Skip to main content

The Rings Of Power Needs To Avoid The Hobbit Trilogy's Biggest Mistake

Amazon's The Rings of Power needs to take great pains to avoid The Hobbit trilogy's biggest mistake. First released on February 13th, 2022, via a Super Bowl advertisement, the first teaser trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showcases a stunning variety of new locales, characters, and events across Middle Earth's Second Age. Many of these shots involve the clear use of CG, with a good chunk of The Rings of Power's mammoth $462 million (per Vanity Fair) season 1 budget directly spent on digitally producing these grandiose scenes.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power teaser certainly does not lack for scope, with the Amazon original trailer introducing audiences to never-before-seen sections of Middle Earth. A young Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) is shown scaling the icy walls of Helcaraxë before charging into battle against Morgoth's forces, while several sweeping shots depict the kingdoms of Númenor, Rivendell, and Khazad-dûm, respectively. There are also quick cuts of a new type of Cave Troll attacking an Elven figure and Markella Cavenagh's Harfoot aiding a man inside a fiery maelstrom - all of which require extensive CG work to bring to life.

Related: Is The Rings Of Power Based On A Book? What Amazon's LOTR Show Adapts

Yet contrary to its first CG-laden trailer, The Rings of Power needs to avoid The Hobbit trilogy's biggest mistake, which was a criminal overuse of special effects. Many of The Hobbit's big battles and climactic scenes were almost entirely built using CGI, making each of them feel hollow and weightless within the context of the story. Unnervingly, early glimpses of The Rings of Power look to be falling into this trap, with swathes of The Lord of the Rings fandom suggesting several of the teaser's scenes look more like a videogame than a TV series via social media.

Peter Jackson's original The Lord of the Rings trilogy combined a near-perfect blend of physical special effects, CGI work, and props to flesh out its Third Age Middle Earth. This approach is particularly pertinent to Jackson's numerous battle scenes that used real stunt actors, making clashes such as the Lothlorien Elves defending Helm's Deep and the Uruk Hai attack on the Fellowship feel gritty, tense, and realistic. These high stakes and realistic battles added serious narrative weight to Jackson's trilogy, which is exactly what The Hobbit movies were missing.

The most glaring example here is the final confrontation in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, in which the entire fight between the Dwarves and the Orcs outside Erebor is computer generated. This gratuitous use of CG makes each unit feel almost weightless even as their battle lines clash, ruining the immersion of an otherwise spellbinding tale. As a result, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power needs to go back to the original combination of physical and special effects that made The Lord of the Rings movies feel so grounded, even within the context of a fantasy setting. The initial reaction to The Rings of Power teaser should serve as a warning to Amazon, with Galadriel scaling the ice wall feeling closer in essence to Assassins' Creed than LOTR. Amazon's reported $1 billion, five-season budget for The Rings of Power will be used for many over the series' lifespan, but first and foremost, the show should look to avoid The Hobbit movies' CG mistakes and evoke the timeless feel of Jackson's original LOTR trilogy.

Next: Where's Sauron During The Rings Of Power? Why The Teaser Doesn't Show Him



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who Is Billy? Black Christmas 1974's Ending Explained

Bob Clark's 1974 horror film Black Christmas is one of the most influential slasher movies of all time, and it has an unforgettably chilling ending. In Black Christmas Billy is considered the villain as he picks off victims one by one, and after almost 50 years, his identity is still debated. The story takes place in a sorority house, where the residents are throwing a Christmas party before they depart. Little do they know, however, that a perverted killer has made his way into the house, and is preparing to pick them off one by one. The Billy Black Christmas character remains in the shadows for most of the movie, that is, until the chilling ending.
Post a Comment
Read more

The 10 Best Westworld Characters, According To Ranker

With the return of Westworld for its long-awaited fourth season, fans are instantly becoming hooked once again to the sci-fi story. But while the compelling mystery is certainly a draw, it is the characters of Westworld that really bring this ambitious story to life. While everyone certainly will have their own personal favorites, Ranker has shared the most popular Westworld characters among fans. Some characters are easy to root for, some are more complex, and many of them have their own intriguing mysteries fans love exploring. 10 Felix Lutz It seems that the people working at Westworld fall into one of two categories, either being indifferent and cruel to the hosts or showing empathy for these creations. Felix falls into the latter category, making him a likable part of the team. His true compassion shows when Maeve recruits him to help her escape from the park. While Felix is a timid man, he seems to be inspired by Maeve's boldness and strength which pushes him to fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Which X-Men Character Are You, Based On Your MBTI® Type?

Even more so than other superhero teams in Marvel and DC, the X-Men offers a lot in the variety of characters who have served as members. Most mutants in Marvel have been X-Men, and these characters came in all shapes and sizes, many with overbearing personalities and others more recluse, traversing the  MBTI® Type scale. Led by Professor X, many of the members of the X-Men started there as kids while others joined as adults. There have been heroes and villains who worked on the team and on the island of Krakoa, every mutant lives there together in peace. With so much drama and complex personalities throughout the history of the X-Men, there is an MBTI® Type for everyone. 10 INTJ-A - Professor X Professor Charles Xavier is clearly an Architect when it comes to his MBTI® Type. Not only that, but he is an Assertive Architect. He is a self-assured man who values organization and rationality when solving problems. This started out when he created the X-Men and bec...
Post a Comment
Read more