First 2 episodes. 2 hours and 13 minutes in and...almost nothing has happened.
Galadriel has Plot Armor and gets "Promoted" to the Undying Lands because
She Won't Listen to the Men!
Elrond can't remember birthdays or weddings.
The High Elf King is a smarmy, venal politician.
Harfoot halfling girl is a serial child endangerer because she's Plucky and Defiant!
The only good looking female in New Zealand has to behead a goblin because
The Men Won't Listen to a Girl!
Knife Ears the elf gets lost in a tunnel.
Men are
Racist to the Elves.
Ooh! Mystery Meteor Man is Mysterious!
Sigh.
It comes across as a 1990s cable TV show. Plodding, linear with ginned up suspense, jump scares and dullness.
3/4 of a billion dollars to the same guys who tanked GOT. Best con in history?
The effects are good.
The music is lame, generic and incredibly obtrusive.
The acting is cutesy and constipated.
They've literally gone the length of a feature film-and 25% of their run time-to establish nothing. The only names I know are from the movies.
But, but! Girl power! Inclusion! Patriarchy!
There is only one "action" scene. A giant troll smashes 3 or 4 elf warriors and Galadriel saves the day without bothering to look at the troll whilst swinging, while doing 1970s HK kungfu flourishes with her giant plastic sword and not breaking a sweat.
I've opened mail with more intensity.
Amazon has suspended online rating because they got "review bombed" with negativity. Uh huh.
Unless something happens in the next episode(a plot, some acting, character development, some storytelling...) this might go down as the most expensive flop in history.
The budget for the Lord of the Rings trilogy was 93 million.About 160 million today. Think about that.
Lest ye think I'm anti Strong Womyn...I'm a devoted fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and will fight anyone about it. The trope can easily be done well...just not cloaked in wokeness or simple incompetence.