Lord of the Rings: TROP Review-Bombed? Amazon Suspends Ratings

It would appear that there’s one type of all-too-real creature that even the Dark Lord Sauron may be powerless against: internet trolls who’ve allegedly been targeting Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Heading into the Prime Video series’ two-episode debut, the streaming series was riding an impressive 83% “Fresh” average score on Rotten Tomatoes (RT) with critics. If you head over to RT now, you’ll find a shocking contrast when it comes to the audience review, hovering around an average 37% “Rotten” score. And over on the streamer, Amazon has suspended its ratings system for the show, with a source telling The Hollywood Reporter that “reviews are being held 72 hours to help weed out trolls and to ensure each review is legitimate,” a policy reportedly instituted earlier this summer for all of Prime Video’s shows.

While the majority of reviews on RT addressed specific issues with the series, a number of other comments appeared aimed more at attacking the show for societal or political issues they believe the show is attempting to make and not on the actual quality of the streaming series itself. For example, “They wanted to involve such an important work with current politics and they have succeeded” and  “Reflecting world diversity in Middle Earth is an odd goal, albeit good for marketing maybe, but it was clearly more important than making a functional TV series.” If this sounds familiar, it should. Disney+ and Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was also reportedly review-bombed, heading into its premiere with an 88% “Fresh” average score among critics, only to get hit with a 36% “Rotten” average score among viewers. What will be interesting to see will be if The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will see a bump in its audience score once “bombs” are factored out of the equation. For example, She-Hulk saw a jump from 36% to 50% over the past week (though there are rumblings of concerns that the series may be targeted again after a recent appearance by Megan Thee Stallion was met with some harsh social media pushback).