Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Writers: Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins, Arty Papageorgiou
Stars: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino
Synopsis: A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and traitorous lord of Rohan seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg.
There are books that we think should never be made into movies. Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit were definitely on that list for quite a long time. But then, of course, Peter Jackson, Phillipa Bowens, and Fran Walsh proved that very wrong with their stellar, original trilogy (Your mileage may definitely vary on the second trilogy). And it is tempting to fill in the gaps of J.R.R. Tolkien’s world. After all, we not only have a prequel television series via Amazon, but also now a new animated film that takes place in between the TV show and the movies. The world is so vast and, in some places, lacking in detail, that there are numerous opportunities for exploration and epic tales. Sadly, Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is too focused on making you remember the original films to tell its own story in a satisfactory way.
The film opens with recycled musical score from the original movies and features the voice of its female warrior, Eowyn (Miranda Otto), telling the story of its previous female warrior, Héra (voiced by Gaia Wise). Héra is filled with boundless energy, rides a horse, fights with a sword, basically everything you might expect from the initial descriptors. Her father, Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox) is the King of Rohan and, yes, if you watched the original movies, that should sound familiar to you. Helm is proud of his daughter (and his two sons), but holds her back. The film really begins when the leader of a neighboring tribe, Freca (voiced by Shaun Dooley) demands his son Wulf (voiced by Luke Pasqualino) be married to Héra. Helm takes offense, challenges him to a fight, and kills him with one punch. His name is Hammerhand, after all. Unsurprisingly, after this moment, much of the plot consists of Wulf attempting to exact vengeance on the Hammerhand family.
The animation is wonderful, minus a few moments in which it does not look at if horses’ hooves interact with the ground, but that is quite minor. Watching Héra and others in battle is truly a sight to behold and if you are, like me, a loving fan of the connected source material, you will not be able to stop yourself from getting just a little swept up with the emotion. As the familiar music swells, and recognizable characters and moments arise, well, we are only human.
But here’s the problem. It is simply too connected. The War of the Rohirrim loves a name drop. I won’t list them, both due to spoilers and because there are simply too many. But worse than that, many of the actions of these characters follow such similar beats to the trilogy, that you will find yourself wondering why you aren’t watching that instead. As the people of Rohan travel to a certain structure, the wait for the name begins and when it finally happens, it is so underwhelming, one can only sigh and throw up their hands.
Additionally, despite attempting to explore and possibly expand the deep lore, the film completely depends on the audience to point at the screen in recognition, and sadly, forgets to create memorable characters. Every single one is stock, one that we have seen thousands of times before. War King, young woman held back, older woman mentor, sensitive warrior, avenging son. Now, there are ways to create memorable moments within stereotypical characters. But, despite an over two hour runtime, screenwriters Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins seem wholly disinterested in depth and opt for scenes that would be better represented in the cutscene of a video game.
The predictable nature of the story, the constant need for connection to previous material, and the lack of characterization saddle The War of the Rohirrim with a disappointing experience. Luckily, there are several battle sequences that make the film engaging and give you something to hold onto. There is absolutely room for more stories from Middle Earth, but we should hope for one that tells a new story, instead of riding on the coattails of the original Ride of the Rohirrim.