own.

She even took advantage of the hype to deliver some improvements to the terrible interface of the service, in preparation for the launch of the new diamond.

Failure, on the other hand, could be her official acceptance of the fact that Amazon's streaming service is nothing more than a lovable bonus to the shopping and delivery service.

This enormous burden is felt in the almost military blackout imposed on the launch of the series.

Very little PR material has been released ahead of its release, with viewers being sent only two episodes out of the eight episodes of the first season - the same two that all subscribers to the service will watch starting this Friday, including of course in Israel. In other words: Amazon is almost desperate for you to watch its ultra-expensive toy without Foreknowledge or Outside Judgment So naturally, it's time for outside judgment.

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John Snow in a woman.

Morfid Clark as Galadriel, "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (Photo: Ben Rothstein/Prime Video)

"In the beginning nothing is evil," says one of the main characters of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (hereinafter "The Lord of the Rings") in the first sentence spoken in the series.

There is a lot of wisdom in this choice.

The secret of the magic of the world created by Tolkien is the tension between an ever-spreading evil, and a collection of small points of light that try to join together to overcome it.

"The Lord of the Rings" The series marks from the beginning that it is walking in the same groove: a world facing an arms race between light and darkness, optimism that is about to be replaced by a great impending threat.

The plot takes place about a thousand years before the events of "The Fellowship of the Ring", in what is known as the Second Age in Middle-earth.

A period of peace and quiet, which comes after the bloody "Haron War", which lasted hundreds of years and ended with the defeat of the Dark Lord, Morgoth.

Further down the road, the series is expected to describe the formation of the great kingdoms in Middle-earth, and in the first Númenor - the mighty kingdom of humans;

the rise of Sauron - a powerful sorcerer and Morgoth's great confidant - to a position of power;

The formation of the rings of power and the forging of alliances between the humans, the elves and the dwarves in preparation for the great battle over Middle-earth.

In Tolkien's writings, these events span hundreds of years with complex processes sped up for the benefit of the series.

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manages to remember the good things.

Ewain Arthur as Prince Dorin, "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (Photo: Amazon Prime Video)

A central part of the magic of fantasy is our ability to assimilate into the world presented to us, to drift into it.

In regards to these parameters, "The Lord of the Rings" proves that the investment in it was not wasted on clumsy effects, but on a complex and delicate creation of nuances that give it volume and depth

Although the first two episodes are used by "The Lord of the Rings" mainly to put its huge set of tools on the map (a process that is not expected to end there), they show a correct construction of the relationship between familiarity and moving forward.

Much like the beginning of Game of Thrones, it builds the introduction of the characters with the same ominous sense of menace closing in on them - whether it's expressed as an actual threat or implied by the general atmosphere.

This is important mainly because, unlike that trilogy, it is evident that the series does not have an immediate star at this point, or in other words: it does not have Gandalf.

A character who captivates the audience from her first appearance, and enlarges the characters next to her as she moves.

And so within the first two hours we meet a cave troll, a monstrous aquatic creature, a mysterious figure that fell like a meteor from the sky, a hidden kingdom in the depths of the earth and more.

The huge investment in "The Lord of the Rings" is evident from the first scene.

Every blade of grass, every stream, every spire of a tower - small and large details jump out of the screen with impressive cinematic quality.

Give identity and uniqueness to every area on the map.

But these are precisely the seemingly "normal" moments, when the characters themselves are engaged in something routine, where the beauty of the series reaches new heights.

A close-up of a determined figure or an overhead shot of a figure looking to the horizon.

A central part of the magic of fantasy is our ability to assimilate into the world presented to us, to drift into it.

In regards to these parameters, "The Lord of the Rings" proves that the investment in it was not wasted on clumsy effects, but on a complex and delicate creation of nuances that give it volume and depth.

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Remembering the curiosity, kindness and courage that made the hobbits beloved.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (Photo: Ben Rothstein/Prime Video)

The question marks above it hover at this stage mainly regarding its various heroes, those who are supposed to grow and grow along it into the key characters in the war of light in darkness.

Galadriel (Morphyd Clarke, "Holy Maud"), whose adult version was played by Cate Blanchett in the film series, is the warrior Elf who leads the pursuit of Sauron's faint traces.

And while the time we've spent with her so far is really too short, it's already possible to recognize a kind of shyness in her.

A kind of John Snow in a woman.

Someone who is supposed to lead and lead reluctantly, but has a hard time convincing that she really deserves it.

The same goes for the character of Elrond (Robert Aramaio, who played the young Ned Stark in "Game of Thrones"), who will grow up to be the lord of Rivendell, and here still in the role of assistant to the current lord.

The same brilliance of intelligence and cleverness that Hugo Weaving brought to the character in the film series, and especially the charismatic presence, have not yet been injured here.

On the other hand, there are also encouraging signs in terms of new characters.

The best of them is Nori (Markla Kavanagh), a member of the Harfoot tribe (one of the three hobbit tribes) who shows the same curiosity, kindness and courage that made the little creatures so beloved in Tolkien's universe.

Even Prince Dorin (Ewain Arthur) - the son of the ruler of Kazad-dum, the largest dwarven kingdom of all - succeeds in recalling the fighting spirit and the inferiority complex that characterized Jean Rhys Davies' Gimli in the film version.

There are also others that show interesting potential going forward.

And in general, considering that a series is built in a measured and slower way than a movie, it is possible that the others will also develop into intriguing and beloved characters.

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Correct construction.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (Photo: Amazon Prime Video)

But this is also the weak point of "The Lord of the Rings".

She is competing in a crowded and demanding field, which is only getting more and more extreme recently in the demand for quick results.

With the astronomical price tag hovering over it, it doesn't have the privilege of growing slowly, nor can it afford characters that are only half-interesting.

After a quarter of a season, it is certainly intriguing and spectacular enough to overshadow its weak moments - and there are some.

Her next six hours would be quite fateful for this unprecedented project.

More seasons will probably be one way or another - but "The Lord of the Rings" will not be able to serve as a niche series.

Anything beyond a mainstream hit will make it a failure that will greatly affect the service behind it - and who knows?

Perhaps about the future of the projects we are expected to see on the screen in the coming years.

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