TL;DR – It is not a perfect film, but goodness, it was a joy to jump back into this world with all its horns blaring.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Review –

Few things get me excited as hearing the words ‘there is a new Lord of the Rings film about to be realised’. It is a world that brings me back to my childhood, back to reading The Hobbit and seeing those Lord of the Rings films for the first time. Well, today, I get to capture that joy because while I might not hold space for Defying Gravity, I do keep a place in my heart for The Ride of the Rohirrim.

So, to set the scene, there are many stories in Middle Earth about wizards and dragons or great wars and clashes of good and evil. But as Éowyn (Miranda Otto) explains, many stories are just as important and don’t get told made into songs but get talked about around the campfire. Almost 200 years before the War of the Ring, on the plans of Rohan lived Héra (Gaia Wise), the only daughter of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), ruler of all the Rohirrim. She rode a horse like it was an extension of her wild fury, charming the people and frustrating her father in equal measure, those secretly he delighted in her wildness. But when of the Lords, Freca (Shaun Dooley) demands a meeting of the Lords of Rohan and tries to position his son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) as the rightful husband for Héra. Helm would hear nothing of it and strikes Freca down with a single blow and chases Wulf away. He did not mean to kill Freca, but sometimes unexpected actions create unexpected outcomes.

If you are familiar with the appendixes or the Unfinished Tales, you might already be familiar with the tale of Helm Hammerhand and what a name that is. If you are familiar with it, I would say that this film hits all of the narrative points in his story during runtime. To be coy for those who have not seen it, there are some differences in the manner of the outcomes for some characters, but the outcomes remain the same. The main difference is that Helm’s unnamed daughter both gets a name but also becomes the focal point for this story. Which might be an issue for you, but I didn’t mind it.

Narratively speaking, this is a long film, but it also covers a decent amount of time and action. It is a lot to process, and I don’t think I took all of it in the first time I watched it. However, I think it all works in the end. Creating Héra as the focal point of the story was likely a good choice, firstly because it brings a new voice into the franchise, and that is always appreciated. Secondly, even in the original story, she was the catalyst for the conflict, so it makes sense to give her more agency in this new exploration. But finally, because she is just a fun character to watch, and I enjoyed the time we got to spend with her.

From a narrative perspective, this is a bit of a mixed bag, both in technique and in application. From the technique perspective, we get the characters looking like they came straight out of a modern anime and plopped into this fantasy world. That character art style worked quite well, especially in the action sequences. There are a couple of early action scenes that I think will make people very happy to see. However, all the background work is rooted in the visual stylings of the original films. Indeed, I believe from the credits that they got the original concept artists back. This means that the film is a combination of two very different styles, and that takes more than a little to get used to, which is not helped by some issues with lip-syncing and minor animated problems that plague the film at times.            

While I did enjoy my time here, it became clear that it was working within a minimal budget, and that showed in places. There were previously mentioned issues with the animation. You could tell that this was a collaboration between a lot of different studios, and the consistency between the many entities didn’t always land. From a pacing issue, this film takes a while to get going, and it bogs down in places, especially towards the end. It also felt like pride was the only emotion they wanted to explore, and that was a bit hit-and-miss at times.

In the end, do we recommend The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim? While it does have its faults, I must admit, when it gets rolling and takes you along for the ride, I was there for them to carry me away. If you liked The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, we would recommend to you Weathering with You.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Directed by – Kenji Kamiyama
Screenplay by – Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou
Story by – Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews & Philippa Boyens
Based on –The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Music by – Stephen Gallagher with Howard Shore
Edited by – Tsuyoshi Sadamatsu
Production/Distribution Companies – New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Animation, Sola Entertainment, WingNut Films, Domain Entertainment, Universal Pictures & Warner Bros. Pictures
Starring – Gaia Wise, Brian Cox, Luke Pasqualino, Lorraine Ashbourne, Miranda Otto, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan & Christopher Lee with Lorraine Ashbourne, Shaun Dooley, Benjamin Wainwright, Yazdan Qafouri, Laurence Ubong Williams, Michael Wildman, Janine Duvitski, Bilal Hasna, Jude Akuwudike, Alex Jordan, Bea Dooley & Elijah Tamati  
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13