The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
★ ★ ★
This film might be best enjoyed if you’re a die hard fan of the Lord of the Rings universe, be it the books, films or both. The fact that this movie is animated could be a bit deceiving as it is far less a family adventure romp than a teen-and-adult-themed epic adventure. As a moderate fan of the series myself, I found it to be occasionally boring.
The movie is directed by Japanese anime veteran Kenji Kamiyama and produced by Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies. The animation is beautiful and stunning, lending itself to a mid-1980s style with hyper realistic backgrounds.
Hera and Wulf square off
© 2024 New Line Cinema
The film’s tone matches the two previous trilogies, taking its time with the story and allowing it, and the characters, to develop. At times, the development bogs down the flow of the story more than it should.
It’s set 183 years before the events of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. Héra (Gaia Wise) is the daughter of Helm (Brian Cox) who is the king of Rohan and the leader of the Rohirri. Héra is brave and headstrong and is ready to fight in battle to defend her family, her father and king, and their kingdom. Contrary, it’s vital to Helm that Héra is protected at all costs.
Helm and his court are visited by Lord Freca (Shaun Dooley) of Gondor, leader of the Dunlendings. Wulf (Luca Pasqualino) is Freca’s son and they’ve arrived to convince Helm to give Héra to Wulf in marriage to secure a solid future between the two kingdoms. Helm rejects this offer, knowing that such a union would be the opposite of what’s being proposed.
Luca Pasqualino as Wulf
© 2024 New Line Cinema
This refusal of marriage eventually leads the two kingdoms to clash in war for the duration of the film.
The story, as well as the recent Amazon Prime video series The Rings of Power, comes from the appendices at the end of JRR Tolkien’s The Return of the King, which detail the history of Middle Earth before the War of the Ring.
Breaching the gates
© 2024 New Line Cinema
As much as I enjoyed the beauty of the anime style, I found myself wishing it had been presented as a live action epic. Anime films generally have a much faster pacing than presented here. Live action may have served this story better.
If you’re an ardent fan of JRR Tolkien’s work, you’ll find plenty to love about this film, even if there is also plenty you’ll want to overlook.
As a whole, it’s a decent film that could have benefited from better pacing and a little less exposition.
Running Time: 2h 10m
Directed by: Kenji Kamiyama
Written by: Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins, Arty Papageorgiou
Starring: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto, Lorraine Ashbourne
Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Anime
