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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a slight, surprisingly flat prequel that will likely only win over die-hard Tolkien fans.
Pros:
- A likable lead
- Brian Cox’s voice performance as Helm Hammerhand
- Visually impressive, expansive animation throughout
Cons:
- A by-the-numbers script
- Multiple distracting Easter eggs and references
- Underdeveloped villains
In a time of tenuous peace in Middle-earth, Héra, the "wild" and strong daughter of Helm Hammerhand, the mighty reigning king of Rohan, is tested early on by Freca, a rich lord of a neighboring region who demands that Helm marry Héra to his son Wulf rather than a lord of the nearby Gondor or any other land. When Helm refuses, he and Freca come to blows in a brutal confrontation that sets the stage for the vengeance-fueled war between Rohan and Wulf that encompasses the film’s final two-thirds.
This story is well-known among Tolkien obsessives, but it is around Helm himself or his valiant nephew Fréaláf that the film’s military conflict is usually centered. In this case, the film finds a unique way into its story through Héra, an Amazonian figure of fierce intelligence and courage so clearly drawn in the image of future Rohan noblewoman and warrior Éowyn that the film is actually narrated by Otto herself. The present but unspoken parallels between Éowyn and Héra’s stories prove to be the film’s most effective and powerful attempts to connect its plot to the events of the War of the Ring. Other crossover efforts, like a brief run-in with a pair of ring-hunting Orcs sent from Mordor and a couple of last-minute name-drops, are less successful.
The War of the Rohirrim sticks pretty close to Tolkien’s original, truncated retelling of its story. What original material it creates is done in the service of fleshing out Héra, who emerges across the film’s 134-minute runtime as a figure who feels both strikingly modern and timeless in a way that makes her a fascinating and welcome compatriot to the other heroines, like Éowyn, whom Tolkien included in his fictional world. The movie, however, struggles to create the same depth that it does in Héra in nearly all of its other characters, including Freca and Wulf, two villains who remain frustratingly underdeveloped. Olwyn, a shieldmaiden and friend to Héra, stands out less because of what is revealed about her and more because of what is implied. Cox’s commanding vocal performance as Helm, meanwhile, gives the kind of weight to his character’s ferocity and short-sightedness that the film’s screenplay fails to convey on its own.
Kamiyama is no stranger to franchise filmmaking, having previously worked on Blade Runner: Black Lotus and directed the best episode of Star Wars: Visions volume 1. He has a hard time nonetheless making The War of the Rohirrim feel like a worthwhile companion piece to Peter Jackson’s live-action Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. The new movie feels almost slavishly devoted to the look and designs of Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, but no matter how detailed and stunning its animated frames often are, The War of the Rohirrim never manages to fully recapture the magic of Jackson’s Middle-earth.
Much like The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The War of the Rohirrim fails to realize that the lived-in, tangible quality of Jackson’s original, live-action take on Middle-earth is why it feels so real and inviting in his Lord of the Rings films. The War of the Rohirrim may cover why the Rohan fortress of Helm’s Deep receives its name and reputation, but none of the scenes set there come close to matching the visual beauty of those in 2002’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is far from the worst bit of franchise expansion that Hollywood has produced over the past 10 years. Its obvious attention to detail and faithfulness to its parent films will, in fact, likely make it a more than satisfactory experience for all the Lord of the Rings fans out there who are just desperate to return to Middle-earth on the big screen. For everyone else, though, The War of the Rohirrim doesn’t have anything truly new or memorable to offer. It’s a fantasy adventure that never really gets going or builds enough power and wonder to leap off the page and screen the same way that J.R.R. Tolkien’s original stories and Peter Jackson’s feature adaptations have continued to for decades now.
Conclusion
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a disappointing prequel that fails to bring anything new or exciting to the table. Despite its visually impressive animation and attention to detail, the film’s by-the-numbers script and underdeveloped villains make it feel like a lesser experience compared to the live-action Lord of the Rings films.
FAQs
- What is The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim about?
- The film is a prequel that tells the story of the war between Rohan and Wulf, set 200 years before the events of The Fellowship of the Ring.
- Is the film faithful to the original Tolkien story?
- Yes, the film sticks closely to Tolkien’s original retelling of the story, with some minor additions and changes.
- Is the animation impressive?
- Yes, the film’s animation is visually stunning and expansive, with detailed and intricate designs.
- Is the film a worthy companion piece to the live-action Lord of the Rings films?
- No, the film fails to recapture the magic of the live-action films and feels like a lesser experience.
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