REVIEW: The Rings Of Power is a gorgeous, languorous return to the world of The Lord of the Rings

Read on for our spoiler-free review of the first two episodes of the most expensive TV show ever made.

Exactly two hours into The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, we find our heroes in pitched battle against the Balrog, one of the action highlights of the trilogy's opening chapter. At this point, we know where we're headed and the threat everyone will be faced with along the way. After the first two hour-long episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, we've been whisked all across Middle-Earth and beyond, given gorgeous vistas and sets to visually devour, introduced to many (MANY) characters that we will become invested in... but the actual plot at the centre of the show is still mostly indistinct. We know that our heroes are concerned about a growing evil somewhere within the world, but much like the original trilogy, we're told that evil was mostly defeated during an impressive opening battle sequence. Beyond that, we're still spending most of the time simply meeting new people. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing - Prime Video apparently has a healthy five-season arc planned out, so they've got plenty of time to get to the action - and we almost definitely shouldn't presume too much about a show from its first two episodes. But if Amazon are hoping for a House Of The Dragon-killer, these first two episodes don't represent too much of a threat. The reported budget for this first season was apparently around $50 million per episode - and while the show does look absolutely gorgeous in its own uniquely maximalist way, there is little yet on display to warrant that hefty price tag. We flit between Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who has been hunting down Sauron all across the map to little avail; then over to Elrond (Robert Aramayo), who has been tasked with a huge construction project, which will require rebuilding bridges with Durin (Owain Arthur), the Prince of Dwarves. It's then over to Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), an Elf who has forbidden feelings for a human in a village he has been tasked to protect and then to Nori (Markella Kavenagh), a Harfoot who longs for adventure and happens to cross paths with a stranger (Daniel Weyman), who literally crashes in a falling meteor... More and more seemingly important characters are introduced through the first two episodes, quickly filling out our brain's maximum capacity for new people to care about, leaving little room to actually tell us what story they're actually all going to be a part of. There are some impressive teases here and there, from a subterranean attack that evokes the horror tinges that Peter Jackson brought to his movies, to a sea-based monster that allows J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, A Monster Calls), the director of the first two episodes, to fire on all cylinders. It is clear that the creators are in no rush to move things along, but this show doesn't exist in a vacuum. It will be initially airing alongside new episodes of House of the Dragon on Sky/NOW, and competition will rise again in a few weeks when new Star Wars prequel series Andor kicks off on Disney+. In order to not get completely lost in the crowd, it will have to do more than look pretty and hint at exciting stuff that might arrive years from now. The first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power land on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, 2 September, with the remainder of the season arriving weekly after that. Clip via Prime Video