Amazon Halts Rings of Power Reviews After Review Bombing Reports

Amazon has reportedly halted reviews for their new Lord of the Rings spinoff series, The Rings of Power after there were rumors of review bombing.

The Rings of Power is a prequel to Peter Jackson’s epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book trilogy of the same name. The series is an adaptation of Tolkien’s novel, The Silmarillion. The events of the series take place a thousand years before the events of the Lord of the Rings.

Any film or series that attempts to present a new take on an already established source material generally receives polarized reactions from the audience. While one section of the audience heavily criticizes adaptations for deviating from the source material, another section remains accepting of a new take on the existing stories and franchises.

The first two episodes of The Rings of Power premiered on September 1, and early reviews went towards a positive reaction. However, the tide changed quickly as the series began receiving mixed reviews.

The positives of the series were confined to the performances, cinematography, and production of the show, while it received harsh criticism for a slow start and a lack of strong, grounded storytelling and world-building. These aspects are crucial for a fantasy-drama series of such grandeur, and failing to deliver on these aspects disappointed many viewers.

Audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes went shockingly low, recording a score of only 37%. Due to this swift change, rumors of review bombing and online trolling for the show arose quickly.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon has taken swift action against the rumored review bombing. They are withholding premiere reviews for 72 hours so that the trolling dies down and all reviews hold some credibility.

Amazon’s unique decision makes sense, considering review bombing is a common cultural phenomenon nowadays. A huge disparity between critics’ ratings and audience ratings is often a sign of review bombing, so there’s a fair chance that the new Prime series has been subjected to the same.

The controversial decision is an apt response to the peculiar cultural phenomenon of punishing various forms of popular media for diversity and female empowerment reasons. For instance, review bombing was quite common for the recent installments of the MCU and Star Wars.

Some of the criticism the Rings of Power received was pertaining to Galadriel’s story in the first two episodes of the show. The audiences are familiar with a certain persona of the royal elf from the original Lord of the Rings films. However, the Rings of Power is set a thousand years before LOTR, which justifies why the young Galadriel is different from her older, mature version in the series.

She has a lot to learn throughout the Second Age before she can become the ethereal personality that her fans associate her with. Unfortunately, some viewers seem to be more connected to Galadriel’s earlier persona, which they’ve been vocal about online.

Nevertheless, Amazon will lift the review suspension in a couple of days and make the audience’s response to the first two episodes of the series much clearer than before. The review bombing rumors definitely have some basis, considering that the show has been receiving backlash ever since the trailer was released, due to the lack of diversity.

Hopefully, the show will be able to win over more fans as it progresses.

About The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is an American TV series, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, developed by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay for streaming on Amazon Prime. 

Set 3,000 years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the show will be set in the Second Age of Middle-earth. Beginning with a time of peace, the series will follow the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron and the forging of the rings of power.

The cast includes Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, and Dylan Smith among many others.