Movie Review | The War of the Rohirrim
I believe it to be a miscalculation; is it this or that?
I was excited going into the cinema but then, coming out I was just disappointed. As I walked out of the cinema, I began to wonder. I wonder if this movie had to exist? Did Warner Brothers want to retain the rights that bad that they made this thing?1 2
Tolkien does have a distinct style so you know it when you see it. I felt that Tolkien’s flavor was missing from this movie and the films focus was divided. Lets explore the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of: The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
The Good
Leading up to watching this movie, I was really excited to see how animation would mix with Middle Earth and oh yes, the animation was stunning. The landscape artwork mixed with the anime characters and special effects were breathtaking. They were done well because they had fellow who worked on Ghost in the Shell and Blood the Last Vampire; Kenji Kamiyama3 directing this film. The soundtrack was well done, calling back to Howard Shore’s theme’s from the LotR Movies linked up the world of the films nicely. And the voice actors were outstanding. I honestly didn’t know there were big players like Brian Cox, Miranda Otto even Merry and Pippin were in there; the voices matched to the anime characters well.
*SPOILERS BELOW* So you’ve been warned.
The Bad
First off, the voiceover throughout the movie was not needed; at all. It was needless exposition and would cut any tension that had been previously built. I felt this treated the audience like children; everything was handed over to us. No thinking needed in this film! I felt that enough was explained through the animation well enough that if you removed the voiceover, the movie would be at least 30% better.
The antagonist Wulf4 was terrible, for a Tolkein film adaptation. When Wulf was on screen, I thought “this Tolkien character is a bit over the top?”. Then, halfway through the film it hit me; he’s not a Tolkien villain, he’s an anime villain! Think Mewtwo5, Frieza6 and Itachi Uchia7. The angled shots, the one reason for purpose, one mindedness to accomplish his goal. Nothing complex but a driven and formidable enemy to the main characters that would be more appropriate or more commonly seen in Japanese Animation from Japan. I couldn’t help but think: “was this movie trying to be Tolkien or Trinity Blood?”
And the Ugly
This movie was mainly from King Helm’s daughter Héra’s perspective. The source of this story from Tolkien, it is found in the appendixes of the Twin Towners, and King Helm’s daughter’s name wasn’t mentioned8; this is fine, the book was published in 1954. Yet the movie chose to have it from her point of view; Why?
In the film, a point is made of the shield maidens of Rohan; they used to be a formidable force and even had their own banner. In the current time setting it seems that they have fallen into disarray and there is no organization of the Shieldmaidens of Rohan. I thought with this premise that we would get to see a resurgence of this Banner of Rohan, but nothing of that came to fruition. I think that is what was a big disappointment for me. There was build up, but no follow through. We follow Héra on her journey that has such promise but ends up being just another character to hold our hand through the tale.
It is like if you go to the bakery and you’re like “I will have 8 cupcakes!”
and you receive a salad - Flula Borg
Final Thoughts
That quote above pretty much sums up this movie. This movie did state that it is “based off” the works of Tolkien, but the lore, the story and the fans have been around for a while and have a certain expectation. I supposed in my intro it was harsh, but that’s to catch a readers attention.
This film seemed to be divided; was it going to be a Tolkien adaptation or a Japanese production anime film? Since it wasn’t decided, it was both and failed in both categories.
I suppose I had set my expectations too high and that marred my vision of this film. This expectation was not met and made me feel deflated about the future9 or continuing adaptations10 of Middle Earth.
https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/movies/lord-rings-film-tv-adaptation-rights-explained-144431467.html
https://screenrant.com/war-of-the-rohirrim-anime-lotr-movie-rights-confirmed/
https://x.com/kixyuubann?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Wulf
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Mewtwo_(Pok%C3%A9mon)
https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Frieza_(Dragon_Ball)
https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Itachi_Uchiha
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Helm%27s_daughter
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/lord-of-the-rings-movie-2026-release-warner-bros-1235997102/
https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Power/dp/B09QHD1BD4/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7AzxHGkC-STb6_hINN8lcXxWSpH2uFoDkRUP4sEU5kBI-by7tfgF20oICKfY1gH5mfV0hYykAodU7Pnj-D7QMz94v-EKSpwd1ByLNKxm4eHZMpEqwF4rOqszhZr3gfPwcq9f-hDhZN3VcLo9dJmxBum_eo3D8dgUblTdLYwELI5ymL7WAfLtcfzXTgCM-hE7TR8ussbHRvXiooJ2OHqGF3S6UAyfBpEP3YgDPJ3yLSw.lqUhDJUJ0przXFLYP1ZVgvpem5Y_WPu6xZwduEdxxhM&dib_tag=se&keywords=lord+of+the+rings&qid=1734664769&sr=8-1