The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Five years ago Amazon Prime publicly embarked on a mission for its own Game of Thrones.

Behold, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, a lavish 8 part series said to be the most expensive television show ever produced (the rights alone cost US$250 million).

There is money on the screen in this broadly-appealing saga which is pitched more at families than GoT ever attempted. Coincidentally, it arrives at the same time as HBO’s House of the Dragon and it’s difficult not to make obvious comparisons.

With a little CGI help, New Zealand looks alluring as Middle Earth, with snow-capped mountains, thundering waterfalls and evergreen pastures bringing to life the Elven realms of Lindon and Eregion, the Dwarven realm Khazad-dûm, the Southlands, the Northernmost Wastes, the Sundering Seas, and more. Visually this tale appears to be heavily inspired by Peter Jackson’s famed triolgies, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s body of work.

Prime Video has been successful in living up to Jackson’s big screen motifs, and there’s arguably something for everybody in the first two episodes which have been released. To be sure, it’s a sprawling cast facing epic quests, matched in size and scale.

At the centre of this adventure is Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), an Elven warrior whose brother was smite by the evil Sauron, bringing darkness to the kingdom. Determined to avenge his death she leads a group of Elven warriors to the icy, northern wastelands of Forodwaith. But while they prove reluctant to forge on, she refuses to give up until the enemy is vanquished. Later, a rather dull High-king Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) directs her to sail to Valinor, which like all these quests is rife with peril.

The charismatic half-Elf Elrond (Robert Aramayo), who challenges Galadriel on leading Elves to their death, will be mentored by Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) and tasked with building a tower with the help of the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm. But first there’s a little rock challenge to be completed with King Durin III (Peter Mullan).

Hunky Silvan Elf Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), who has spent 79 years watching over humans in the Southland, is forging a forbidden relationship with local villager and healer Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), whose teen son Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) has found a secret sword with the symbol of Sauron.

Then there are the not-quite Hobbits, the Harfoots led by the elder Sadoc Burrows (Lenny Henry), whose great book tells of future events and the stars looking down. Teen Elanor “Nori” (Markella Kavenagh) will stumble upon a Stranger (Daniel Weyman) in origins that reminded me of Superman, but who adopts a very different form.

Populated throughout are all manner of villains and monsters in the form of Snow Trolls, Orcs, giant ocean-swimming worms and more.

There’s a lot to intake as you would expect of such an epic project but every sequence is like an adventure-within-an-adventure, save for the scenes to catch your breath and deepen relationships with characters. There’s also considerable blind casting but is it a stereotype to have boozy, brawling Dwarves don Scottish accents? Should Lenny Henry be adopting an Irish accent as a Harfoot elder, and it’s hard not to notice some very stern elves have a decided plum-in-mouth British accent. Not a Kiwi nor Aussie to be heard down this neck of Middle Earth, of course…

Morfydd Clark is a stand-out as the very poised, very determined Galadriel, but spirited teens Tyroe Muhafidin and Markella Kavenagh are ones to watch, while Ismael Cruz Córdova cuts a dashing, smouldering Arondir.

Howard Shore, who composed for Peter Jackson’s two trilogies, returns for the theme music, although it is composer Bear McCreary’s score which bring elaborate scenes staged by director J. A. Bayona to life.

Episode one is necessarily heavy on establishing the worlds and identifying just what it is each in this vast ensemble wants, but it’s an enjoyable first outing.

We’ll never know whether those dragons might conquer these Elves should they ever face off in a celebrity death match, but fantasy fans have probably never had it so good.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is now screening on Prime Video.