An expensive film adaptation of the eponymous literary cycle by Robert Jordan, which looks better than another attempt to create a new "Game of Thrones".
Do you remember there was such a series - "Game of Thrones"? It will be difficult to blame you if the absolutely disastrous eighth season erased from your consciousness the most important television project of the last decade. In the end, the same thing happened with all of pop culture, from which everything associated with the HBO hit magically disappeared two years ago. It seems that only the bosses of streaming services are still obsessed with "A Song of Ice and Fire", who, well, really want the same international phenomenon to emerge from under their wing: a film adaptation of a famous book cycle is desirable, even better if it is fantasy.
Netflix releases The Witcher and Shadow and Bone; HBO will soon return to its beloved universe with a Game of Thrones prequel called House of the Dragon; Apple went into science fiction with Foundation. Finally, Amazon next year will present almost the most expensive project in the history of the serial industry - the prequel to "The Lord of the Rings", but this fall it will release the "Wheel of Time", which is mysterious for the average viewer. Just visit the Wikipedia page of Robert Jordan's brainchild to find out that it is one of the best-selling fantasy series in history - inspired by The Lord of the Rings and War and Peace, European history, Asian mythology and philosophy, an epic spanning 14 novels and a scattering of stories. All in all, it's hard to imagine a more suitable candidate to replace Game of Thrones.
This epic saga begins with a not very original plot - the search for the chosen one. The representative of the women's order "Aes Sedai" Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), accompanied by her guard Lana (Daniel Henny), goes to the village of Two Rivers, where, according to her information, several young people live at once, who may turn out to be the Reborn Dragon - the reincarnation of a powerful creature, which will either save the world or destroy it. Almost immediately, the village is attacked by an army of trollocs - orc-like creatures obeying the Dark One. After a bloody battle, Moiraine convinces four potential heroes (among them a handsome man, a blacksmith, a healer and a sarcastic rascal) to leave the village, take away the enemies and go with her on a long journey.
There is no escape from Tolkien's legacy: Jordan was criticized for the secondary nature of the story, in which one can find suspiciously many borrowings from The Lord of the Rings: from names, types (mentor with magical powers), races (wow, evil orcs) and ending with events like escape from the village and chase creatures in dark robes. In a strange way, the book's secondary nature and adherence to the classical plot only attract in the film adaptation, because The Wheel of Time is entering an era in which, by default, you expect from a new fantasy another, if not a rethinking of genre traditions, then attempts by the creators to attract an adult audience that adores mat, erotica and dismembered. The film adaptation of the cycle "Shadow and Bone" released this year also seems to fit the description, but do not forget that the original source was written in the genre of young adult literature. The Wheel of Time, on a scale from teenage Shadow and Bones to adult Game of Thrones, is exactly in the middle: heads are cut off here in a naturalistic way, but there is no obscene language or overly explicit sex scenes.
In fact, The Wheel of Time looks much more interesting than its text description. The secondary plot offers several unexpected twists and reflections - in the very first episode, for example, one of the heroes accidentally kills a loved one during the battle for the village, and the dualism with the branch of the chosen one looks really intriguing: not only does the viewer not know which of the heroes will be reincarnated Dragon, it is still not entirely clear which side he will eventually choose. Finally, the series also looks expensive - albeit not the most serious, but still a good reason to give it a chance: huge extras, large-scale scenery, skillfully directed action scenes, and most importantly - landscape views of Eastern Europe, and not ugly computer-drawn backgrounds ... A little rejection is caused only by cute actors who, in surprisingly fashionable clothes, look like models from the fall-winter collection lookbook from a top brand.
Even from the first three episodes, it becomes clear that The Wheel of Time is losing to Game of Thrones in everything, but the series nevertheless has the potential to emerge from the shadow of the HBO blockbuster and become a completely independent project that will find not only an audience, but also its place on the field of modern serials.
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