THE STORY – A sudden attack by Wulf, a ruthless Dunlending lord, forces Helm Hammerhand and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Helm’s daughter, Héra, must lead the resistance against a deadly enemy who’s intent on total destruction.
THE CAST – Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Miranda Otto, Luca Pasqualino, Lorraine Ashbourne, Shaun Dooley, Benjamin Wainwright & Yazdan Qafouri
THE TEAM – Kenji Kamiyama (Director) & Jeffery Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittends & Arty Papageorgiou (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 134 Minutes
There’s no denying the lasting power of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” There were already millions of fans of the writings of Tolkien’s beloved Middle Earth before Peter Jackson’s film adaptations (which undoubtedly are some of the best films ever made) spawned millions more. Yet ever since then, it felt like the magic of Middle Earth has failed to catch a spark in today’s over-saturated, ip-obsessed graveyard of studio filmmaking. Jackson’s return for the Hobbit trilogy was fine at best, but it never reclaimed the magic his original film trilogy had. The fact that Amazon is dedicated to pouring a billion dollars into their series “The Rings of Power” and that it still has no cultural relevance after two seasons speaks volumes. That’s why “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” on paper seems like the perfect opportunity to breathe fresh air into a series filled with a vast amount of untold stories. Sadly, besides presenting such a rich universe in the animated medium, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” is merely a solid outing that never reaches the potential it could have achieved.
“The War of the Rohirrim” takes place almost two hundred years before Frodo’s journey in the original trilogy. Audiences see Hera (voiced by Gaia Wise), the daughter of the King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox), vying to live a life that is ultimately of her own accord. Her very tomboyish nature often conflicts with the traditional roles she is expected to live up to as the Princess of Rohan. Soon after a tragic event, she is unwillingly pulled into a conflict provoked by her father against a former friend, Wulf (voiced by Luke Pasqualino) of the Dunlendings, leading to a war that decides the fates of both of their people. Off rip It’s appreciated that popular anime filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama helped maintain a consistent visual tone that was established by Jackson’s original trilogy. That familiarity is established in a multitude of ways in the production, from Phillipa Boyens returning to co-write the screenplay to Miranda Otto returning as the character of Éowyn. It also bleeds into the film’s animation style, but not too much, as Kamiyama was desiccated to animating the film in the vein of anime compared to more conventional Western animation styles.
From the start, the decision to explore Middle Earth through the medium of animation may be one of the more intriguing aspects of “The War of the Rohirrim.” A filmmaker as capable as Kenji Kamiyama isn’t bound by the physical limitations of practical filmmaking and could pull out all of the stops in animation. Kamiyama, who’s worked on various anime properties throughout his career, including entries in the “Ghost in the Shell,” steps into a world prime for his vision. Working alongside Sola Digital Arts, they set aside their traditional 3D animation style for a far more traditional 2D style. This was a massive endeavor from the animation warehouse, and honestly, the final output is just respectable. It’s far from anything revelatory, especially to a multitude of anime series released this year alone. The animation stands out because of its gorgeously painted backgrounds, especially in implementing differing climates throughout various locales from the world of Middle Earth, including Helm’s Deep. All of which are animated with such attention to detail. What’s interesting about the animation is how Kamiyama chose to capture the character’s movements through the use of the Unreal Engine instead of a practice such as rotoscoping. For the most part, it looks good, although, at times, the animation’s quality does drop for what must have been a priority focus on such large-scale battle sequences throughout the film.
The voice performances by the cast are solid all around, with the lead performances by Wise, Pasqualino, and Cox being the most memorable. There’s something to be said that despite being the most notable name on the call sheet, Cox is slightly miscast. It’s not that his voice work isn’t good; he’s one of the better performers in the film. It’s more so that his voice feels almost working against the character design of Helm Hammerhand himself. It takes some time for audiences’ ears to adjust, but eventually, they do. What really prevents “The War of the Rohirrim” from making its mark is that the story is quite predictable and riddled with countless cliches as one-dimensional as the characters themselves. Every character serves their familiar archetypes as expected, building up to cool sequences that leave viewers with very little emotional investment. Occasionally, a cool moment or two sprinkled in makes even the most bland characters stand on their own, but it is never enough. “The War of the Rohirrim” is very much for longtime fans of this franchise, but it leaves us questioning if there’s enough here for everyone else who may watch it.
