'Lord of the Rings ...' review: Great looking, but indistinctive

WHAT IT'S ABOUT The series is set during the "Second Age" of J.R.R. Tolkien's (1892-1973) saga of Middle-earth, or thousands of years before the events of his novel "The Lord of the Rings." The Second Age was a long stretch of relative peace, after the Elves had vanquished Morgoth. But his successor Sauron has been regrouping and, as such, that peace is deceptive. One Elf, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), knows this all too well but when commanded by High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) to stand down in her hunt for Sauron, she refuses. Meanwhile, another Elf, Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), a master smith, must travel to the remarkable underground kingdom of the dwarfs, Khazad-dûm where he meets his old friend, Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur).   "Rings of Power'' will also feature Hobbits — although during the Second Age they were known as "harfoots" —   and viewers will finally get a glimpse of the island kingdom of Númenor, far to the west of Middle-earth.

MY SAY Tolkien was forced to sell rights to his life's work in the mid-1960s to pay estate taxes, and the race (or battle) to adapt has gone on ever since. "The Hobbit" (published 1937) and "The Lord of the Rings" (1954) were the first low-hanging fruit transformed into big screen spectaculars by Peter Jackson. Then, there was everything else left to pick over — a vast assemblage of notes, books, stories and jottings that filled out the rest of the Tolkien "legendarium." 

    Because "Rings of Power'' is based on the novel's appendices, themselves a densely packed collection of facts, the producers have been forced to create many stories of their own. Those now form the spine of a series that is Tolkien-adjacent if not quite Tolkien-proper, or put less kindly (and just as accurately), "Rings of Power '' is glorified fan fiction.

To be sure, it's great-looking fan fiction and great sounding. But what's noticeably missing  is the original author's voice, along with some (or any) compelling reason to pull us back into Middle-earth once again.Amazon obviously wants us back in, but would Tolkien? You can guess the answer.

Jackson put his finger on the challenge of adapting Tolkien not long after the premiere of "The Fellowship of the Ring" in 2001. "We had no interest in putting our message into this movie," he said in a TV interview, "but thought we should honor [Tolkien] by putting his messages into it." Like Tolkien, he didn't approach "LOTR" as some sort of epic fantasy, but as real history with real people — or what Tolkien, a devout Roman Catholic, had called his "sub-creation" to God's creation. That gave him free reign to explore a whole range of themes, all central to the 20th century, especially the wars, technology and totalitarianism that  profoundly shaped it.

Does this ambitious new "LOTR"-in-name-only have anything to say about our century? (Or us.) Hardly, or at least not yet. 

Perhaps that's too much to ask of any new series, but certainly more than "Rings of Power'' has asked of itself. Instead, with the slim source material in hand, this borrows an original idea here, a name there, then braids them back into the world that Jackson so vividly brought to life. Indeed, the "LOTR" movie trilogy looms large here — so large that "Rings" scarcely bothers to create its own style or mood.    The dwarves, those original cut-ups of Middle-earth, are still funny and hobbits (or "harfoots'") still warmhearted gentlefolk. The Orcs? As usual, they're cannon fodder with Cockney accents

The Elves, in fact, have embraced their own updated fashion statement — as opposed to shoulder-length hair, most have perfect hair that's dramatically swept back, like David Bowie, in his post-glam rock phase. They look fabulous, too.

Meanwhile, evil is still out there and the fate of Middle-earth still hangs in the balance, with only one hero to the rescue. Some themes are eternal, or so eternal that they also form the basis for every Marvel or DC Comics movie ever made (and a few thousand TV series, come to think of it). "Rings of Power'' — well-produced, well-acted, and yes, even well-conceived — fits in easily with this crowd. A shame it didn't try to stand apart. 

BOTTOM LINE Great-looking but indistinctive in the early episodes (this review is based only on the first two).