Jack Hilton II

Based on a first watch of Amazon's Wheel of Time series, I couldn't recommend it to hardcore fans of the book. If I could give a separate recommendation to people who are not so invested, then it would get 3 stars from me. I have liked a lot of adaptations of other book series that I have read, from Dune to Harry Potter. I loved the Lord of the Rings movies and was okay with The Hobbit. I read Marvel's comics as a kid and still liked the movies. Even though there were some pretty significant changes from source materials, I enjoyed these projects. But some basic and unnecessary plot divergences make this WoT series unwatchable for me. I hate the changes to Mat Cauthon's character. He was a lovable rogue in the books, but a despicable thief in the pilot. Making his parents awful doesn't improve his backstory or give him needed depth. His depth came from his journey - harsh experience damaged him, broke him, and let him grow in the books. This is the essence of the hero's journey for most main characters in book. The director could have and should have made judicious changes to the source material. This is an adaptation, after all. These changes to character, however, were pointless and served to change the tone of the early story beyond the point of enjoyability. In addition to character changes, there are numerous changes to basic rules in the diegesis. The story that the director is telling isn't really the same story readers enjoyed. 2 thumbs way, way down. But for many people who aren't invested in the original stories, I could see this getting air time. There are some beautiful sets and okay acting. Special effects aren't any worse than some Bollywood productions, which I enjoy. To be clear, though, they are not good. The trollocs were a standout exception. My expectation for their representation was decidedly low to begin with. I was surprised and somewhat delighted by them. They would pick up a couple stars in rating through this; but, I'm too disappointed in the fumbled character and world changes to give it any shrift.