🐴 The disconnect between critics and audiences for "War of Rohirrim" and "Rings of Power"

[herlig9]

The proof is Rotten Tomatoes webpage.

So basically. Critics hated "War of Rohirrim" movie but audiences accepted it (Now personally. I had some issues that this doesnt really feel 100% like Tolkien story, but more at best a loose story that has some elements of Tolkien stuff in it. If anything it somewhat feels more like a "Anime Waifu Kingdom". If i could be so bold to joke on it) But overall, not bad film. I liked it.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim | Rotten Tomatoes

Discover reviews, ratings, and trailers for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim on Rotten Tomatoes. Stay updated with critic and audience scores today!

www.rottentomatoes.com

Now compare this to "Rings of Power." I have no clue what critics see, but i got to episode 6, and i just found the whole series so utterly boring, didnt make sense and i just couldnt handle it. But the audience seems to agree on this.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Rotten Tomatoes

Discover reviews, ratings, and trailers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Rotten Tomatoes. Stay updated with critic and audience scores today!

www.rottentomatoes.com

So i am curious to your view? I do legit think War of Rohirrim is better than Rings of Power. Though obviously Peter Jackson trilogy is solid and is a milestone example of what a good LOTR or Tolkien world would look like to cinema in my view.

 

[Annatar]

Well, I wouldn't really want to honor Peter Jackson's LotR adaptation as a good adaptation, because it's not. But at the same time, I'm afraid I have to admit that nothing better has been seen since. The low point was certainly reached with the Amazon series, fortunately we can all agree on that. I've also seen the Rohirrim movie in the meantime and found it pretty mediocre. 6 out of 10.
In contrast to the Amazon series, the story here was either not written by an AI or by a much better AI. 😄 (Unfortunately, still not good enough. Also, the technology was an insult: The animations looked cheap and bad, unworthy of Tolkien.)

But as has since become public knowledge, this project was obviously only intended to unlock the rights for the production company for another decade on a minimal budget.

 

[Aldarion]

Generally speaking, if critics praise something, it is usually terrible, because critics today have priorities other than actual quality and immersion.

 

[herlig9]

Generally speaking, if critics praise something, it is usually terrible, because critics today have priorities other than actual quality and immersion.

Sometimes it can be a hit and miss. Like Sonic 3 movie i thought was legit good. And critics and fans both loved it.

But i tend to trust audience more than critics often

 

[Laurë]

I don't know if I'd trust Rotten Tomatoes . . . I've heard of cases in the past when they allegedly changed numbers to please big companies, and that sort of thing.

As for a less cynical reason, perhaps it has to do with the fact that when critics sat down to watch both, they were more forgiving on a live action extremely high budget tv show then they were for a film made in a niche-er medium with less grand appeal. Rings of power is a much better spectacle visually, then War of the Rohirrim, is what I'm trying to say. You can almost ignore the insane script with how good the battle scenes, costuming, soundtrack, and other things are. Plus, the biases of 'animation is just silly stuff for kids' and 'live action is the most sophisticated form of filmmaking' are very real. But that is just my assumption and speculation based on past experiences--I have no evidence that this is the case for these works specifically.

 

[Annatar]

I don't know if I'd trust Rotten Tomatoes . . . I've heard of cases in the past when they allegedly changed numbers to please big companies, and that sort of thing.

I trust Rotten Tomatoes audience (now: Popcornmeter) much more than, for example, Amazon Reviews, where I can prove as an affected person myself that Amazon definitely manipulates, censors, threatens, deletes and bans if an opinion is not suitable for them when it comes to an in-house production - even if the rules are followed.

With Rotten, however, I would generally ignore the opinions of journalists (now: Tomatometer), as they are often just bought.

The deal between the Tolkien Estate and Amazon was a deal with the devil. And I'm not saying that as a general Amazon hater. Before that, I was a diligent customer, but I've finally figured it out, too...

 

[herlig9]

Been thinking about this alot. But i might buy "War of Rohirrim" on bluray. Was thinking on whether it was worth it or not. On whether it was better option to see it on TV or physical ownership type of entertainment.
Its flawed. But it entertained me, even with the loose implementation of the ehem "Unnamed daughter". But i was digging it.

 

[Laurë]

I trust Rotten Tomatoes audience (now: Popcornmeter) much more than, for example, Amazon Reviews, where I can prove as an affected person myself that Amazon definitely manipulates, censors, threatens, deletes and bans if an opinion is not suitable for them when it comes to an in-house production - even if the rules are followed.

With Rotten, however, I would generally ignore the opinions of journalists (now: Tomatometer), as they are often just bought.

The deal between the Tolkien Estate and Amazon was a deal with the devil. And I'm not saying that as a general Amazon hater. Before that, I was a diligent customer, but I've finally figured it out, too...

Yep--I think that's just a part of how things are these days, you have to find you're own trusted sources.

Been thinking about this alot. But i might buy "War of Rohirrim" on bluray. Was thinking on whether it was worth it or not. On whether it was better option to see it on TV or physical ownership type of entertainment.
Its flawed. But it entertained me, even with the loose implementation of the ehem "Unnamed daughter". But i was digging it.

If you're hesitant to buy it physically, maybe you could find out if you can buy the digital version on prime video? I believe I've heard it's meant to be there already. That said I don't know how the prices line up.

 

[Eldacar]

Maybe there isn't a real disconnect to speak of, and we are simply overinterpreting some mean values on a rating website. Sure, they do generally indicate different judgements, but they aren't the whole story. Rings of Power was highly polarizing, as shown by Data on IMDB. A whopping 40% of all votes were either 10s or 1s. War of the Rohirrim wasn't as polarizing with only 15% of votes being 10s and 1s and a solid peak with 26% of votes being a 7. Both average out to (very roughly) the same value. 6,4 and 6,9 respectively. But with War of the Rohirrim there seems to be somewhat of a consensus among viewers, whereas there is none for RoP. What now, does your audience score indicate? Is it a good movie or not? For one movie you could say so, and for the other you could only shrug.

Additionally, there are two systems of calculation used, as far as I am aware. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes have to vote on a binary scale of fresh and rotten. The Audience on a Scale of 1 to 5. If there was a movie rated by all critics and all viewers to be a 3/5 there would be 100% of critics giving a generally positive review. But the Popcornmeter defines a positive review as having 3,5 or more stars. So, 0% of audience members gave a positive review. Result Tomatometer 100%, Popcornmeter 0%. The Divide is gigantic but absolutely meaningless.

This isn't to say that there is no difference in judgement of critics and audience. There certainly is. But maybe we should not interpret too much into these numbers.

 

[herlig9]

Yep--I think that's just a part of how things are these days, you have to find you're own trusted sources.

If you're hesitant to buy it physically, maybe you could find out if you can buy the digital version on prime video? I believe I've heard it's meant to be there already. That said I don't know how the prices line up.

I dont use Amazon. I tried it 1 year ago. Its just a mess to use, so never again. But i appreciate your thought. I tend to buy it on physical media usually. Besides its kinda cool to have discs around to pick from a folder and watch at times. Aswell as some covers i just keep for the asthethics

 

[Laurë]

I dont use Amazon. I tried it 1 year ago. Its just a mess to use, so never again. But i appreciate your thought. I tend to buy it on physical media usually. Besides its kinda cool to have discs around to pick from a folder and watch at times. Aswell as some covers i just keep for the asthethics

Alright! I thought I'd just mention the option since I knew it existed. I totally get being frustrated with Amazon, I use it occasionally because some of my family members use it, and It's definitely not my favorite place to watch things 😅. I believe it was also going to a few other streaming services, but I'm not 100% sure which ones.

I agree that having the physical DVD can be a super fun souvenir, and work well if you already have a collection. Buying them is just getting less and less common.