Madmul

The last 30 mins of this so-called documentary is probably some of the worst filmmaking to come out of this failed propaganda machine. It is totally ridiculous. The "evidence" presented in Smollett's defense is just laughable and a massive testament to how polarized and divided the US currently is. Then Netflix decided that, yes, this is a grat story with lots of question marks and worth telling. Sad, and downright tragic.

I am a long time (40+ years) Tolkien fan, and arguably fall into the category of being hard to please. I saw this film on IMAX and I must say that it looks pretty nice, with the scenery being exemplary. The animation style might put some people off, depending on preference, but I think it holds up. In summary, overall production value is up to expectation for me (picture, sound, voice acting etc).

Now, where it falls short is definitely on the script side, and I join the (growing) crowd who has a hard time understanding why they decided to change the storyline from the book instead of just building on it. I get the motive and all, but it is still a mystery why they decided to go in this direction, despite the fact that they know EXACTLY what will happen when it hits the Tolkien fandom.

Filmmakers could easily have done more or less the same story, including the Hera perspective, but without tampering with the source material and they would have gotten through this in a much better shape.

I guess it is a sign of the times. Sadly.

In a sane world I have just witnessed the actual downfall of Hollywood as a brand and franschise. I wish I was a fly on the wall when the production team met up after reading this script. Seriously. What did they say? "At last! Let us make a sci-fi movie for the 2020's generation, with real heroes that you can relate to and that are refreshing and original!". The team behind the film is full of pride and can go to nice parties in LA claiming that they have made the world a better place. Cudos.

For all of us simple people that likes to watch movies for the entertainment and maybe get our minds off this crazy world for a couple of hours this is beyond our limited comprehension. This is film history. This is where Hollywood finally put their foot down. NOW. No more male cliché heroes and weak women in distress! Crush the patriarchy! This is the future!!!

Bye.