Robert Gray

Whether fair or not, by creating a film or show within a well established IP especially one as beloved as Lord of the Rings which has seen popularity worldwide comparable to many western religious text, the creators must embrace that there are expectations from their audience both in quality and in content. The show features familiar locations from Tolkien's work and, in many ways they are beautiful. It features the names of characters who mant will remember from the books and Jackson films but the character attached too them are not the same characters from the books or movies and are completely foreign. The name Galadriel is now attached to a poorly written anime protagonist who has been rendered completely unlikable and who I cannot bring myself to give a damn about. Elrond, the lord of Rivendell comes off as a weak man with no common sense, running contrary to every presentation of him across Tolkein's work. Gil Galad comes off as an incompetent buffoon. These names come from Tolkein but the traits which actually defined them are nowhere to be seen. Given the Lord of the Rings name attached to this series I do not believe I am wrong to have come into this expecting more 'Lord of the Rings' but instead while there are names and visuals that remind me of Tolkeins world, there is next to nothing else which serves to do so. There is subversion of expectation and then there is this which goes far beyond by making the entire production unrecognizable from the series which appears to have been developed less to tell the stories which Tolkein outlined and more to just attach a well known name to a mediocre product in the hope that it sells more! The problem is that even if it didn't have the Lord of the Rings name, claiming this show was mediocre would be a huge exaggeration. Is it beautiful? In many ways yes, but so are some screensavers and it doesnt mean I want to spend hours watching them. Even if this was an original work which was free of comparison this show still does not stand on it's own. The charters are unlikable, forgettable and seem inclined to when given any options somehow ignore them and find some even more brainless course of action. The dialogue is more akin to what you would expect in a film for angsty pre-teens instead of an adult audience. Some might call this a slow burn plot but the plot is essentially MIA, the bad dialogue makes it needlessly slow and the only thing I want to burn is my Amazon subscription! In conclusion, though it caries the name lord of the rings and it has individuals with the same names as beloved characters from those works, doing so is the equivalent of slapping The Jurassic Park title onto a movie about Malcolm X because they both happen to have somebody named Malcolm it them.