After a season 1 that was panned by the press and the public, this second act of The Rings of Power must prove to everyone that Prime Video has the capacity to transpose Tolkien's imagination onto the screen, and onto a visibly complex serial format. The press has decided, and has given its verdict.
what is the verdict for season 2 of the rings of power?
One day before the release of the long-awaited season 2 of The Rings of PowerOn Amazon Prime Video, all the spotlights are on the series and spin-off of The Lord of the Rings. The platform, the showrunners, the actors and actresses have deployed a whole arsenal of communication to woo fans of Tolkien and Peter Jackson's films, promising to have corrected the errors that largely tainted the first season, which was ridiculed by its HBO competitor: House of the Dragon.
The Prime Video series has a big card to play (in addition to having to justify its colossal budget) by reversing the trend, since its rival has disappointed some viewers. The live-action premiere of Tom Bombadil (and maybe blue mages), new creatures and locations, or a large-scale battleare the arguments of Jeff Bezos' platform. Will this nevertheless be enough to coax the most cinephiles and fans of the British novelist?
While the temperature is gradually rising as the pilot episode approaches, the American press was able to preview this season 2. But as one might have feared, the result is not there.Still as beautiful, but still as hollow. This is the trend that seems to be emerging with regard to the series. The inability of the showrunners to honor Tolkien and to offer something other than simply pleasing the fans seems to be emerging.
The second installment in this series, as beautiful but as flat as a kitchen splashback, suffers from the same problems as the first. Rather than providing a thrilling sense of discovery, Rings of Power instead instills disorientation, as if you were walking into a college class without having done the required preparatory reading. Rings of Power's difficulty in communicating basic stakes or mechanics is directly related to its difficulty in creating believable fictional beings with distinctive features and memorable idiosyncrasies. Sauron is one of the most iconic villains in popular culture, but in this version he's no more interesting as a poker-faced sleeper agent than he was in Season 1. The protagonists stick closely to archetypes created either by Tolkien or the collective consciousness. – Variety
The political maneuvering that was meant to add complexity to the realm divides it rather neatly into heroes and villains. Interpersonal dynamics are so vaguely described that I wondered if I had missed a scene, or even a dozen. A few characters seem to be there only because they will be important to the mythology later, rather than because they have something to do and say in the moment. Others are summoned only to be killed. By privileging tradition over intimacy and heart, The Rings of Power puts its story under glass. You can admire the ambition and the beauty of the show; you can understand how things happened and why. But very little of it will seem likely to move you. – The Hollywood Reporter
When showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne focus on the intrigue involved in the creation and distribution of the Rings, or the impact they have on their wearers, The Rings of Power delivers poignant drama. Unfortunately, the further the plot strays from Sauron's machinations, the less satisfying it becomes. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2does a great job of depicting Sauron's machinations and his impact on those he manipulates, but it spends too much time on disconnected subplots that deliver poor copy and uninteresting characters. What moments of powerful pathos and dramatic action the season does offer are bogged down in scenes that focus on places and people that won't become important until later in the Middle-earth saga. – IGN
The overloaded season 2 of The Rings of Powerisn't perfect, but this Sauron-centric installment is a dark and oppressive ode to the characters, cast and world of Middle-earth – anchored by one of the best performances of the year from Celebrimbor actor Charles Edwards – Total Film
In Season 2 of The Rings of Power, it feels like the show is hitting predetermined targets with little to no panache. Characters are fighting over things we already know the answer to, and Payne and McKay do little else to make the situation interesting. Still, there's clearly a plan in place, one that McKay and Payne seem afraid to stray too far from. It's easy to see why they wouldn't want to: Tolkien created a lush, complex fantasy world for the duo to immerse themselves in. Season 2 of the show draws on the past (the author's own work as well as the Peter Jackson films), but it seems afraid to ask itself: what a Lord of the Rings series should look like today. – Screenrant
Usually more flexible than the French, the American press is not satisfied with the version offered by Prime Video. Flat characters, uninteresting subplots, lack of depth, season 2 of Rings of Power seems to suffer from the same problems as its predecessor. We hope to be pleasantly surprised tomorrow on Prime Video.