On the occasion of the broadcast of the series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerNumerama gets wet by establishing a ranking of the six previous films directed by Peter Jackson.
It’s the back-to-school event: Amazon Prime Video will broadcast the series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, a new dive into Tolkien’s work in a completely new format. The expectation is immense, the enthusiasm too.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will perhaps make you want to (re) immerse yourself in the six films already released, and all directed by Peter Jackson. As a reminder, they are split into two trilogies: The Lord of the Rings on the one hand, The Hobbit the other. Within the editorial staff of Numerama, we wanted to get wet by ranking the six blockbusters from best to worst. Yes, not all of us want to live.
You can watch all six films on Amazon Prime Video or purchase the UHD Blu-ray box set.
Our ranking of the six Lord of the Rings films
1 – The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King (2003)
The third and final part of the trilogy The Lord of the Ringssubtitle The king’s returnwas released in 2003. It won eleven Oscars and no film has broken this record — which it co-holds with titanic and Ben Hur – from. This places the feature film in terms of artistic achievement, the culmination of a major work that piles up epic scenes (the arrival of the Oliphants!) and unforgettable speeches (Aragorn, just outside the Black Gate, before to invade Mordor). Grand.
2 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Fellowship of the Ring is the starting point of everything and there are probably millions of us who have discovered Tolkien’s universe with this first opus directed by Peter Jackson (especially known to moviegoers thanks to his low-budget horror films). The filmmaker achieves a real feat: introducing dozens of characters and large-scale settings with a fairly encouraging pace. Necessarily, The Fellowship of the Ring is very talkative, but the density of what he tells is a constant pleasure.
3 – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The film The Two Towers could almost be summed up in a single scene: the incredible battle in Helm’s Deep, which must still give the directors of Game of Thrones nightmares (whose last season’s night battle is laughable by comparison). Visually, Helm imposes from start to finish. The action sequence is a little dulled by the jokes that Gimli and Legolas throw at each other…
4 – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
The desolation of Smaug is by far the best film of the trilogy The Hobbit. We find there this breath of wonder specific to great and beautiful adventures, with again moments that we never forget (the portions in the forest filled with large spiders). We are also delighted to find Legolas, more charismatic and powerful than ever (don’t judge us).
5 – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
On paper, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is not a bad movie. His only fault? Its common thread is a little too similar to that of The Fellowship of the Ring, in this case the creation of a group of individuals responsible for fulfilling a perilous, almost impossible mission. We are sometimes a little too close to the remake, with a strong feeling of deja vu. Shame.
6 – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
Overall, the adaptation of Hobbit has a big problem: the book lacks material to really justify the development of a trilogy on the big screen. Therefore, it suffers from many additions that are difficult to understand (for example: the character played by Evangeline Lilly, an elf who falls in love with a dwarf). For many reasons, The Battle of the Five Armies looks like this episode too many, knowing that it offers nothing significant for a conclusion. The parallel with The king’s return only more painful.
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