DHe also appeared in Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Main video) is likely to prove divisive, depending on whether you’re watching it on a big TV or watching it at its best on a phone or laptop. It’s so rich and beautiful that it’s easy to see the landscapes of the first episode as it flits between the lands of elves and dwarves, humans and harefoots. This is a TV made for big screens and a must watch on small screens. It is very cinematic and grand Dragon House It looks like it was put together in Minecraft.
This makes it difficult to judge The Rings of Power as an ordinary series because it is so extraordinary. It’s Tolkien, that is, the world is already admired and loved by many in the form of books, Peter Jackson’s films, or both. There is an unusual amount of anticipation before any viewer presses play. It’s the most expensive TV series ever made — $465 million for eight episodes — and it’s hard to see it as another show. It’s an event, a scenario, but if it’s not completely perfect, does it constitute a failure?
The first 10 minutes of the opening episode set a wonderfully busy, strong pace and tone. It begins quietly and gracefully, with a young Galadriel sailing a paper ship through the “undying lands” of Valinor. Then it sharply puts its foot down, ending centuries of history and war and, crucially, the overthrow of the dark lord Morgoth. I’m usually wary of reading primers before starting a new series — it should stand alone — but doing a little homework here might help.
By the time it settles, in the twilight of the Second Age, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), commander of the Northern armies, Warrior of the Wastelands, is still hunting Morgoth’s lieutenant Sauron, whom he believes most of the elves are centuries away from. has been defeated.
I love the warrior Galadriel. She’s heroic, flawed, egotistical, bloody-minded, she’s brilliant, and scarred by the horrors of war. If that’s not funny enough, wait until you see what she does to the Snow Goblin.
If the elves bring seriousness, there’s plenty of earthy light and joy in Harfoot, Tolkien’s predecessors, the hobbits, who are preparing for their seasonal migration. The young Harfoots search for berries and frolic in the mud while their elders (including Lenny Henry) explain how it all fits together with some unpleasant explanations about who lives where and protects what land. The opening chapter also introduces us to the Southlands, where elves and humans coexist peacefully amid decades of resentment after the war.
It’s not until the second chapter and the arrival of the dwarves that a sense of depth flourishes—a sense of a fully realized world worth jumping into wholeheartedly. Dwarves anchors it and undercuts some of the show’s extravagant instincts. It’s no spoiler to say that the initial idyll soon crumbles. The elves’ insistence that “our days of war are over” is more of a dream than a cold political analysis. There are hints from the start that corruption is in the air, and it doesn’t take long for those hints to grow into sirens, sounding warnings on a grand scale. When it’s scary, it’s really scary. By the end of episode two, it’s breathlessly tense and far more terrifying than I expected.
I have two minor reservations. At times, there’s a “smell-the-furt” performance, which can be hard to avoid when every line is a poker-faced proverb: “A dog can bark at the moon, but he can’t bring it. Under.” Speed, too, is a little all-or-nothing. It runs into astonishing action sequences, or lingers over a single dialogue or meaningful scene. But these are quirks and ultimately, the show wins. This is highly enjoyable television, a cinematic treat. Now, I need to find someone with a big telly to let me watch them.
