★★★1/2 It is quite difficult for someone who has read everything Tolkien wrote (and seen everything that was adapted, even animated and musical The Return of the King, it exists, yes) to distance himself from the texts. But it is much more difficult to fulfill the task of speaking of something partial, of the fourth part of a whole. However, it has to be done: this “prequel” to The Lord of the Rings, based mainly on the appendices of that book (and bits and pieces from The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales) has enormous ambition and, visually, it is shocking. There is everything that is supposed to be in “a Tolkien” plus what it is supposed to be according to the new rules of political correctness. It entertains, but the effort to create the elephantine and morally refined version of Game of Thrones is remarkable, with which the literary dragon (or Balrog) finally ends up biting its fantastic audiovisual tail.
