When you sink around $1bn into a new worldwide TV spectacular you’ll no doubt be looking for a significant return on your investment. After watching the first two episodes of Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, I’ve got a pretty good inkling of how Amazon is hoping to make its money back.
By flogging thousands of expensive big screen TVs - so viewers can truly appreciate the full cinematic wonder of this J.R.R. Tolkien masterpiece. The special effects in this prequel could very well blow his Peter Jackson’s pair of Tolkien trilogies out of the water - and that’s before we’ve even seen the most spectacular of the promised battle scenes.
Put it this way, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some Targaryan dragons looking nervously over their shoulders when this drops tomorrow.
Amazon must have been expecting such comparisons with HBO’s Game Of Thrones prequel. However, the two shows are very different. While House Of The Dragon began with a crash, a bang and several wallops, this takes a steadier approach.
If I was making a foolhardy attempt at summing up a Tolkien project in one paragraph I’d say this: It is set thousands of years before the events in Jackson’s trilogies and tells the story of the forging of the original Rings of Power during the Second Age that allowed the Dark Lord Sauron to spread evil across Middle-earth.
Right, everyone up to speed now? To be honest, the action doesn’t really begin to pick up until the end of the first episode - and when the credits roll on the second instalment it still feels like we are only just getting started.
That’s not really a surprise. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is a rather large place, full of many different landscapes and peoples.
So you would expect there to be a certain amount of getting-to-know-you. That rule applies to the cast as well. Unlike Jackson’s movies, no Hollywood superstars have visited the dressing-up box to collect their hair extensions and pointy ears.
For UK viewers the biggest name is Lenny Henry - and even in his case you’ll probably spend a couple of minutes going “Hang on, is that Lenny Henry playing a dwarf - sorry, little person?”
Then again, there’s a fair amount of make-up and prosthetics going on, so for all we know the character who looks like David Cameron in a prog rock band (High King Gil-galad) could well be being played by an A-lister. (Spoiler: He’s not.)
There is, however, every chance this series will turn some of the cast into superstars. Not least Swedish-born Welsh actress Morfydd Clark who plays Galadriel.
As if stepping into Cate Blanchett’s shoes wasn’t daunting enough, it would appear Clark has also been charged with carrying this whole production as Galadriel attempts to track down Sauron and avenge her slain brother.
By the looks of it, she is more than capable of rising to both challenges. It helps that she’s playing a character as fearless as Galadriel, who, in the first episode, leads her men on a mission to “a place so evil our torches give off no warmth.”
Which reminds me, best of luck to Liz Truss in her new job.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power starts on Friday on Amazon Prime
