Warning: The following review contains mild spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.
The Lord of the Rings has lost some of its shine since Peter Jackson’s big screen trilogy wrapped up in 2003 (underwhelming prequels and streaming series will do that). But with The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, the franchise has regained some of its lost luster.
It’s an impressive achievement made all the more remarkable by the production’s genesis and presentation. Not only is War of the Rohirrim a feature-length anime (an unlikely fit for J.R.R. Tolkien’s decidedly Anglo-centric mythos) but it only got the green light so that Warner Bros. Pictures/New Line Cinema could cling, Gollum-like, to the Middle-earth film rights. So, War of the Rohirrim‘s origins are purely commercial, yet there’s an undeniable artistry at play here.
Indeed, director Kenji Kamiyama’s (largely) standalone epic is easily the best – or at the very least, most consistently satisfying – Lord of the Rings adaptation since Jackson’s original movies.
Set roughly 200 years before The Lord of the Rings trilogy, War of the Rohirrim doesn’t concern itself with magic rings, dark lords, or wizards. Instead, the anime zeros in on legendary King of Rohan Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) and his daughter, Héra (Gaia Wise), as they defend the realm from an invading force of Dunlending wild men. The Dunlendings are headed up by Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), who has beef with Helm and Héra for killing his father and rejecting his marriage proposal, respectively. He’ll stop at nothing to exact revenge – and whether he succeeds or not, Rohan will never be the same again.
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It’s all broadly faithful to the story of Helm that Tolkien sketches out in The Lord of the Rings‘ back matter. At the same time, it’s also very Peter Jackson, even though the Kiwi director’s involvement in the production is limited to an executive producer credit. Kamiyama called the shots on this one, working from a script by Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou. Even so, several key creative personnel on Jackson’s trilogy – producer Philippa Boyens and concept artists Alan Lee and John Howe – had a hands-on role in shaping War of the Rohirrim‘s narrative and aesthetic. As such, the look and feel of Jackson’s take on Middle-earth is preserved, including the contemporary slant he put on Tolkien’s tales. Héra doesn’t even have a name in established Lord of the Rings lore (much less an arc), but here, she’s a proto-Éowyn, underestimated and undervalued by the men around her.
That doesn’t mean War of the Rohirrim departs entirely from its source material. Tolkien’s version of Helm’s tragic rule boils down to a proud man who brings ruin on his house, and that’s still the case here. Similarly, Wulf’s ruthless quest for vengeance in the movie – as much borne out of hurt feelings as honor or familial duty – is essentially the same in the books, just more fully fleshed out. And though War of the Rohirrim is mercifully light on canon callbacks, towards the end there’s a concerted effort to bridge – and in some cases, reconcile – the continuity of the books and films. Rankled by the way “Helm’s Deep” and “Hornburg” are used interchangeably in The Two Towers? Don’t worry: the folks behind War of the Rohirrim have it covered.
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What’s more, you sense that Tolkien would’ve approved of the mythic vibe of it all. Kamiyama and his quartet of screenwriters imbue War of the Rohirrim with the same Scandinavian folklore flavor Tolkien injected into the book’s Rohan-related sections, which often lends proceedings a distinctly fresh vibe. Indeed, this is arguably the first Lord of the Rings adaptation to lean into the strongman physicality that crops up in Tolkien’s writings. Not the supercharged acrobatics of the Elves of either Jackson’s films or the Prime Video show; the anime’s Helm (like Tolkien’s) is a mortal man who throws down with his bare hands, just as Elendil took on Sauron mano a mano in Tolkien’s continuity. It’s the stuff of legend and perfectly suited to animation.
Which isn’t to say that War of the Rohirrim‘s hybrid 2D/3D animation is wholly successful. For every shot that works, there are at least two more where the characters and environments don’t blend well. Still, there’s some strikingly beautiful imagery in War of the Rohirrim – and, by design, some strikingly ugly stuff, too. Some scenes (such as a memorable lakeside action sequence early on) feature both. So, on balance, the animators at Sola Entertainment deliver the goods. If anything, their work calls to mind the eclectic animation of Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 Lord of the Rings flick, which also combined a bunch of styles and techniques to equal parts dazzling and distracting effect.
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War of the Rohirrim‘s voice acting is likewise a mixed bag that skews positive overall. Predictably, Cox is the standout, summoning the requisite gravitas the Helm role demands. Wise is a great fit for Hera, too. Her portrayal of the young princess contains multitudes, at once courageous and compassionate. And Pasqualino puts in a decent showing as Wulf, who – while not quite on the same level as Sauron or Saruman – is a solid baddie all the same. By contrast, some of the supporting and minor players are less convincing; there’s a whiff of “shoddy English dub” about their performances. But hey, you may not notice, with Howard Shore’s recycled Rohan motif blaring any chance Kamiyama gets.
This speaks to War of the Rohirrim‘s one major shortcoming: its freshness gradually wears off. That’s partly because the initial “Lord of the Rings, but anime!” novelty fades well before we cross the two-hour mark. But it’s mostly because – regardless of its unique, humans-only perspective – War of the Rohirrim doesn’t really break any new ground. We don’t learn much more about Rohan’s culture or customs in the anime, and its fashion and infrastructure (much like its theme music) were apparently identical two centuries ago. So, by the time we get around to the protracted siege on the fortress at Helm’s Deep, things start to feel a little tired. We’ve seen it all before.
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Which begs the question: why tell this story? Obviously, the answer is “legal obligation.” But I’m sure the creative team would argue that a parable about the folly of hubris and the fallout of tit-for-tat conflicts is as timely now as ever. They may be right; I’m not sure it even matters. Sometimes, a movie can just be a movie. It doesn’t need a reason to exist other than transporting us to another world for a couple of hours, and War of the Rohirrim does just that. So, overly familiar or not, it’s still the best Lord of the Rings adaptation in over 20 years.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim rides into cinemas on Dec. 13, 2024.
Published: Dec 12, 2024 07:41 am