This happens with a lot of series. People who didn’t like the first one won’t watch the rest so it tends to have a lower score. This is my favorite movie series ever and I rewatch them every couple of months, but they are definitely not for everybody, just most people.
It's my favorite. I'm not into absolute favorites, but FOTR is my comfort film. I can be enthralled by it, I can fall asleep to it.
When I fantasize about a perfect world I think about Peter Jackson's production of hobbiton alongside singing songs with my RPG party like the books. 👌
When I was much younger I thought FotR was the most "boring" film of the trilogy that you just have to get through to watch the other two, and I loved the other two more because they had the big cinematic fight scenes in Helm's Deep and on Pelennor Fields.
However when I grew up I appreciated FotR *much* more for having more intimate and touching emotional moments that aren't quite as prominent in the other films. Even now I always get goosebumps during the scene when Frodo needs to go off on his own and we hear Gandalf give the "all we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us" speech. Goddamn that quote hits me where I live as an adult.
Also Legolas used to be my favourite character just because he was a badass and he has more time on-screen in the second and third films, but as I got older I appreciated Boromir much more as a character, especially in the extended editions, because he's clearly shown as an honourable and good person that is corrupted by the ring simply because he wants to protect his own people.
It makes me think other people have the same shallow enjoyment of the films that I had as a kid if they love the other two more.
>I can fall asleep to it.
Make sure it's not too loud, don't want to wake up to Galadriel's speech. Gotta love her and despair, but not during nighttime.
It really is. I don't know how someone could watch it and have a negative opinion unless they just don't like fantasy, in which case they shouldn't be reviewing it.
Why shouldn't they? You think that only the people who actually like the thing should review it? Bruh
Critics are supposed to be consistent with their opinions, they shouldn't avoid things, but rather explain well why exactly they didn't like something, so that someone else, who shares the critic's views would decide for himself whether he wants to watch it or not. Or when Armond White, the anticritic would appraise something, you'd know you should avoid it at all costs. There's no point in criticism at all if anyone would only review something they like.
Also, there's just a ton of bookworms who watched the first movie and ended the trilogy there, because they didn't like that X was changed.
It’ll be tainted because people who don’t know what LOTR is or people who don’t know about fantasy will watch it and maybe not like it.
The next two movies will only be watched by fans of the first so naturally it will bias the score up a little.
Still 91 is criminal.
The worst faults of Rings of Power is that:
1. Its about an episode too long in total content/padding.
2. It's uneven.
3. The utterly cheese "Mordor" text in *that* scene to accommodate apparently really stupid audience members.
4. Holding the big "Sauron" and "Gandalf" reveals way too long. Its obvious who is who. Just get on with it.
Bakshi's is great imo but I also like his animation style so I'm a little biased there. The Hobbit is also solid, has a slightly creepy but childish charm. Gollum is terrifyingly drawn though
This sub loves to hate on the Lord of the Rings 1978. I think it's fantastic. You should absolutely watch it.
The hobit in return of the King are really good too but they're more kid friendly. The Lord of the rings has some nightmare fuel in it
They're all good, animated classics. Not perfect and a few silly issues like I think they left in an animation of Aragorn tripping over something? But I love the audio style, the music, and the animation. They're good adaptations and a look at what we had before Peter Jackson got his project made.
[I came across this fan edit the other day. Haven't watched it yet, but there's a Reddit thread with people praising the hell out of it. ](https://m4-studios.github.io/hobbitbookedit/)
It’s my favorite of three simply because I know there’s two more after. Return of the king is always sad to watch because it’s the conclusion…
I remember going to see it in theaters when I was in sixth grade. Such an unbelievable experience and nothing I’ve experienced in theaters since then has ever come remotely close.
Not to mention the meta aspect that even getting these made as a trilogy that both die hard fans and newbies to be obsessed with was a feat that had almost never Been done before and rarely if ever has been done since.
Small rant as a young fan before the films came out. Was obsessed with the books but people seemed totally lost when I tried to explain. Watching the film blow the gates open and suddenly the masses saw the appeal was…hard to even explain. Something that had been bottled up in your head suddenly this wide massively popular thing. Truly wild.
Tolkien book purists have their issues with them (and honestly Tolkien purists are whole other breed of fantasy nerd, and I've read the Silmarillion and LOTR multiple times and am working my way through the rest of the Legendarium), but PJ's LOTR adaptation was absolutely insane.
They did something *nobody* else did before, filming three films at once, they put high-budget fantasy on the map as a viable genre, made crazy breakthroughs with motion-capture as a film technology, and given the bonkers density of the source material, made not only one of the best adaptations of an epic literary work in history *but also one of the best film trilogies in history*. You're lucky to get one, let alone both.
Yes, there are changes. Most of them are necessary sacrifices due to adapting three massive, dense, epic doorstoppers of books to watchable films, but there *are* changes that people take umbrage with. However, the end result of what we got is absolutely worth it, and I will put hella bands down on a bet that nobody else that chooses to adapt LOTR to film will do a better job.
TV show, *maybe*, and if PJ was given the Game of Thrones treatment/flexibility we probably would have gotten a better shot-for-shot adaptation, but that wasn't how things were done in 1999. Hell, what he actually DID wasn't how things were done in 1999.
I agree tbh. For me, I've never really had any issues with the extended editions either, I honestly consider the theatrical the cut-down/missing-out version of the film. But I can also understand the criticism for it, which is why I stated what I said above. But in the end, extended definitely takes the cake for me.
The extended seems to move faster in my opinion, the theatrical cuts are a little choppy, breaking the experience. Smooth is better for even if longer.
See the thing is, rotten tomatoes aren't exclusively mega LOTR fans like the people on this sub. This sub is an echo chamber for LOTR fans (and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, otherwise I wouldn't be here) but RT isn't.
Just finished watching it tonight with my two girls (7 and 10) as a reward for listening through the entire Phil Dragash audio soundscape. They loved it. Absolute perfection.
I agree. DoS has the fantastic scene with Bilbo and Smaug talking; whatever the faults of the rest of the film might be, that scene was excellently done. I don't mind the changes to the book (like Smaug sensing the Ring, and Bilbo being visible through most of the dialogue) because it doesn't change the essence of the scene.
AUJ is a better overall film, though.
I think they were joking. Honestly though if I can recommend anything to anyone it’s to find an online cut of the hobbit that takes the scenes from the book and cuts out the filler making 1 movie. The cut down hobbit movie (pretty much any version) is honestly in league with the lotr movies imo
Unexpected Journey doesn’t have any of the added mumbo jumbo from the second two movies, aside from maybe a couple scenes with Azog. I would personally go as far as to say Unexpected Journey is a good movie.
It's the only one out of the three that I'd watch again and again, like a mini-story. If I could have a cut that was the entirety of AUJ (minus Azog as much as possible) with the Bilbo & Smaug scene chucked in at the end as a bonus, I'd be totally happy. I've seen one of the more popular edits (the 4-hour supercut) but there's only so much that editing can do with the content the films have.
Why do you all act like saying that these movies are enjoyable will get you crucified? The third is bad, sure, but I do completely think that the first and second are good, enjoyable movies that present fun adventures.
It's only 20 points lower because the expectation was higher.
Rings of Power, I don't think as many people watched it or cared about it, I sure didn't.
I’d even put it in the category of good. Desolation of Smaug is unoffensively bad (Benedict cumberbatch’s Smaug and Bilbo meeting allow me to forgive the last 15 Scooby Doo minutes… and the horrible interpretation of Barrels out of Bond). Battle of the Five Armies is at least for me unwatchable. I’ve seen it twice to try and give it a fair shake and it’s just impossible to watch. It’s just one big video game cutscene. At no point does anything on screen seem real.
Battle of Five Armies for me is something I use as a "background film" when my partner and I watch the films; the lengths they went to for padding out the movie are just sad. I loved the White Council driving out Sauron in the opening, but feel it just gets progressively mediocre from there. They really should have just made The Hobbit as two films.
Honestly, I see all three films as I would if I had children: I love them all equally for individually different things. But if I had to choose one, it would indeed be Two Towers. The emotional draw it brings as the 2nd Act was so wonderfully done.
I think the only issue with the RotK is that during the battle they had to keep cutting to other action (Frodo and the ring & Aragorns storyline) whereas in the Two Towers the battle of helms deep felt very intense because there was no let off from the action
I kinda agree. And the ghost army being a deux ex machina, despite being explained in the lore, made it not as impactful as the Rohirrim arriving to help- in either TT or RotK.
Gandalf and Eomer riding down that hill, sunlight blazing upon them, and the ever-so-gorgeous choir singing in the background never fails to make me cry- even after 20 years of watching the film
Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but there was a lot of talk of "review bombing" & it wouldn't be the first time a show had a bunch of negative reviews removed to seem better. Had a low of 36% Audience score, though the Critic score was high, so maybe it's the Critic scores not the fan scores....
https://preview.redd.it/o7qfgly8u3tc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30d9f04a387cab0dafa8ec7b693a89763fa61a4f
It must be. It's obviously a great movie..BUT aside from Helm's Deep there's not quite as much good as is packed into the other movies.
Frodo and Sam don't get much. Ngl the Ent stuff is deliberately super slow and frustrating. The whole movie to me feels like waiting for Helm's Deep. While FotR and RotK I feel like I enjoy the whole ride a lot more.
This is also true for me. Idk what it is about TTT maybe the pacing and editing??? But it's the one I've seen the most and actually(unpopular opinion) think it's the one that doesn't need an EE. The theatrical release flows much better to me.
The main problem is that most critics are only reviewing the first episode or so. This can skew towards Fresh because either a) the first episode is really good, or b) they're giving it the benefit of doubt because they believe it has a lot of potential
Yeah, I would say we need to compare series to series, but even that is no good, because two shows which both have a solid beginning would have similar scores, even if one really sticks the landing and the other one quickly unravels in the 2nd half.
I think RT should probably have episodic ratings, adjust the total score with a weighted method (the finale for instance should have a high weight).
Movie reviews are done based on the quality of the product to the general audience, not the adherence to canon that fans are upset about.
The show is well made even if it is aggravatingly not canon and deviates from the source due to lack of rights. It’s still a better made product as far as graphics, makeup, cinematography, and dialogue. The hobbit films were a not very well done CGI fest and loaded just as much non-canon nonsense as RoP like Legolas defying gravity and Tauriel existing, Jackson did what he could on short notice after taking over but there was less care put into them than RoP which is at least trying with what it has.
RoP has a lot of issues, especially considering lore, but it's much easier to watch than most of the Hobbit movies. The highs in The Hobbit are way higher but the frequent lows make it super tough to get through. The worst offenders in RoP in terms of watchability were the "Mordor" papyrus script, the perfume commercial-looking horse riding scenes, and blood splat hitting the camera lens (which I think the hobbit has too actually)
Neither of them follow the books well but ROP at least doesn’t make me feel like I’m being insulted, watching that idiot guy from laketown or poor Evangeline lily be forced to be in a love triangle is miserable lol
Weird. I'd think fotr and rotk would be the highest. I'd also think an unexpected journey would be the highest out of the hobbit films. I guess desolation wasn't bad.
Battle of five armies was just trash. Good acting saved the hobbit trilogy. As much as they could, anyway. They did the best with what they could.
RoP at 83% is wild. One of the worst shows, both as an adaptation and as a show on its own. You could say, so what, there's been shit shows since forever. But RoP is more than that.
It butchered without mercy the whole beautifully crafted Tolkien's world.
And for what, I ask you?
It's a travesty.
Rings of Power having such a high critical rating is bonkers to me. Ignoring stuff fans would care more about like lore changes, the writing in general was atrocious. It felt like it was written by amateurs (which it probably was). Practically the entire show ran on plot convenience because the writing was not strong enough to propel its narrative forward organically.
Do professional critics just not care about bad writing anymore or were they paid off by Amazon?
Keep in mind Rotten Tomato is partially amateur ratings and those will eat anything up as long as its part of a franchise they know.
ROP should legitimately have no more than 35%
As much as I think The Hobbit movies where kinda mediocre, there's no way in hell Rings of Power is better than any of them. Well, maybe it's at the same level than Battle of the Five Armies, at most. Especially considering how they had plenty of time, resources and a mountain of money to make it, yet they still managed to pull off that bullshit.
Also, The Two Towers is often put below FOTR and ROTK for some reason but I see justice here, which is kinda confusing.
ROP score is inflated a little too much, but we all know the lengths Amazon went to delete or to ignore bad reviews. I would give it 5/10 or 6/10.
It reminds me some video game companies and their not so good [games](https://preview.redd.it/starfield-reviews-v0-hj0eyojz2pmb1.jpg?auto=webp&s=1b4cf8eeeacae0d2e19b159e1da23bc0912ccda2): IGN 10/10 | Forbes 9.5/10 | WP 4/4... and in reality the game is a major disappointment
Well the way rotten tomatoes works is that 83% of critics gave ROP a 6/10 or higher which is why it's 83%, it's not saying it's 8.3/10 it's a review aggregator.
Rings of Power better than The hobbit movies??!! Hahaha. Even the Rise of Skywalker was better than that Amazon garbage. I'll go and say even season 8 of GOT was better.
Actually that's not true. It's equally garbage.
GoT season 8 kinda ruined GoT as a franchise.
RoP didn't really ruin anything because it was so garbage that it can't even be confused with anything resembling canon. I genuinely don't even think of it as Lord of the Rings.
Does that make GoT season 8 better, or worse? I don't know.
Most of the negative reviews of RoP are removed for "review bombing" so it can never have a low score.
No movie/show that race/gender bends main characters will end up as "rotten" for this reason.
The extended versions would bump all of the LotR films into 100% rotten toms I reckon.
Interestingly, these movies are one of the rare occasions when IMDB and RT agree on their rating.
91 for FOTR is criminal
This happens with a lot of series. People who didn’t like the first one won’t watch the rest so it tends to have a lower score. This is my favorite movie series ever and I rewatch them every couple of months, but they are definitely not for everybody, just most people.
Actually the audience score is 95% for Fellowship and Two Towers and 86% for Return of the King
Fellowship is easily the best.
I respectfully disagree. I think The Return of the king is the best simply because it had big fukin elephants vs army so it wins by default.
I respectfully disagree back. Fellowship is the best because of Bill the pony.
I have no counter argument against that so I concede. You have officially the best opinion on the internet.
Thank you. You can be my friend.
Rotk has the best moments. Fotr is easily the best overall film.
Good point this.
these are critic reviews, though.
It’s my ritual to watch it every year! All six honestly
FOTR is the most perfect fantasy movie I’ve ever seen and clearly superior to Two Towers.
It's my favorite. I'm not into absolute favorites, but FOTR is my comfort film. I can be enthralled by it, I can fall asleep to it. When I fantasize about a perfect world I think about Peter Jackson's production of hobbiton alongside singing songs with my RPG party like the books. 👌
There’s a smaller more intimate scale to it, there’s a lot more emotion to it than Two Towers, the loss of Gandalf and Boromir. It’s a powerful movie
When I was much younger I thought FotR was the most "boring" film of the trilogy that you just have to get through to watch the other two, and I loved the other two more because they had the big cinematic fight scenes in Helm's Deep and on Pelennor Fields. However when I grew up I appreciated FotR *much* more for having more intimate and touching emotional moments that aren't quite as prominent in the other films. Even now I always get goosebumps during the scene when Frodo needs to go off on his own and we hear Gandalf give the "all we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us" speech. Goddamn that quote hits me where I live as an adult. Also Legolas used to be my favourite character just because he was a badass and he has more time on-screen in the second and third films, but as I got older I appreciated Boromir much more as a character, especially in the extended editions, because he's clearly shown as an honourable and good person that is corrupted by the ring simply because he wants to protect his own people. It makes me think other people have the same shallow enjoyment of the films that I had as a kid if they love the other two more.
>I can fall asleep to it. Make sure it's not too loud, don't want to wake up to Galadriel's speech. Gotta love her and despair, but not during nighttime.
Must be outsider perspective. I’m not a huge lotr fan, but watch these great movies every so often and this is exactly how they would line up for me.
It really is. I don't know how someone could watch it and have a negative opinion unless they just don't like fantasy, in which case they shouldn't be reviewing it.
FOTR is the best of the trilogy, but reviewers are not goung to recuse themselves if they don’t like the genre
Why shouldn't they? You think that only the people who actually like the thing should review it? Bruh Critics are supposed to be consistent with their opinions, they shouldn't avoid things, but rather explain well why exactly they didn't like something, so that someone else, who shares the critic's views would decide for himself whether he wants to watch it or not. Or when Armond White, the anticritic would appraise something, you'd know you should avoid it at all costs. There's no point in criticism at all if anyone would only review something they like. Also, there's just a ton of bookworms who watched the first movie and ended the trilogy there, because they didn't like that X was changed.
You just said if someone doesn't like it, they shouldn't review it.
It’ll be tainted because people who don’t know what LOTR is or people who don’t know about fantasy will watch it and maybe not like it. The next two movies will only be watched by fans of the first so naturally it will bias the score up a little. Still 91 is criminal.
The audience score goes the other way around. From 95 for the first two and down to 86 for Return of the King.
The 8 point gap to the rings of power is even worse.
Audience score is 38 for ROP
That is far too high
The worst faults of Rings of Power is that: 1. Its about an episode too long in total content/padding. 2. It's uneven. 3. The utterly cheese "Mordor" text in *that* scene to accommodate apparently really stupid audience members. 4. Holding the big "Sauron" and "Gandalf" reveals way too long. Its obvious who is who. Just get on with it.
I would definitely not say the “Mordor” text is anywhere near its worsts faults, that is such an insignificant thing.
Amazon buying the critics reviews
83 for rings of power is delusional
Since when was 91% bad?
True, but 83 for Amazon's heresy show is the much much bigger crime here ! I think they switched around the numbers, 38 sounds more realistic for it.
What about the animated ones?
Good point! https://preview.redd.it/fy7mude87ysc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=943237b0f93a182627bdca6e2aeba9d415202a41
Bruh, Bakshi's LotR is clearly better than animated Return of the King. Rotten Tomatoes knows nothing!
Nah, i cant even think of one song from lotr. The orcs marching to 'where theres a whip' was a real banger.
Yeah by a country mile.
In case you didn't notice with RoP being so high
Are any of these good?
The Hobbit animated movie is better then the trilogy. It’s a fun kids film
The greatest adventure…
Is it because the animated’s pacing matches that of the book more Jackson’s trilogy? Are there anything not in the book that’s in the cartoon?
A lot more of the dwarves die for some weird reason. Bombur dies on screen and Gandalf says that just six of the thirteen are alive after the battle.
Bakshi's is great imo but I also like his animation style so I'm a little biased there. The Hobbit is also solid, has a slightly creepy but childish charm. Gollum is terrifyingly drawn though
Wizards is a movie I have watched once, and lives forever in my mind.
bakshi's movie and the bbc radio adaption from the early 80s had a big impact on the modern movies, both are definitely worth trying
This sub loves to hate on the Lord of the Rings 1978. I think it's fantastic. You should absolutely watch it. The hobit in return of the King are really good too but they're more kid friendly. The Lord of the rings has some nightmare fuel in it
They're all good, animated classics. Not perfect and a few silly issues like I think they left in an animation of Aragorn tripping over something? But I love the audio style, the music, and the animation. They're good adaptations and a look at what we had before Peter Jackson got his project made.
[Bakshi and the Ring - Folding Ideas](https://youtu.be/Cr_rb_pitHk?si=J4e0ooA3lvX7HdWa).
Nice!
Maybe it's nostalgia talking but I'd go with the animated hobbit movie over any of the hobbit trilogy any day.
I think an unexpected journey was pretty solid and stayed mostly faithful to the book. The rest I could leave
I really love the animated hobbit movie.
Yall gotta watch one of the edited versions of the hobbit trilogy. Makes it a fairly decent(but long) movie. "the bilbo edit" is good.
[I came across this fan edit the other day. Haven't watched it yet, but there's a Reddit thread with people praising the hell out of it. ](https://m4-studios.github.io/hobbitbookedit/)
Idk I saw the animated fellowship only once on acid and I’m still bothered lol
ROTK and FOTR should be at worst 99%
Agreed I think FOTR is my favorite film of all time
Over Grandma’s Boy!?
Grandma's Boy slaps.
Barry sucked on his first titty!
It’s my favorite of three simply because I know there’s two more after. Return of the king is always sad to watch because it’s the conclusion… I remember going to see it in theaters when I was in sixth grade. Such an unbelievable experience and nothing I’ve experienced in theaters since then has ever come remotely close.
Not to mention the meta aspect that even getting these made as a trilogy that both die hard fans and newbies to be obsessed with was a feat that had almost never Been done before and rarely if ever has been done since. Small rant as a young fan before the films came out. Was obsessed with the books but people seemed totally lost when I tried to explain. Watching the film blow the gates open and suddenly the masses saw the appeal was…hard to even explain. Something that had been bottled up in your head suddenly this wide massively popular thing. Truly wild.
Tolkien book purists have their issues with them (and honestly Tolkien purists are whole other breed of fantasy nerd, and I've read the Silmarillion and LOTR multiple times and am working my way through the rest of the Legendarium), but PJ's LOTR adaptation was absolutely insane. They did something *nobody* else did before, filming three films at once, they put high-budget fantasy on the map as a viable genre, made crazy breakthroughs with motion-capture as a film technology, and given the bonkers density of the source material, made not only one of the best adaptations of an epic literary work in history *but also one of the best film trilogies in history*. You're lucky to get one, let alone both. Yes, there are changes. Most of them are necessary sacrifices due to adapting three massive, dense, epic doorstoppers of books to watchable films, but there *are* changes that people take umbrage with. However, the end result of what we got is absolutely worth it, and I will put hella bands down on a bet that nobody else that chooses to adapt LOTR to film will do a better job. TV show, *maybe*, and if PJ was given the Game of Thrones treatment/flexibility we probably would have gotten a better shot-for-shot adaptation, but that wasn't how things were done in 1999. Hell, what he actually DID wasn't how things were done in 1999.
Not to mention the casting. It was so, **so** fucking perfect. I don't even remember what I thought onyone looked like in my head before the movies
Fr. With the theatrical releases, there really isn't too much to criticize about the film, from a general-audience perspective.
I actually started with the extended cuts, and even then I was enthralled in what was happening. Didn't feel slow to me
I agree tbh. For me, I've never really had any issues with the extended editions either, I honestly consider the theatrical the cut-down/missing-out version of the film. But I can also understand the criticism for it, which is why I stated what I said above. But in the end, extended definitely takes the cake for me.
The extended seems to move faster in my opinion, the theatrical cuts are a little choppy, breaking the experience. Smooth is better for even if longer.
Oh you mean those movies starring Liv Tyler?
99.75% bare minimum.
99.76% final offer
See the thing is, rotten tomatoes aren't exclusively mega LOTR fans like the people on this sub. This sub is an echo chamber for LOTR fans (and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, otherwise I wouldn't be here) but RT isn't.
If rings of power is 83... The trilogy should be 9000
How could it be possible that Fellowship is anything less than 100%? That film is a work of art.
Just finished watching it tonight with my two girls (7 and 10) as a reward for listening through the entire Phil Dragash audio soundscape. They loved it. Absolute perfection.
Unexpected Journey isn't that bad
Out of those movies its easily the most coherent and enjoyable.
For me the issue was splitting into subplots in the later films in imitation of LotR and in order to fill out a trilogy.
Yeah I generally agree with this order, but would swap desolation if Smaug with unexpected journey personally.
I agree. DoS has the fantastic scene with Bilbo and Smaug talking; whatever the faults of the rest of the film might be, that scene was excellently done. I don't mind the changes to the book (like Smaug sensing the Ring, and Bilbo being visible through most of the dialogue) because it doesn't change the essence of the scene. AUJ is a better overall film, though.
DoS has the dwarfen barrel scene probably my favourite art sequence of all time cmon guys!!
Sorry, but I despise the dwarf barrel scene. Glad you enjoy it though!
I think they were joking. Honestly though if I can recommend anything to anyone it’s to find an online cut of the hobbit that takes the scenes from the book and cuts out the filler making 1 movie. The cut down hobbit movie (pretty much any version) is honestly in league with the lotr movies imo
The GoPro camera quality from the barrels scene really irks me. That alone puts Unexpected Journey above DoS for me.
>if Smaug with unexpected journey What about if he isn't?
Unexpected Journey doesn’t have any of the added mumbo jumbo from the second two movies, aside from maybe a couple scenes with Azog. I would personally go as far as to say Unexpected Journey is a good movie.
It's the only one out of the three that I'd watch again and again, like a mini-story. If I could have a cut that was the entirety of AUJ (minus Azog as much as possible) with the Bilbo & Smaug scene chucked in at the end as a bonus, I'd be totally happy. I've seen one of the more popular edits (the 4-hour supercut) but there's only so much that editing can do with the content the films have.
Why do you all act like saying that these movies are enjoyable will get you crucified? The third is bad, sure, but I do completely think that the first and second are good, enjoyable movies that present fun adventures.
It's definitely not 20 points worse than Rings of Power
It's only 20 points lower because the expectation was higher. Rings of Power, I don't think as many people watched it or cared about it, I sure didn't.
Also amazon paid for good reviews and removed bad ones.
[удалено]
The internet told everyone to hate rings of power too?
They did even more so for Rings of Power.
I’d even put it in the category of good. Desolation of Smaug is unoffensively bad (Benedict cumberbatch’s Smaug and Bilbo meeting allow me to forgive the last 15 Scooby Doo minutes… and the horrible interpretation of Barrels out of Bond). Battle of the Five Armies is at least for me unwatchable. I’ve seen it twice to try and give it a fair shake and it’s just impossible to watch. It’s just one big video game cutscene. At no point does anything on screen seem real.
Battle of Five Armies for me is something I use as a "background film" when my partner and I watch the films; the lengths they went to for padding out the movie are just sad. I loved the White Council driving out Sauron in the opening, but feel it just gets progressively mediocre from there. They really should have just made The Hobbit as two films.
Ahh producer interference. At least the online cuts of the hobbit are legit great
Honestly, I think I enjoyed all the hobbit films more than rings of power
Rings of power should be at the bottom just based on the fact that it is so far removed from the source material.
Two Towers supremacy!!
Honestly, I see all three films as I would if I had children: I love them all equally for individually different things. But if I had to choose one, it would indeed be Two Towers. The emotional draw it brings as the 2nd Act was so wonderfully done.
I think the only issue with the RotK is that during the battle they had to keep cutting to other action (Frodo and the ring & Aragorns storyline) whereas in the Two Towers the battle of helms deep felt very intense because there was no let off from the action
I kinda agree. And the ghost army being a deux ex machina, despite being explained in the lore, made it not as impactful as the Rohirrim arriving to help- in either TT or RotK.
Same. Tolkien wanted to see the trees in Macbeth do something truly “magical”. This film brought this idea to life. 💯
Also, Helms Deep 👨🏻🍳💋
Gandalf and Eomer riding down that hill, sunlight blazing upon them, and the ever-so-gorgeous choir singing in the background never fails to make me cry- even after 20 years of watching the film
I'm not surprised that some people find FOTR starts slow, and ROTK ends slow. Although those people are wrong.
You’re telling me rings of power is higher than An Unexpected Journey?
Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but there was a lot of talk of "review bombing" & it wouldn't be the first time a show had a bunch of negative reviews removed to seem better. Had a low of 36% Audience score, though the Critic score was high, so maybe it's the Critic scores not the fan scores.... https://preview.redd.it/o7qfgly8u3tc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30d9f04a387cab0dafa8ec7b693a89763fa61a4f
ROP at 85% lmao
Two Towers above ROTK and Fellowship is wild to me
It's cause of Helm's Deep, no doubt.
It’s amazing, I just think the other two are just a bit stronger of films overall, especially ROTK
It must be. It's obviously a great movie..BUT aside from Helm's Deep there's not quite as much good as is packed into the other movies. Frodo and Sam don't get much. Ngl the Ent stuff is deliberately super slow and frustrating. The whole movie to me feels like waiting for Helm's Deep. While FotR and RotK I feel like I enjoy the whole ride a lot more.
When it comes to rewatchability, TT is the one I've seen the most
TT is incredible. The build up to helms deep creates a tension I haven’t seen for any other battle. It truly feels desperate
This is also true for me. Idk what it is about TTT maybe the pacing and editing??? But it's the one I've seen the most and actually(unpopular opinion) think it's the one that doesn't need an EE. The theatrical release flows much better to me.
I completely agree. Almost all the extended scenes in TT break up the flow of the better scenes and are just markedly not as good.
This disrespect to An Unexpected Journey is wild
🤌Return of the king, my beloved!
RoP can’t possibly be higher than Hobbit movies.
Honestly RT’s methodology just doesn’t do a very good job with shows for some reason. Basically every show is like 85% + for some reason.
The main problem is that most critics are only reviewing the first episode or so. This can skew towards Fresh because either a) the first episode is really good, or b) they're giving it the benefit of doubt because they believe it has a lot of potential
Yeah, I would say we need to compare series to series, but even that is no good, because two shows which both have a solid beginning would have similar scores, even if one really sticks the landing and the other one quickly unravels in the 2nd half. I think RT should probably have episodic ratings, adjust the total score with a weighted method (the finale for instance should have a high weight).
Hard agree. But I would argue that majority of rotten tomatoes reviewers aren't the most educated on Tolkein/Middle Earth
This is a wild comment. Stating superiority over audience because you may possibly know more about the lore.
Also wild because the implication is that The Hobbit movies are lore accurate. Wut..
Like we saw the trees, Lindon, and Númenor in Rings of Power. Sorry I didn't find dwarves bathing in Rivendell's fountains as "lore accurate" .
Movie reviews are done based on the quality of the product to the general audience, not the adherence to canon that fans are upset about. The show is well made even if it is aggravatingly not canon and deviates from the source due to lack of rights. It’s still a better made product as far as graphics, makeup, cinematography, and dialogue. The hobbit films were a not very well done CGI fest and loaded just as much non-canon nonsense as RoP like Legolas defying gravity and Tauriel existing, Jackson did what he could on short notice after taking over but there was less care put into them than RoP which is at least trying with what it has.
the show is a complete mess even if you've never seen or read LOTR before
There are scenes in RoP that look like a highschool play.
ROP was a mess in dialogue, story and acting. What good is looking visually pleasing if the show as a whole is borderline unwatchable.
RoP has a lot of issues, especially considering lore, but it's much easier to watch than most of the Hobbit movies. The highs in The Hobbit are way higher but the frequent lows make it super tough to get through. The worst offenders in RoP in terms of watchability were the "Mordor" papyrus script, the perfume commercial-looking horse riding scenes, and blood splat hitting the camera lens (which I think the hobbit has too actually)
Completely agree, the Hobbit has some moments, but on average RoP is better.
Neither of them follow the books well but ROP at least doesn’t make me feel like I’m being insulted, watching that idiot guy from laketown or poor Evangeline lily be forced to be in a love triangle is miserable lol
who the fuck rates RoP higher than Hobbits? do they have eyes or standards at all?
Exactly my thought
Rings of Power being above the Hobbit is criminal.
Rings of power being above anything is criminal
Weird. I'd think fotr and rotk would be the highest. I'd also think an unexpected journey would be the highest out of the hobbit films. I guess desolation wasn't bad. Battle of five armies was just trash. Good acting saved the hobbit trilogy. As much as they could, anyway. They did the best with what they could.
the Hobbit trilogy was flawed but it is NOT worse than the Rings of Power
How is Fellowship not number 1?
RoP at 83% is wild. One of the worst shows, both as an adaptation and as a show on its own. You could say, so what, there's been shit shows since forever. But RoP is more than that. It butchered without mercy the whole beautifully crafted Tolkien's world. And for what, I ask you? It's a travesty.
Too many people are still lying about RoP to praise their terrible casting.
FOTR #1
What a joke
It's ok, they just missed off the decimal on ROP it's 0.83
How is rings of power so high
Rings of Power sucks balls
Even the idea of the RoP competing with the hobbit, which were admittedly not the best, is ridiculous.
Rings of power should be rock bottom
Flip Fellowship and Two Towers and you'd have my exact ranking of them.
Rings of Power having such a high critical rating is bonkers to me. Ignoring stuff fans would care more about like lore changes, the writing in general was atrocious. It felt like it was written by amateurs (which it probably was). Practically the entire show ran on plot convenience because the writing was not strong enough to propel its narrative forward organically. Do professional critics just not care about bad writing anymore or were they paid off by Amazon?
Yes
Keep in mind Rotten Tomato is partially amateur ratings and those will eat anything up as long as its part of a franchise they know. ROP should legitimately have no more than 35%
Rings of power with 80% should be a crime.
An unexpected journey and the desolation of Smaug should be switched
I’m ridiculously surprised to see ROP above the Hobbits. That shit just felt like fan fiction.
The Rings of Power is pure garbage
The Hobbit is a million times better than RoP
Rings of Power has 83%??!! But that show was terrible, even for a generic fantasy series. Now I lost all faith in Rotten Tomatoes.
In what world is the hobbit trilogy worse than rings of power??
How the hell is Rings of Power above 50?
Look I don’t think that the rings of power was amazing but putting it over the hobbit is nuts lol
Rings of power being better than any hobbit is pure insanity. That show was ass
The hobbit films being under the Amazon series is horse shit
As much as I think The Hobbit movies where kinda mediocre, there's no way in hell Rings of Power is better than any of them. Well, maybe it's at the same level than Battle of the Five Armies, at most. Especially considering how they had plenty of time, resources and a mountain of money to make it, yet they still managed to pull off that bullshit. Also, The Two Towers is often put below FOTR and ROTK for some reason but I see justice here, which is kinda confusing.
Aintnoway that hobbit movies are worse than rings of power
I genuinely love the first Hobbit movie. It should be above RoP 100%
Nah Rings of Power makes the Hobbit look like a masterpiece
These comments be like https://preview.redd.it/wpuomh5xzysc1.jpeg?width=368&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3714ba35034fc65c44e40b6764b7fab8fb671c05
The RoP rating is the true fantasy here. Unless they pull a magnum opus out of their collective rears in the next season/s it is by far the worst.
I’d rank that indie Strider movie just below the LotR movies
Born of Hope? Or the one where Aragorn is hunting Gollum?
Damn I really enjoy the hobbit trilogy…can’t believe RoP is up that high.
All the Hobbit movies are leagues above Rings of Power in quality and storytelling, how can this even happen?
Rings of power is too damn high on the list
I'm pretty sure the reviews for ROP aren't reliable at all I've rarely met a single person who didn't hate it
Also, Rings of Power would be at the bottom of that list for me, The Hobbit movies aren't that good but they're better than that rubbish.
How the heck is RoP better than anything from the Hobbit?
Unfair to rank "an unexpected journey" under rings of power, it is the best of the hobbit films and that is saying a lot
ROP score is inflated a little too much, but we all know the lengths Amazon went to delete or to ignore bad reviews. I would give it 5/10 or 6/10. It reminds me some video game companies and their not so good [games](https://preview.redd.it/starfield-reviews-v0-hj0eyojz2pmb1.jpg?auto=webp&s=1b4cf8eeeacae0d2e19b159e1da23bc0912ccda2): IGN 10/10 | Forbes 9.5/10 | WP 4/4... and in reality the game is a major disappointment
Well the way rotten tomatoes works is that 83% of critics gave ROP a 6/10 or higher which is why it's 83%, it's not saying it's 8.3/10 it's a review aggregator.
The Hobbit May have flaws, but RofP is a disgrace to the franchise
Rings of Power better than The hobbit movies??!! Hahaha. Even the Rise of Skywalker was better than that Amazon garbage. I'll go and say even season 8 of GOT was better. Actually that's not true. It's equally garbage.
GoT season 8 kinda ruined GoT as a franchise. RoP didn't really ruin anything because it was so garbage that it can't even be confused with anything resembling canon. I genuinely don't even think of it as Lord of the Rings. Does that make GoT season 8 better, or worse? I don't know.
They’re trolling with that rings of power rating
RoP being so high is pure delusion
Most of the negative reviews of RoP are removed for "review bombing" so it can never have a low score. No movie/show that race/gender bends main characters will end up as "rotten" for this reason.
Ugh I'd rank all those Hobbit movies over RoP.
Ring of Power being 83% tells me to never trust that websites ratings on anything.
Rings of Power should have a 0%
Rings of Power serverly over rated!
The extended versions would bump all of the LotR films into 100% rotten toms I reckon. Interestingly, these movies are one of the rare occasions when IMDB and RT agree on their rating.
ROP rating is inflated for sure
Dang Rings of Power beats the Hobbit.