Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Review
Middle Earth is back on the big screen and in a more interesting way than ever before. Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim gives a fresh new look at Middle Earth as it dives into the life and story of Helm Hammerhand and his daughter Héra.
Because of a sudden proposal of marriage by the Dunlendings that was followed by an attack, Helm Hammerhand and the people of Edoras must make haven as they wait out the winter in the Hornburg.
This new addition to the big screen adaptations of Middle Earth stars Gaia Wise, Brian Cox, Luke Pasqualino, and Shaun Dooley. In all honesty, people are not drawn to see a Lord of the Rings movie because of the acting. Yes, it can be very good, like Ian Mckellen as Gandalf, but it does not usually spark high praise. The one actor in this movie that stood out was Brian Cox. Voice acting can be especially difficult for actors who are almost always on screen, but Cox dove right into the role. His performance as Helm Hammerhand would take over any time you could hear his voice. The other actors in this movie were good, they were just unable to compare to what Brian Cox brought.
The most obvious difference in this adaptation compared to any other Lord of the Rings adaptation from either New Line Cinema or Amazon is that this is a fully animated movie. This movie is distributed by Warner Bros., but its animation is done by Sola Digital Arts, a Japanese animation studio. This anime looked really good in some parts, and not so good in others. It was very inconsistent with its visuals which made this a very hard movie to follow. Sometimes the background was 3D, sometimes it was 2D, and there never seemed to be any rhyme or reason to it.
The parts where the animation clearly flourished was during the large scale battles, and during the one on one duels. Anime studios typically do very well when it comes to this, and Sola Digital Arts is no different. Any time there is action, it is hard to take your eyes off screen. Whether it's thousands of Rohirrim charging to battle on an open field, or if it is Helm Hammerhand hunting down his enemies, the animation during the action was very well done.
With a lot of movies, there are some confusing points in this story. This movie is marketed as the untold story of Héra, Helm’s daughter. Because of that, she was in the majority of the movie, however she often felt like she was in the backseat while Helm Hammerhand was steering the way. The reason for this is easy to explain: In the books, Héra goes completely unnamed. The only part of the story that she is really in is the marriage proposal that starts the whole conflict.
There are many reasons why fans did not like Héra. Unfortunately one of them is that some fans don’t want to see a woman be the lead in a Lord of the Rings movie. However, Héra shows some key qualities that we have seen in other characters. She shows her strength in leadership as she demands the respect of those around her, similar to Aragorn. This one thing about her should be able to draw the audience in, making them want to root for her. However, whenever Helm is on screen, it feels like Héra and Helm are dueling for who commands what.
This movie falls into a similar category that Gladiator 2 and Top Gun: Maverick fall into. While this is not technically a “legacy sequel,” or even a “legacy prequel,” this is the first time that there has been a movie set in Middle Earth since The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies back in 2014. Because they all take place in the same world, just different times, there will be some call backs or nostalgia moments. Most of these can be chalked off to tradition for the kings of Rohan. For example, when Helm Hammerhand is about to go to battle he cries, “Muster the Rohirrim!” This is very reminiscent of King Theoden in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King when he decides to aid Gondor in their fight against Mordor. Small things like this are fine, but that’s not all that it was.
The most unnecessary nostalgia comes from the two most famous wizards: Gandalf, and Sarumon. Sarumon does have around 200 years of history with the kingdom of Rohan because his fortress of Isengard is located in Rohan. While Sarumon only had one line, his presence felt forced. It did not add anything to the story and it felt like a shove in at the end. Gandalf, in comparison, is so much worse. Just before the climax of the movie, Héra encounters Orcs who are looking for rings of power. The part is short, but at the end of the movie, Héra mentions that she is meeting a wizard to tell him about the Orcs. There is a very strong Gandalf tease, but then Héra mentions him by name.
With all of that, one of the biggest flaws about this movie was its marketing and how rushed it felt. It did not seem like there was a lot of publicity for this movie, and it seemed to really hurt the movie. It opened with $4.6 million its first weekend and it is bound to go down from there. However, this doesn’t really seem to bother Warner Brothers or New Line Cinema. After the numbers were released for its first weekend, Warner Brothers essentially came out and said this was a movie that was made so they could keep the exclusive movie rights to the Lord of the Rings franchise. This was very unfortunate to hear, as the care and the craft that was put into Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy in the early 2000s was what made it stand above other movies at the time. Hopefully that kind of care returns in 2026 with The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
While Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim excels in action, specifically the one on one duels, and the 2D animation of its characters, it falls short in so many different ways. This is a movie that is visually inconsistent and has characters battling for the spotlight, and Warner Brothers basically admitted this was rushed and they don’t truly care how this movie performs, which are all huge disappointments. Because of all of this, Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim comes in at a 74/100.
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