Rings of Power: Spoiler Free Review (Episodes 1&2)

 Rings of Power {Spoiler Free} Review

Amazon’s epic new series “Rings of Power” released on Thursday, but I was busier than a bedbug in Graceland for several days. Three actual days went by without me getting to watch. I spent any surfing time speed-scrolling to avoid any possible spoilers, but finally FINALLY got to enjoy the first two episodes last night. You will find NO spoilers here, but hopefully some fellowship!

I’ve read The Hobbit at least a dozen times, Lord of the Rings somewhere north of twenty. When the original Peter Jackson LOTR movies were being planned, I scoured TheOneRing.net and any other site I could, looking for all the intel I could get about the movies. I must sheepishly admit that I had my doubts, sometimes vocally, about Jackson’s take on “my” beloved series. When it was announced that Sir Ian McKellen had been cast as Gandalf, I gave birth to kittens. He was all-wrong, I crowed. I mean, I mean… look at his nose. His nose is all wrong. Gandalf is supposed to have a pointy nose. Now, of course, I feel like a blooming idiot for those original misgivings. Jackson’s LOTR movies are my favorite movies of all time. I’ve watched them countless times. And well… Sir Ian, I apologize. You are Gandalf. 

So when Rings of Power was announced, I heard all of the griping ahead of time. I heard the fears and the accusations of how Amazon would turn Tolkien’s legendary work into “Game of Thrones: Middle Earth.” Knowing how wrong I was back in the late 90s, I kept a positive “wait and see” attitude. I read somewhere that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ son took his father to task about the potential for the Tolkien series. I believe the quote was, “Dad, don’t ‘F’ this up.”

I’m happy to report that, as of two episodes in, Rings of Power is an absolute marvel. Bezos, so far anyway, has not “F’d” the series up. I know there are Tolkien “purists” who have complaints, but honestly… so what else is new? You will never please everyone, and you’re mad if you try. Here’s my take:

Rings of Power is absolutely brilliant. I was instantly taken by the breathtaking visuals, the magnificent casting and acting, the clever easter eggs, rich dialogue, and thought-provoking themes. All of that and more speak to something spiritual within me. I had a long conversation with my son this morning about Rings of Power, so many of these observations come from him, but I wholeheartedly agree. If you come to Rings of Power with modern demands and even an inkling of entitlement, the show will disappoint you. The modern storytelling palette craved by many is fraught with gimmicks: blood, gore, action, frantic pacing, joke-telling dialogue, sex, lust, jump-scares, and more sex. Tolkien painted his stories from an entirely different palette. Tolkien’s rich tales paint with beauty, honor, bravery, grandeur, faith, platonic love, nobility, sacrifice, and scope. Rings of Power may not be chapter-and-verse Tolkien’s Silmarillion, Appendices, and notes, but it absolutely shares that wonderful rare-these-days palette. 

You will drink in lush visuals, and the storytellers know better than to rush it. You get to enjoy the scenery, stop and smell the flowers, and start pining away for that “far away land” whispered about in our own souls. I read one review who said the first two episodes were boring, tediously slow. Compared to some of the schlock we call entertainment today, maybe so. Forgive me for sounding (and being) a little condescending, but as a middle school teacher of 32 years, I can’t help but make this observation. In my experience, the adolescent readers I work with tend to complain that a book is boring… when they don’t understand it. When it’s hard. I suspect there’s a little of that going on with some early Rings of Power complainers. So far, this series wants to take its time and deliver an epic EPIC tale. Thank you, Lord! Bring on the epic-goodness! 

I thought there was plenty of action, nice bits of intrigue and mystery, and oh so much thematic nobility. This is not a show to binge and be done with. Like the Jackson movies, these are classics meant to be enjoyed over and over again, each time finding some new detail to savor. I suspect, I will pause each episode a dozen times to take screen grabs to use as desktop images on my computer. Seriously, Amazon should simultaneously release every episode in theaters. I wasn’t able to get a ticket for any of the local showings of the first two episodes, but I can only imagine the increased grandeur of seeing them on the big screen. I may have to buy a new higher resolution projector just to watch these episodes as they should be seen. Immersion is the way to go, my friends. Tolkien knew that. We laugh that he sometimes took two pages to describe a tree! But, DUDES, that’s really a big part of why we love Tolkien’s work. He took us away to whole knew worlds and sometimes let the plot simmer while he was busy wowing us with sensory description. 

A word about ethnicity. Um… yes. Including people of color and of diverse ethnicities in the cast of Rings of Power is not woke pandering. If you think so, you might need to check your Phariseeical worldview. Tolkien’s worlds are extraordinarily rich and welcoming. I’m a white dude, but I was so enchanted by the WHOLE Rings of Power cast. I adore and applaud the people of color being a part of Middle Earth. A wise writer friend once told me, when you write a novel and release it to the world, you grant subjective ownership to each and every reader. In that sense, Middle Earth has become a refuge for many millions over the years. If you insist that Middle Earth should only ever be populated by Indo-European white peeps, you are missing the point of Middle Earth, Tolkien, and creating in general. All are welcome in Middle Earth. 

To conclude, I am reminded of a brief dialogue in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Scrooge’s nephew Fred is talking to friends, explaining that each and every year around Christmastime, Fred invites Scrooge to come and join his family and friends for Christmas dinner and a party. Scrooge says pretty much the same thing each year: “Bah, humbug!” Fred observes that he actually feels sorry for his uncle’s negativity because each year, that bitter attitude rewards the man with missing out on a warm, rich happy time, something in which his old crotchety soul could perhaps find healing. That’s how I feel about those who are dissing Rings of Power. In their critical spirit, they are truly missing a masterpiece and perhaps, a bit of a reprieve from the world degrading all around us. 

Can Rings of Power keep this up for the rest of this season’s eight episodes? Or continue to provide such amazing content for five planned seasons? I don’t know. That is truly an epic aspiration. I not only hope they can, I pray they can. Until I check out of this earthly plane, my world-weary soul needs more Middle Earth.

Son of God & Noah: What to Make of Hollywood's Ventures into Christianity?

Begin Rant Now.

Two movies getting a lot of press in Christiandom lately: Noah and The Son of God. I wish the press was better. And I wish so much of the negativity wasn't coming from Christians. No offense meant to my Christian friends or family, but I have some thoughts on this:

1) I'm going to see both movies. I don't really care about all the negative press. I want to decide for myself.

2) I'll tell you what though: the previews of Noah gave me chills based on the visual representation of the power of God at work. That alone is worth my money.

I've seen the previews of Son of God. Again, chills. Just seeing the Lord walking on water makes me want to cheer and worship.

3) I tend to think movies in general and these in specific fall into the category of "Permissible based on level of Faith." If you feel a weakness to the content, DON'T see it. If something about it will skew your belief system, fine, stay home. But why jump out there acting like there's no way anything redeeming could come out of these movies? There are a couple of articles circulating that basically condemn both movies for being the worst thing next to the antiChrist. I mean, come on peeps. These so called experts spouting off about heresies unnumbered, well, they are imperfect people too. Imperfect with their own baggage, biases, and slants.  

4) This reminds me of the "Christian" reaction to so called "secular" music: if it doesn't honor God overtly and according to the latest checklist, hold up a cross, spew negativity, and stick head in sand. For me: I know some of that music is not meant to honor God, per se. But certain songs make me praise Him for the melody, or the lyrics, or both. Don't agree? Fine. Let's agree to disagree and try -JUST TRY- for once to do the whole unity of the Body that Jesus was so keen on.

I think we Christians need to chill on getting all wadded up over movies and media, unless they depict Noah as a Transformer who worships the Devil while juggling kittens. Amen?

PS: If we want to show the movie-making powers that be that we want more Christian oriented movie fare, we might want to be a little less picky. 

End Rant. 

Epilogue #1: Just got back from Son of God, the movie. Seriously glad I didn't listen to the naysayers. Last thing in the world I want to do is start a debate within the family of God, but from my heart-of-hearts, I can't see anything in the movie that was so wrong, so heretical that any Christian would discourage others from seeing this movie. And I would think that any skeptic or unbeliever watching the movie would be confronted by the truth of Jesus in a powerful way. 

For me, the movie absolutely showed Jesus' humanity, the gladness in His heart, the mercy, the compassion. SPOILER ALERT: not much of a spoiler, really because it was a relatively small scene. But I just LOST IT when Jesus knelt down to the woman caught in adultery. The first thing He does is lift. her. chin. Something about that just cracked my heart right open. Jesus is the lifter of our chin. I thought the movie was stunningly beautiful and meaningful. It reminded me of how critically important the creative arts are to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Avatar: Forget the Hype. It's better than that.

Finally got a chance to see Avatar tonight. Took my two sons with me. And parents, use your own discernment before the Lord as to whether you want to see it or take kids to see it.  But all I can say is: WOW. Seriously, I was absolutely floored by the movie.

I've heard lots of reviews talk about the special effects as if they are worth the price of a ticket, while the story is weak. NONSENSE. The story was brilliantly executed, if not terribly original. It's not like the story of Star Wars was that original either. Hello, Arthurian Legend?

One critical point and then back to raving. Beware, SPOILERS ahead, but I'll try not to ruin the movie for anyone. Ok, so the one hokey thing is that the Na'vi (the blue alien race) have a kind of New Agey/Indian Spirit World kind of religion going on. There are a couple of strange scenes where they all lock arms and kind of sway in a sort of prayer to All Mother (kind of like mother earth). And there's a line or two about us killing our own world's mother. But that's it. Official Disclaimer: there's some seriously foul language from time to time--from the space marines, which makes sense, but nonetheless made me wince a few times.

Effects: This is the first movie I've ever scene where I actually could not tell where the reality began and ended. The CGI is that good. From beads of sweat on a forehead to strands of wheat on a cliffside, to an uncanny look of love in the eyes of Neytiri (female lead), it was all absolutely spectacular. It was all just right. Camera angles, color, action, detail, shadow, movement---just flawless. And the world that Mr. Cameron developed was nothing short of breathtaking. After the movie, my son said to me, "Dad, I want to go back there." I asked what  he meant. "Back into that world," he replied. And you know what? So did I. The coolest thing was that on the drive home, the shared awe of this fantasy world gave rise to a conversation of what Heaven will be like--that it will blow Avatar's world out of the water! We also got to talk about doing heroic things here on earth by serving the Lord. How's that for post movie chit chat? Praise God.

Story: Humans have depleted earth's resources and go looking for more elsewhere. We find it on an alien moon where the Na'vi live. There's a powerful ore beneath the Na'vi's main home and so greedy people want to take it. Sounds like a lot of things, right? Well, not so fast. See Avatar isn't just a cool sounding name. It's the key to it all. Kind of virtual reality taken to a level never before seen. And it leads to all sorts of internal conflicts and passionate themes. I was inspired to love my wife better, to love my family with protective ferocity. There's this one scene I will never forget where Neytiri protects her husband who is wounded, and warding off enemies. After several battles, she crouches over her beloved and turns to face the attacker----WOW!!!  I want someone to love me with that kind of ferocity. I want to love others with that kind of ferocity. Maybe God loves us with that kind of ferocity. He loved us enough to die for us.

Edification from an Unexpected Source...

Sometimes man must stand on the brink of destruction before he will change.

Man is far less in control of life than he thinks he is.

There are powers beyond our imagination at work in this world.

People should be better stewards over the things they are given.

Sound like sermon topics to you? It might surprise you that these are very clear themes from the recently released remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. I was itching to use my AMC Movie Gift Cards, you see. And well, I wanted to see something blockbusterish--a real special effects extravaganza.

So, I roped a good friend into going to see The Day the Earth Stood Still with me. I'd heard the reviews: most of them very iffy, if not altogether bad. So, I went in with relatively low expectations. All I can say is WOW. The movie was very cool! I like films that function on many levels. The story was interesting. The characters were sympathetic. The FX were righteous. But what really astounded me were the powerful messages.

Anyone else seen it? Any thoughts?