For me it seemed like a marriage made in heaven. The unique fantasy world created in the mind of Tolkien was brought to the screen by the legendary anime filmmaker Kenji Kamiyana, who has showed us his creativity with brilliant films such as Blood: The Last Vampire and delving deep into the Ghost in a Shell franchise.
Anime gives a filmmaker the license to bring fantasy alive on the screen in a way that no other art form can – so seeing Tolkien’s work brought to life that way was an event that I couldn’t wait to see. If the project needed any more legitimacy, then that probably came when it was revealed that key members of Peter Jackson’s original Lord of the Rings team would be onboard – including screenwriter Phillipa Boyens. And while not directly involved with the everyday making of the film, Jackson himself had ideas bounced off him and eventually took up the role of executive producer.
The War of the Rohirrim is set 183 years earlier than The Lord of the Rings and comes from one of Tolkien’s original appendices – the House of Eorl to be exact. It follows the events of what happens when an innocuous meeting of kings and leaders turns deadly when the King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox ‒ Troy) realises that the offer from a Dunlending Lord named Freca (Shaun Dooley ‒ Saltburn) of his son, Wulf (Luka Pasqualino ‒ Snowpiercer) to marry Hammerhand’s daughter, Hera (Gaia Wise – A Walk in the Woods) is a veiled attempt to take the throne.
The resulting duel between Freca and Hammerhand results in Freca’s death and the quarrel is further escalated when Wulf reveals that he is in love with Hera and she spurns his advances. She is much more interested in exploring the world than settling down for marriage.
In an act of vengeance Wulf declares that he will take Rohan by force while Hera decides that she will become not only her people’s protector but a protector for the whole of Middle Earth.
I found that my original thoughts about how Tolkien’s work could merge with an Anime style artwork to be spot on. Visually this is one of the most spectacular films you will see this year and any frame of the film looks like it should be hanging on an art gallery wall. The epic scale of the scenery and the creativity shown by the artists to bring some of the creatures to life on the big screen will leave any audience member in awe.
That said though, a film ‘looking good’ doesn’t make it a great film. Even plot-wise The War of the Rohirrim will totally involve you and the team of screenwriters have created a genuinely enthralling good-versus-evil storyline. But there is a problem with the pacing here. Early on it feels like those screenwriters take their time bringing the story to life, but at about the halfway mark of the film it feels like they suddenly rush things and take shortcuts – using exposition to do so.
These parts of the film do not feel natural at all and seem to misuse Eowyn’s (Miranda Otto – War of the Worlds) voiceover. The result is that often the audience will find themselves removed from the film as they try to take on board information being thrown at them as if they were sitting in a high school history class.
It was during one of these moments when I started to wonder whether or not this story would have been done better justice by being spread out into a series or at least a trilogy of films. There is absolutely no reason why these exposition dumps couldn’t have been fleshed out a little more if that had been the case.
On the positive side, I was impressed by the way The War of the Rohirrim gives gentle nods to the films of Peter Jackson without tripping itself up. Those familiar with the previous films will prick their ears up as various cities, towns and people are mentioned, while you should also keep an eye out for some familiar characters along the way as well.
I must also give credit to the voice cast. Miranda Otto reveals herself to be an amazing voice actress as she guides the audience through this story, while Gaia Wise brings Hera to life in such a way I found myself hoping that perhaps one day we might get to see more of her story.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a film that can be enjoyed by those that worship the original films or newbies to the franchise alike. This is a great standalone story that has just enough nods to the original films to ground it into this amazing world. Be prepared for some amazing visuals and a sweeping story but also be warned the exposition dumps found throughout can be a little tiresome.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is currently screening in Phuket and is rated ‘G’.
3/5 Stars