The problem with all of this is that some people (predominantly Tolkein fans obviously) were determined to hate it regardless of the content or quality. You look at the trailers or pop onto the relevant bits of Reddit and you have countless posts of people imploring others not to bother watching it, and to review bomb it.
Now, as hard as it is to believe, it's not made for that relatively small group of people. It's made to have a broad appeal, capitalising on the current interest in fantasy epics (see GoT) and building on the success of the LotR films. That's one of the reasons for it incorporating "modern themes". Complaining about this to me is like people complaining that Doctor Who shouldn't be a woman or that Bond can't be blonde. It's all fiction, it's all made up. These aren't real things that have been written down. And some of the complaints about woke casting etc are unbelievable. Who the fuck cares if a dwarf is black or white - they're not fucking real.
I read LotR and the Hobbit as a teenager and honestly, I don't remember the finer details now. I know for a fact that the Hobbit films bore scant resemblance to the book, but if they were good films I wouldn't have really cared. The issue is that they were basically shite. I'd watch the Two Towers again happily but I'd be surprised if I ever watch one of the Hobbit films again. Not because it offended the lore but because it was rubbish. The LotR films set an exceptionally high bar. That being said, my wife is a big Tolkein fan and I know that are numerous inconsistencies between the books and film - that's the nature of adaptations and the need to condense a hugely dense story into approximately 10 hours of screentime.
It would probably be better for film makers to say that Rings of Power was "inspired by" Tolkein's works rather than being an adaptation of it. It might mollify the most passionate, or it might not. But no one is ever going to make an entirely faithful adaptation of the endless backstory and Tolkein lore. Ultimately much of it would be fairly dull. There's a reason that LotR is popular but most haven't dug into the Silmarillion or memorised the appendices to the former. I love backstory and depth but most people frankly aren't bothered and find it dry.
Sometimes I feel like shouting at the zealots in these circumstances - frankly they should be extremely grateful that a production company has lavished something they're interested in with a vast budget and beautiful cinematography. I can't comment on the acting or plotting as I've not watched it yet. As a big Stephen King fan I'm used to getting excited about adaptations, only for them to disappoint because directors, editors and producers struggle to "get it right". The Stand, Under the Dome, the Dark Tower etc. But of course there are also some brilliant examples which I can enjoy, and there's nothing to stop me ignoring them all and just reading the books again. In any case, I wouldn't dream of review bombing, it's fucking stupid to review something you've not seen and that thousands of people have worked on. Life's too short.
The Bible comparisons are interesting but I think it's missing a key point which is that (whether or not you believe) the Bible is a religious text. If you're not a Christian you can view it either as a historical record or a series of allegorical stories (or moral messages) but it's purpose is to evangelise, spread the Christian messages and provide teachings to Christians about how to worship and live their lives. If someone wants to parody it, they can (see Life of Brian). There have been numerous adaptations which have received different degrees of criticism from the church/Christians.
The difference for me is that if you inherently believe in the bible and are a christian, making significant changes to the content which undermine the message/purpose is offensive to your faith and beliefs. The Bible is, in theory, a historical record (at least as far as it relates to the life of Jesus and beyond, I don't think there are many left who believe that the entire world flooded while Noah lived on a boat with two of every animal or that Moses lived to 500 years old). Bible "zealots" believe every single word as fact. Tolkein is, in its entirety, a work of fiction. That doesn't mean it can't be hugely important to people, and that they can't be protective of the source material, but as it's expressly
not real it's not equivalent to the bible which is intended to be read as real (whether you believe that or not).
