‘Lord of the Rings’ show a triumph

One show to rule them all…or at least, that’s what Amazon Prime Video is hoping, with the notoriously hefty $715 million they reportedly spent on the first season budget and rights to the “Lord of the Rings” franchise.

The money certainly shows onscreen: “The Rings of Power” is a dazzling, gorgeous, thrilling trip to Middle Earth.

[Warning: Some minor spoilers ahead.]

Premiering Sept. 1 at 9 p.m. EST on Prime Video and set in Tolkien’s fantasy world thousands of years before the events of the Peter Jackson movies, the show similarly begins with a voiceover from the elf Galadriel (Cate Blanchett in the films, Morfydd Clark in the show), who narrates a montage of a war that happened in the past. This isn’t an auspicious way to begin most shows, but it appropriately sets a tone of nostalgia here.

As we’re told, these previous wars involved a villain called Morgoth, who had Orcs and the famous “LOTR” villain Sauron to do his bidding. In the present, Morgoth is gone, and Orcs haven’t been spotted in years. But Galadriel is convinced that Sauron and Orcs are still out there, so she’s been on a centuries-long mission to defeat them on behalf of her slain brother. (Clark bears an impressive likeness to a young Blanchett, and she does an admirable job of capturing her mannerisms.) 

The other Elves essentially see Galadriel as a Debbie Downer, and their king is ready to move on from the days of bloodshed and officially declare a time of peace. A king turning a blind eye to a lurking threat — what could possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile, there are strange events afoot in other corners of this world — all of which are visual feasts. We meet a community of Harfoots (a nomadic version of Hobbits) and the curious young Harfoot girl Elanor “Nori” Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), who yearns for adventure much to her mother’s dismay because that’s not the Harfoot way. But adventure soon comes to Nori in the form of a mysterious stranger.

There’s also the Elf Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) and his star-crossed human crush Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi). He’s been stationed in her village, but since the elf king has officially declared a time of peace, he’s now being called away right as sinister events start happening.  And then there’s young Elrond (Hugo Weaving in the films, Robert Aramayo here), an Elf politician who has been tasked to work with a renowned blacksmith on a secretive project.

Although this universe is vast, and its cast of characters is huge, the show does an admirable job of not overwhelming viewers. We meet just a handful of characters at first, getting to know who the players are, what each character cares about, and what their world is like, before their status quo shifts. The storytelling shows both confidence and restraint as it unfolds.

That said, “The Rings of Power” isn’t perfect. It throws some action sequences at us near the start, and it’s hard to care about stakes when we’ve just met these characters, so a few scenes have a Michael Bay-esque feel of bombastic action just for the sake of it. And Arondir’s entrance, which mirrors the famous Aragorn entrance from the films (striding into a tavern as a mysterious hooded figure), feels like less of a tribute and more like the show is trying too hard.  

But for the most part, the show is a triumph. And although comparisons to the “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon” are inevitable, it feels entirely different and less cynical, making it a solid companion piece to the movies. Even in this current era where genre shows are a dime a dozen, “The Rings of Power” announces the arrival of a fantasy series that’s a cut above the rest.