The Rings of Power episodes 1 & 2 spoiler-free fan review

I was able to attend a fan screening of Amazon's Lord of the Rings prequel - here are my initial thoughts...

I’m a massive The Lord of the Rings fan and sometime Tolkien scholar (my MA dissertation was on Tolkien and T H White). So I’ve been awaiting The Rings of Power with nervous trepidation – would it be a cynical exercise in franchise-building by Amazon? Or would within the wheels of Amazon’s ambitions something truly good be able to grow?

Well, today (or yesterday now it’s past midnight!) I managed to get a ticket to the free fan screening of the first two episodes at Chapter cinema in Cardiff. I took the free popcorn and bottle of water, so I'm clearly now just an Amazon Shill(!), but almost despite myself I quite enjoyed it. But I do have some significant reservations…

First impressions – no spoilers...

Surface-wise it’s pretty entertaining, and has some real warmth. But it also feels a bit vague and slow to get in gear story-wise, and has some very broad accents that teeter on the edge of comedy. It is much more in the spirit of Tolkien than I feared it would be, but to me isn’t firing on all cylinders, at least not yet.

I was very glad to see that is thoughtfully engaged with Tolkien and his themes. The very first line is an important Tolkien theme with significant theological resonance! It leans into the mythic in a way that makes me hopeful that some of the philosophy of Tolkien will come through – his worldview, not just his world building.

So it might be ‘fan fiction’ in fleshing out the sketch of Second Age history found in The Lord of the Rings appendices but it is sincerely aiming for the spirit of Tolkien’s writing – whatever the motives of Amazon as a company, the writing isn’t cynical. But whether the skill of the writers can match their ambitions very much remains to be seen. I have my concerns that it will coast by on its admittedly lavish budget and on recreating the feel of the Peter Jackson movies, but without Tolkien’s really robust storytelling to underpin it and make it a true artistic success.

My concerns from watching the first 2 eps are rooted in details of character, plotting etc. Many of the characters are well-drawn, interesting and likeable, but there are some odd leaps in behaviour and less well developed, more trope-y characters too. Perhaps some of the gaps will get filled in later, but I’d rather emotional clarity over mystery. Two episodes in out of eight – 25% of the way through! – and I’m still not clear what overall story the first season is trying to tell, which is in stark contrast to the LOTR films, where you’ve almost got to the Council of Elrond by the 2 hour mark.

The direction nods a bit too heavily to the Jackson LOTR movies at times, especially in its prologue, which feels like a soft remake in a Force Awakens type way. But it gets better at doing its own thing and is definitely a step up from the non-book material added in The Hobbit movies! That's perhaps a low bar to clear though.

One small example of something that broke immersion for me: characters seemed to zip around Middle-earth without a sense of distance and travel time passing. Tolkien took great care on those details whereas the show didn’t seem to. Maybe it maps out if we assume that events aren’t literally happening simultaneously as edited - but then there is something that happens that seems to tie the timelines together in a way I don't think hangs together.

But The Rings of Power is a very credible effort at a very ambitious goal – that it would match Tolkien for storytelling was always a fool’s hope, but the first episodes show it to be both respectful of the source material and entertaining, which is no small feat. Whether it can tell a really good story that approaches Tolkien’s achievement remains to be seen.

I look forward to discussing it in more detail once it’s out in the world for all to see! Why not leave a comment with your hopes and fears for The Rings of Power?