Directed by Kenji Kamiyama and set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy, The War of the Rohirrim tells the story of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), a legendary king of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings. A sudden attack by Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm Hammerhand and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra (Gaia Wise), the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.
It has been a long time since the magnificent world of Middle Earth has been on the big screen so it was a welcome surprise to see it return this year in a uniquely animated format that is new but fitting for this series. I personally love both the original trilogy and even the Hobbit trilogy (fight me) though I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this animated spin-off, but I was going in completely open-minded, unlike some individuals on the internet. I’m happy to say I came out of the theater feeling very satisfied because this film was fantastic.
The War of the Rohirrim is an epic war story and a beautifully animated return to Middle Earth that I was invested in from start to finish. It’s a much more grounded and smaller-scale story in comparison to the stories of the two trilogies, but I felt it was grand and powerful in its own way, giving me the same feelings of excitement, thrills, and even emotions that the trilogies gave to me back when I first saw all of them in theaters for the first time.
There are a few things that hold back the film a tiny bit from being a perfect entry to the world of Middle Earth but it is still very much worth watching regardless.
This film has a great voice cast assembled of mostly lesser-known actors and actresses but they all do an amazing job bringing these characters to life and getting us invested in them even if some of them lack the development. Easily the most commanding and powerful voice amongst the cast is Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand, the headstrong and prideful king of Rohan in this current time. It’s honestly surprising that Brian Cox was not a part of this series sooner given how much his acting talent is fitting for the world of Middle Earth, but I am glad he was able to be a part of it now and was able to come in swinging with such a powerful performance as Helm Hammerhand. His voice immediately hooks you in as does the character’s actions when he proves himself to be a violent king who is fiercely protective of his people and isn’t afraid to go to war for them. But his headstrong attitude and actions unfortunately lead to severe consequences as the story progresses.
It offers an interesting lesson about responsibility and power that you can see would be passed down to later kings of Rohan especially Théoden, who is much wiser and cautious in comparison to Helm. Helm Hammerhand is such an awesome character and I loved his arc in this film, as well as how it ends, making for one of the most memorable sequences I’ve seen in the series in a long time.
Another absolute powerhouse performance in this film was Gaia Wise as Héra, the daughter of Helm who is the central character of this story. We have had some great female heroes in this series and Héra is the newest addition to the group, though she is a more rebellious and complicated individual compared to the others we’ve had so far. You can definitely see elements of Éowyn in her actions and Gaia Wise’s fantastic performance, but she does feel like a different person compared to her in terms of her personality and her arc, being headstrong like her father but clearly wiser in comparison. Wise delivers some epic moments of her own in this film as Héra and she also delivers some of the most emotional moments of the film that really hit my heart mainly due to her performance and how genuine it felt.
Luke Pasqualino delivers a very love-to-hate villain in his performance as Wulf, the ruthless leader of the Dunlendings who seeks revenge against Rohan for the death of his father. Wulf is just a human rather than an evil wizard or dark lord but he proves he can be just as evil as them when he allows himself to be corrupted by vengeance and unleash it upon others. We see him gradually become insane and relentlessly as the story progresses, showing how revenge can truly drive a man to madness and abandon their humanity to the point they never feel satisfied even after getting what they want. This makes him one of the more realistic and grounded villains we have had in the series by far, which I found to be a nice change of pace and it does stand out hugely from the other villains. Luke Pasqualino did some amazing voice work as this character and I’d love to see him do more in the future.
The supporting cast’s voice performances are solid all around, though I do wish some of the characters they played were given more development just like the main three characters are. One advantage that the original trilogy had was it was able to make every character in the story feel developed no matter how small their role might have been. I sadly didn’t feel they did that with the supporting cast of this film but I didn’t find any of them boring mainly thanks to the strong performances by the respective cast members. Also, I have to say it was nice to be able to hear Christopher Lee’s voice one last time as Saruman through an archival recording during a brief but cool cameo in the film as it serves as a nice little tribute to him.
The film’s narrative is very much a small-scale war story that may not have the same massive stakes as the two trilogies but it captures the epic feels and thrills that those films gave to me when I saw them for the first time. This film plays with some of the political elements of Rohan briefly shown in the original trilogy and creates a Shakespearean-like tale that explores the consequences of war, vengeance, and misuse of power that feels incredibly fitting for the world of Middle Earth and felt very engaging for me from start to end.
I love how grounded and brutal it felt in comparison to the other films and I also loved how it didn’t hold back on going to dark places, especially for a war story. While I may love the stories in the two trilogies more in comparison to the one in this film I did like how this film went into a different narrative direction that wasn’t another world-ending plot and how it still managed to give me the same epic thrills that those trilogies provided.
The animation of this film is truly gorgeous to see on the big screen and while the visuals definitely take massive inspiration from the works of Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki it definitely still looks and feels like the same world Peter Jackson created when bringing Middle Earth to life in live action.
Every frame of this film is pleasing to the eyes and oozes with outstanding beauty even in the bleakest parts of the film and I just could not stop admiring how amazing it all looked especially on the big screen. The action also looks and feels amazing to witness especially for some of the brutal hand-to-hand combat moments that occur throughout that look far better in animation than it would have in live action.
Stephen Gallagher, the music editor on Jackson’s The Hobbit film trilogy, composed the score for this film and he does an outstanding job delivering some truly epic music to match with the truly epic sequences this film has to offer. I do feel his score does get slightly overshadowed in places with the return of some of Rohan’s themes from the original trilogy that, while nice to hear again, do take the spotlight away from Gallagher’s great work.
I personally don’t understand the mixed reception this film has been receiving from some people recently because I think it’s a great and unique installment to The Lord of the Rings series that deserves to be seen on the big screen. Don’t let the fact of it being animated put you off from seeing it because there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it being animated and it should be given a fair chance just like the live-action installments. If you have missed this world and the feelings it has given you then this film may potentially give those feelings back to you as it did for me. I’m going to give The War of the Rohirrim an A = 97.
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