Amazon Prime’s The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power streaming show looks as if it should be framed and hung in a museum. The show’s cinematographers, Aaron Morton, Alex Disenhof, and Oscar Faura, really have outdone themselves. Each and every shot in the show is absolutely breathtaking.
Many shows or movies are often too dim when it comes to the lighting; sometimes, being able to see what is happening on screen is difficult unless you’re in a pitch-black room or theater. But, the Rings of Power show does the complete opposite. It went on the brighter side for the majority of the show. This allows us, as the viewers, to truly appreciate the cinematographer’s work and the effort they put into making sure the shot appears with beauty and clarity. Being able to spot everything happening in fight scenes without needing to rewind to appreciate the visual details of the different types of action, fictional characters, and locations is truly remarkable.
Each location in the show has a unique design that resembles the movies. However, each location also brings new designs and events that each have aesthetically beautiful moments, presenting numerous world-building and character developments simultaneously.
We get various wide shots of the landscape to see the enormous views and, specifically, what the architecture has to offer. Then, we see more zoomed-in shots of the buildings, community interactions, and events unfolding. When we are first introduced to the Island of Numenor, we pan into the island and see the giant white marble statue of a woman, which then draws our eye to the rest of the island. After the initial shot, we then see closer into the boats, marble buildings, and the markets.
Just like the landscape, we see an overshot of people either riding horses, marching on a mission, sailing toward a destination, or in a battle. After getting a clear vision of the overall picture, we get close-up shots of Galadriel’s passion for destroying Sauron or the other character’s expressions.
When watching the show, at first, you might think Amazon bought the rights just to film gorgeous locations and make anything look mesmerizing. Yet, as you watch more, you see they not only cared about the visuals, but the plot as well. While a show with a great plot and poor visuals might be interesting, it would be too difficult to watch. Meanwhile, a show with beyond-amazing visuals with a poor plot would be too boring to watch unless you’re trying to fall asleep. However, Rings of Power managed to have both an interesting plot (closer to the middle/end of the show) with stunning cinematography.
From close-ups focusing on the specific details happening in either the character’s expressions, situation’s action, or architecture’s design to the wide angle shots of the overall action-filled landscape, these cinematic elements unraveling the look of the show is immaculate. If the viewer just wants to watch something breathtaking, then they will not be disappointed with Rings of Power.