Images via Amazon
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is one of the most expensive TV shows out there, and it costed Amazon nearly $1 billion to make it. However, it seems like Rings of Power has come under some intense scrutiny by fans of the late Tolkien’s works, with what some have described as review bombing taking place.
Amazon has now completely suspended reviews for its new show. Typically, Amazon Prime Video allows for users to put reviews up, unlike platforms like Netflix. However, it looks like Amazon has decided to revoke the right to review The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power over the very low user score ratings.
Besides Amazon, Rotten Tomatoes users gave the show a 36% and over on IMDB (Amazon owns it), 25% of reviews are 1 star.
It seems like a lot of negative reviews over such an expensive show. I have watched some of it (not a Tolkien expert myself), and I found that if you put the story aside, the soundtrack and cinematography were pretty great. Once again though, I can’t speak much on the story, but many reviewers have been angered by what seems to be a lack of faithfulness to the original works of Tolkien.
As an author, yeah, I would definitely be annoyed if an adaptation of my works was very off. Authors typically put hard work into designing their characters and worlds, so it’s a bit disrespectful to step on that and say it’s not good enough.
Either way, back to the main topic.
Many fans are upset over Galadriel’s depiction. She was originally a sorceress in the books, but has been turned into a sword-wielding warrior in the new Amazon show. This change has many fans annoyed especially.
The original trilogy by Tolkien predominantly had white characters, with the Amazon cast including black actors and actresses. For instance, elves, dwarves, and humans were mainly white in the original LOTR, but some are black in the new adaptation. Many LOTR fans see this as being unfaithful to the original works as well.
Many have also compared the new adaptation to the original Jackson trilogy, stating that the old films were better and more accurate to the source material than Amazon’s adaptation. Whatever the precise and exact reasons may be for the anger, it seems like Amazon just doesn’t want to deal with it anymore.
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Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
