Marcos Americus

This production is an affront and an insult to Tolkien and anyone who truly appreciates his life's work. Not only does the production look cheap (especially when compared to the LotR trilogy), but the writing, casting, acting, wardrobe and direction are just as bad. Possibly the only redeeming feature of this entire farce is its CGI, because well, a billion dollars has to buy at least that, right? The show butchers the source material it purports to adapt by proverbially "filling in the blanks" with a sad tirade of post-modernist ideological affectations that were never part of Tolkien's original work and have no place in Arda. The dialogue is tired and generic and pays no respect to the values and motifs of Tolkien's legendarium. The historicity of the show as it relates to the Lord of the Rings appendices (the material licensed to Amazon on which the show is based on) is plain wrong. The characters are inaccurate at best and largely misrepresented. The original characters are bland, unconvincing and too out-of-place vis a vis their roles. The wildly negative reviews which, in my estimation, have been mostly submitted by true fans of the franchise are completely justified. As it stands I don't believe this show has any hope to correct course without a complete rewrite and reboot. As a generic fantasy story it very well may please the uninitiated, but this is certainly not a continuation off the sublime literary art that is Lord of the Rings and is not worth your time if that is what you are expecting.