The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The most recommended of 5 fantasy films
Praised for its craft, production, soundtrack and tone as a sword-and-sorcery epic; the most common caveat is that it departs from Tolkien's books.
Praised for its craft, production, soundtrack and tone as a sword-and-sorcery epic; the most common caveat is that it departs from Tolkien's books.
31 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 18
- criticize it
- 13
- approval share
- 58%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 18 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Highly produced, with excellent craftsmanship
“they are particularly highly produced, where all crafts making up that movie are treated highly”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “that their creation was outstandingly high quality”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “Karpathy's Pelican” Good adaptation of the source material
“the LOTR trilogy is a near-perfect example of how source material can be adapted well into a different medium”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Please, Don't Screw Up Neuromancer” “a movie series that's as good as the source material and holds quality over 3 movies”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “An Uncomplicated Man” Quality holds across three films
“a movie series that's as good as the source material and holds quality over 3 movies”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “An Uncomplicated Man” “The LotR movies were a high water mark, even if they aren't perfect.”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “JRR Tolkien reads from The Hobbit for 30 Minutes (1952)” Beloved by fans of the books
“I say this as a huge LotR fan who enjoyed all the extended LotR cuts”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “An Uncomplicated Man” “a soft spot for the LotR movies”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Why medieval city-builder video games are historically inaccurate (2020)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Departs from the book, undermining adaptation
“The movies also have some really bizarre departures from the book which seriously undermine their quality as an adaptation”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “An Uncomplicated Man” “are great movies , but are pretty poor adaptations”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “JRR Tolkien reads from The Hobbit for 30 Minutes (1952)” “Gandalf kicking Pippin (the exact opposite of what happens in the book)”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “JRR Tolkien reads from The Hobbit for 30 Minutes (1952)” - Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Hollywood's spent 25 years chasing the wrong lessons from The Lord of the Rings”
Faramir character badly handled
“Faramir was the worst character assassination in the movies.”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “JRR Tolkien reads from The Hobbit for 30 Minutes (1952)” “Wish the movies didn't take so much liberty with Faramir.”
Comment from 25 Dec 2025 in “Maybe the Default Settings Are Too High”
Other fantasy films people recommend
The four most recommended other fantasy films, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Rings film trilogyThis page | 18 | 13 | 58% | 7 | — | — |
| The Princess Bride by William Goldman | 13 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Conan the Barbarian (1982 film) | 9 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Legend (1985 film) | 6 | 2 | 75% | 1 | — | — |
| Highlander (1986 film) | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
31 of the 32 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“managed to be unironic and good”
“They got a £20 account credit (which is not a refund), and still no access to at least one of the films.”
“that their creation was outstandingly high quality”
“The movies also have some really bizarre departures from the book which seriously undermine their quality as an adaptation”
“the LOTR trilogy is a near-perfect example of how source material can be adapted well into a different medium”
“Many of the changes that Jackson made in service of commercial, mass-market appeal were downright silly”
“I say this as a huge LotR fan who enjoyed all the extended LotR cuts”
“a movie series that's as good as the source material and holds quality over 3 movies”
“which wasn't very convincing to me”
“I'm one of those weirdos who thinks The Lord of the Rings movies were better because they left out some things from the books”
“twelve hours of butt-numbing Tolkien goodness”
“Jackson's LoTR, which was not faithful to the source”
“PJ defined the product that was LOTR against the objectives pursued by studio.”
“The movie does a bit of violence to the complexities of the world”
“Except the movies leave out entire characters”
“the Lord of the Rings soundtrack is spectacular and adds greatly to the pleasure in watching it”
“Beside original LoTR everything else was pretty bad.”
“they were not the world I had visited. And they were boring.”
“a soft spot for the LotR movies”
“are great movies , but are pretty poor adaptations”
“there were some brilliant moments in the early LOTR movies”
“The LotR movies were a high water mark, even if they aren't perfect.”
“his films are the first dramatic sword & sorcery type movies that got the tone right”
“Faramir was the worst character assassination in the movies.”
“Gandalf kicking Pippin (the exact opposite of what happens in the book)”
“the films just kept going down hill—one after the other.”
“Wish the movies didn't take so much liberty with Faramir.”
“we thought the CG in Lord of the Rings was convincing and now it looks like trash”
“they are particularly highly produced, where all crafts making up that movie are treated highly”
“Peter Jackson's films are 90% the latter”
“they fixed it for the theatrical version in 4K but not extended.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.