Lord of the Rings - The Rings of Power review: A thing of beauty

The Lord of the Rings prequel has Galadriel at its heart, but Lenny Henry and his Irish hobbits will probably be the main talking point in this country, writes Esther McCarthy

Fri, 02 Sep, 2022 - 21:00

It boasts huge-scale set pieces, a younger, feistier Galadriel and Lenny Henry as part of a band of Irish-accented hobbits which viewers here are likely to have opinions on.

Amazon’s high-stakes and eagerly anticipated new Lord of the Rings series - estimated to be costing $1 billion - lands on Amazon as one of the most talked-about series debuts of recent years. The Rings of Power arrived on the Prime Video streaming service from Friday, September 2.

Visually, The Rings of Power is a thing of beauty, delivering promise and curiosities in equal measure, and setting the groundwork for what is likely to be a five-season series.

But for Irish viewers, the first episode is all about meeting the Harfoots - a group of playful folk who are a breed of hobbits. Ruddy of cheek and mischievous by nature, they boast strong Irish accents, and it will be fascinating to see how their background feeds into the story, and what audiences here will make of it all.

Our introduction to Galadriel sees her hankering for simpler times. “Nothing is evil in the beginning. And there was a time when the world was so young, there had not yet been a sunrise. But even then, there was light,” she says, before a violent attack forced a legion of elves into war and later, Middle Earth.

Through narration, there is a lot of back story that’s zipped through in the opening sequences of the first episode, which devotees of Tolkien and Peter Jackson’s films might fear skims through rich detail.

But this is a series which is also striving to find new audiences, and it’s important for the filmmakers and characters to set out their stall in the opener. The opening episode marries the two as successfully as is possible, and feels workmanlike by necessity.

At the heart of it all is the younger, more combative and impetuous Galadriel, who is channeling her inner Cate Blanchett and then some.

She is played in warrior mode by Welsh actress Morfydd Clark, who absolutely looks to be an ace in the pack for the series from when she first appears on screen.

Played as both noble and tough by Clark, she has a screen presence that you sense will only build as the stakes and backstories for these characters are developed and dramatised. No doubt show runners Patrick McKay and JD Payne - along with the series producers - saw Clark’s unforgettable turn in the 2019 horror indie, Saint Maud, and snapped her up. It was a savvy move. We look forward to seeing the rest of her adventures.