THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM (2024)

Genre: Animation/Fantasy
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Cast: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto, Lorraine Ashbourne, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna, Janine Duvitski
Runtime: 2 hrs 14 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 5 December 2024

Synopsis: Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg—a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Hera, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.

Movie Review:

Those familiar with the world of J.R.R. Tolkien will probably recall the Battle of Helm’s Deep, also called the Battle of the Hornburg, which saw the army of Rohan annihilate the forces of the wizard Saruman in the mountains of Middle Earth. This was the pivotal showdown in Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’, and those who grew up with his film trilogy as well as his subsequent ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy will recall with fondness just how seminal his vision of Middle Earth was for blockbuster filmmaking at that time.

Than try to replicate the same, Jackson and his collaborators on the trilogies, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, have instead turned to animation to continue the legends of Middle Earth. Digging deep into Tolkien lore, they have instead turned to the appendices of his novel to fashion an origin story about Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), a legendary king of Rohan, who is forced to abandon his kingdom and to retreat into the Hornburg after being attacked by an army of Dunlendings bent on seeking revenge for the humiliation they had suffered years earlier.

Leading the charge for the Dunlendings is the vengeful Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), whose father Lord Freca (Shaun Dooley) was accidentally killed by Helm during a mano-a-mano fight that ensued following Helm’s rejection of Freca’s proposition for Wulf to marry Helm’s daughter Hera (Gaia Wise). As much as this was a plainly disguised attempt at claiming the throne, Helm’s disdain of Freca and his son Wulf, notwithstanding that they both also bear Rohirric blood, is all the more stinging for Wulf, who then vows for Helm to suffer the same heartbreak and disgrace.

Somewhat contrary to what you may expect though, the story is driven neither by Helm or Wulf, but rather by Hera, whose coming-of-age is the narrative which two sets of writers (Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, before re-writes by Phoebe Gillins and Arty Papageorgiou) had devised. Like the typical patriarch, Helm clearly favours his two sons, Hama (Yazdan Qafouri) and Haleth (Benjamin Wainwright), over Hera, regarding her as rebellious and strong-willed; and it is no secret that Helm will come to see Hera for the brave, empathetic leader that she is over the course of the movie.

Though relatively short by Jackson’s standards, the film still runs a mighty two and a quarter hours, long by most animation standards. Still, fans of the earlier trilogies will relish the combination of epic action and intimate character moments that director Kenji Kamiyama emulates here. The former is gorgeously done in Japanese anime-style, with a mix of 2D and 3D animation that may take some getting used to at the start but is nonetheless both visceral and immersive; and the latter allows for some beautiful, even heart-breaking exchanges between father and daughter, as well as for Hera to come into her own as a heroine.

It is to Wise’s credit too that Hera is as established and real a character as she would have been in a live-action movie. Otherwise known as Emma Thompson’s daughter, the British actress brings grit, vulnerability and intensity to her voice-acting role. Ditto for Cox, who brings authority, gravitas and raw emotion as Helm, and is more than a worthy complement for veterans Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee in the live-action Jackson movies. On that note, it is deliberate that unlike previous antagonists, Wulf isn’t a wizard or dark lord but simply a human driven by bitterness and rage, and it is refreshing that despite hailing from Tolkien’s fantasy world, this is ultimately a tale of human faults and frailties.

As an animation, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ would naturally struggle to convey the same sense of grandeur and magnificence of Middle-Earth that Jackson was able to portray through his use of the natural New Zealand landscapes. Yet, as an experiment to continue the big-screen adaptation of Tolkien’s novels (so that the studio would not lose its film rights), this is a sumptuous story of pride, vengeance and gallantry. It is even more significant that it is a female-driven story (of Hera), and a good harbinger of the other tales left of Middle-Earth yet to be told, even though they may not be as broad and encompassing as the main stories themselves.

Movie Rating:

(Packed with epic action and intimate character-driven moments, this continuation of the lore of Middle Earth is a sumptuous story of pride, vengeance and gallantry)

Review by Gabriel Chong