‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ film review: A dazzling but cautious canter through the lore of Middle Earth

A scene from ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

The rich mythology of the untold stories of Middle Earth has always had a curious magnetism – the whispered legends hidden in appendices, or histories that get only a fleeting nod in Tolkien’s pages. war of the rohirrimThe latest foray into this hallowed territory takes on the challenge of tracing one such story: the origins of Helm’s Deep, the fortress whose very name evokes echoes of Peter Jackson’s grand battle sequence.

There’s a strange kind of pressure that comes with embracing Tolkien. You are tending the sacred flame of geekdom, managing a world whose fan base tames the shape of Uruk. Kenji Kamiyama’s anime feature isn’t so much a heroic charge into this rarely-charted territory as it is a cautious walk down a well-worn path, with just enough novelty to justify its existence and plenty of fodder for those who want to. Find the cinematic ubiquity of Middle Earth. Tiring.

Set back two centuries to the arduous pursuit of fellowship, war of the rohirrim Centers on Hera (voiced by Gaia Wise), the spirited daughter of Helm Hammerhand, King of Rohan (voiced with sardonic gravitas by Brian Cox). Hera is a proto-Eowyn – a horse-riding, sword-wielding shield girl who dreams of challenging patriarchal expectations. She is everything Tolkien’s women often were not: a warrior with a strong arc, though she doesn’t escape the pull of prophecy.

A scene from ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

Crafted by a consortium of writers including Philippa Boyens (a veteran of Jackson’s trilogy), the screenplay tries valiantly to imbue her with a sense of agency, yet she remains curiously adrift, turning the tale of revenge into a Like a narrative device to tie things together. To ruin.

Actually, revenge is the driving force of the film. The plot begins when Helm accidentally throws a punch to a rival owner during some testosterone-charged negotiations. The man’s son, Wolf, swears vengeance. He’s your standard-issue villain – brooding, growling, and focused on destruction.

The Wolf’s siege of Helm’s Deep – the iconic fortress that has not yet been mythologized by Gandalf’s epic third-act cavalry charge two towers – Makes a better part of the story. It evokes a bitter winter with an extended set piece that Kamiyama presents with a painterly menace: snow-covered battles, dwindling supplies, and a creeping sense of doom that exudes slow-burn dread. . It’s grim, atmospheric, and at times hauntingly beautiful.

But then the characters start talking and the spell is broken. In the second act, the quality of the dialogue goes off the deep end and turns into clumsy performances, robbing quiet moments of their power, like watching the Battle of the Pelennor Fields together. Very Idiots stopping every five minutes to explain why their favorite character is an inanimate siege weapon (Criminal,

visually, war of the rohirrim There is an interesting paradox. Its multidimensional animation recalls the tactile wonders of Jackson’s films, with extensive detail and intricate detail that pay homage to the grandeur of Middle Earth. Kamiyama’s Rohan also shares an obvious kinship with Ghibli. Wind-swept plains filled with lone riders against an endless horizon that feel like they’ve stepped straight out NausicaäHera’s rebellion against her father’s steadfast ideals is an echo of the fierce, indomitable spirit Mononoke‘San’, while Helm’s descent into myth, could easily pass for the kind of grim tragedy that Miyazaki can weave into his more melancholic works.

A scene from ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

But where Ghibli tempers its gore with quiet, meditative beauty – the sound of a breeze through the grass or a moment of watching the sun sink below the horizon – Rohirrim The charges head into battle, its sense of wonder often lost amid the noise of swords and overly scripted dialogue.

What ultimately hinders war of the rohirrim It’s a sense of obligation – to Tolkien, to Jackson, to the legions of fans who demand reverence for the Middle Earth lore. At its best moments, the film embraces the charming surrealism of anime or the introspective wonder of Miyazaki, but largely settles for something safe: a forgettable myth-making exercise. For a story steeped in Tolkien’s love of deliberate world-building, even a hasty denouement feels sacrilegious.

Still, there are treasures to be found for those willing to dig, and for Tolkien devotees, there is plenty to see. There’s certainly a certain satisfaction in seeing Middle Earth’s cinematic universe expand, even if its endless appendices are starting to feel more like spinoff fodder than main exploration.

At the end, war of the rohirrim is a curious beast – neither the awe-inspiring majesty of Jackson’s epic trilogy, nor the unique whimsy of Rankin/Bass animation, nor the fever-dream allure of Bakshi’s rotoscoped strangeness. It feels stuck somewhere in the middle, torn between paying homage to Tolkien’s vast mythology and daring to forge its own path.

‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ is currently playing in theaters