The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) Warner Bros.-New Line/Fantasy-Action-Adventure RT: 134 minutes Rated PG-13 (strong violence) Director: Kenji Kamiyama Screenplay: Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou Music: Peter Gallagher Release date: December 13, 2024 (US) Cast: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto, Lorraine Ashbourne, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna, Janine Duvitski.
Rating: ** ½
I couldn’t help but notice something missing from The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, a prequel to the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. I didn’t feel the same love that I felt in Peter Jackson’s adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. The New Zealand filmmaker clearly loves the source material; it shows in every gorgeous frame of the three films. I don’t see it here. That can be explained by New Line’s main reason for making the movie. It was a business decision. The studio fast-tracked it in order to retain the rights to the franchise before they revert back to the late author’s estate. It’s a pretty good movie, but it has a noticeably rushed feel to it.
Set 183 years before the events of LOTR, The War of the Rohirrim centers on Hera (Wise, A Walk in the Woods), the wild and wayward daughter of Helm Hammerhand (Cox, Manhunter), king of Rohan. Strong-willed and independent, this is one girl who won’t be told what to do. One day, Lord Freca (Dooley, Saltburn) shows up and tries to convince Helm to marry off his only daughter to his son Wulf (Pasqualino, The Musketeers). Although childhood friends, Hera turns down Wulf’s proposal which offends Freca to the point of hand-to-hand combat with the king. Helm defeats and kills his opponent with a single blow. An angry Wulf swears revenge and rides off to parts unknown.
Several years later, a new threat against Rohan rears its ugly head. It’s Wulf, of course. He’s back to make good on his promise of revenge. Now the High Lord of the Dunlending tribe, he leads an attack on Rohan. Helm and his army try to fight them off, but they can’t. Hera evacuates the city and takes everybody to Hornburg, a stronghold where they remain under siege by Wulf and his men throughout the winter.
Directed by Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner: Black Lotus), The War of the Rohirrim definitely isn’t on the same epic scale as Jackson’s films. He did a brilliant job on all three movies. He hit all the right beats, artistic and emotional. I’ll grant that The War of the Rohirrim looks good. The animation, the traditional hand-drawn variety, is well done. It has a nice visual palette. Some of the illustrations are quite beautiful. The problem is it never looks or feels huge. It’s animation, Kenji could have gone big with it, but he doesn’t.
As for the emotional aspect of The War of the Rohirrim, it simply isn’t there. You would think a story about a heroine who loses several people she loves would have more of an impact. The problem is the writers don’t develop the characters more. They’re as two-dimensional as the animation. It would have been cool to hear more about “The Shield Maidens”, a tribe of female warriors not given their proper place in Middle Earth history. It would have been neat to see them rise again. It definitely would have given Hera more purpose and complexity.
Despite its shortcomings, I like The War of the Rohirrim. That is to say, I didn’t mind watching it. It’s an entertaining fantasy-adventure with some decent action scenes. I appreciate the reverence it shows for old school animation. In a way, it recalls Ralph Bakshi’s version of The Lord of the Rings from 1978. The voice talents, Cox in particular, do a great job. Wise projects strength and fortitude as the heroine Hera. Pasqualino sounds perfectly despicable as the vengeance-seeking villain. I love the call-backs to the OG films. I won’t elaborate; it’s more fun to be surprised.
Okay, so The War of the Rohirrim didn’t thrill me like I hoped it would. It doesn’t go that extra mile and suffers for it. It really could have been so much more. Instead, it’s good not great. Its biggest problem is that it never really comes to life like it should. The whole thing has a flat feel to it. It has a few slow stretches and more than once, characters talk when they should act. It’s definitely a flawed production, but it’s not unwatchable. It’s the kind of movie you see at a matinee.
