Beyond having read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I don’t know much about the stories of what came before or after J.R.R. Tolkien’s most famous works. I’m not even sure if the story told in Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is canon, although it’s clear for various reasons that it takes place in the same universe as Peter Jackson’s many films. For one thing, our narrator is Eowyn herself (voiced by Miranda Otto), and there are other hints of things to come, including a surprising voice cameo and a few name drops of key characters and events.
But what anime legend Kenji Kamiyama (the Ultraman animated series; Blade Runner: Black Lotus) has really given us is an old-fashioned adventure story in the anime tradition that turns out to be something of an origin story for the well-known stronghold Helm’s Deep (more of an origin story of its name).
Set 183 years before the events of LOTR, The War of the Rohirrim tells the story of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), the king of Rohan, whose family goes to war with an old acquaintance named Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), who used to be in love with Helm’s daughter, Hera (Gaia Wise), until the king killed his father in a battle for the throne. Seeking revenge, Wulf declares war on Hera’s brothers, Hama and Haleth (Yazdan Qafouri and Benjamin Wainwright), and drives Helm’s people into the fortress of Hornburg, where they must spend a winter with few supplies and an angry Wulf and his Dunlending army waiting to attack.
The film expands the LOTR’s universe a bit, but mostly it sticks to familiar landmarks. In addition to Eowyn’s narrative voice, a couple of orcs show up, coveting rings for some reason; giant elephants are used as weapons of war; a pair of familiar wizards makes appearances (sort of); and it all kind of feels like fan fiction done at the highest level, with dazzling animation and a director unafraid to get bloody and gross. This is a wartime story, after all.
Still, despite executive producer credits given to original LOTR’s writers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, the film feels devoid of any of the heart that was found in that trilogy, and that makes it impossible to feel fully invested in these characters (although I do think Hera is a great addition to the Tolkien character trove).
As a spectacle, The War of the Rohirrim is sometimes jaw-dropping, and I would expect nothing less from a filmmaker like Kamiyama. But the plot is dense and dry, lacking a soul. Some might make the same argument about Tolkien’s text, but Jackson’s films solved that problem in a way this film does not. LOTR purists will probably get a kick out of some of what happens here, but the rest of us will likely feel left in the dark.
The film is now playing in theaters.
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