Set around 200 years prior to events seen in Peter Jackson’s live-action Middle-Earth trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim should be a treat for the many Tolkien fanatics who feel Amazon’s The Rings of Power just isn’t enough. Directed by Kenji Kamiyama with a heavy anime influence, this shouldn’t be seen as some kiddie version of the brutal battles of good and evil we’ve grown accustomed to. The adult themes and violence remain in a surprisingly robust adventure that captures the spirit of the big screen features without feeling like a cheap ploy to expand the franchise.
Gaia Wise voices Hera, daughter of the fierce king of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand, voiced by Brian Cox. The people of Rohan are known for their pride and fierce independence. Helm puts all of his attention on his sons, Haleth (Benjamin Wainwright), and Hama (Yazdan Qafouri), who couldn’t be more different. While Haleth is turning out to be a lot like his father, Hama is the most sensitive of Helm’s children. As for Hera, she’s dismissed and treated as helpless simply for being a woman. But we know differently, as the tomboyish Hera is shown tracking down a giant bird that has flown away with her horse atop a snowy mountain.
Like so many Tolkien stories, The War of the Rohirrim is driven by ambition, pride, and warrior’s honor, only this time from a brave heroine’s perspective. Helm causes a ruckus when he punches out rival lord Freca (Shaun Dooley) who had come to interrupt a celebration and push for marriage between his son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) and Hera. Apparently forgetting that his last name is “Hammerhand”, the king kills Freca with a single blow, causing Wulf to vow bloody retribution. While all seems to have cooled down over time, Wulf eventually returns and begins doing exactly as he promised, with nobody in the Hammerhand clan spared his wrath. It’s up to Hera to carry the banner for her family and put a stop to Wulf, who at one time was someone she would’ve called a friend.
Based on a story co-created by Phillippa Boyens, a writer on all six of Jackson’s beloved Lord of the Rings movies, War of the Rohirrim feels like a part of that epic tapestry. There’s even a connection to them through the narration by Miranda Otto as Eowyn, a prominent shieldmaiden of Rohan seen in The Two Towers and Return of the King. The animation is beautiful and fluid, drawing visual inspiration from Jackson and excluding the Studio Ghibli style that might’ve been more appealing to children. This is a movie that aims for a mature audience. While not quite worth of an R-rating, the PG-13 allows them to push the action a bit harder.
It’s interesting that Warner Bros. chose to tell this story in anime form at all, and then to give it a theatrical release. It wouldn’t be right to say that kids comprise the bulk of the anime audience, but adults here in the United States still have a hard time taking animated movies seriously. Sure, they’ll turn up for the latest Pixar or Dreamworks, but War of the Rohirrim is meant to be respected on the same level as Jackson’s acclaimed Oscar-winning trilogy and that is going to be a tough sell. While it might’ve drawn a wider audience in streaming, that doesn’t take away from a well-crafted, valourous film told by and for fervent lovers of Tolkien.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opens on December 13th.
