The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

Overlong War of the Rohirrim Still a Rousing Anime Return to Tolkien’s Middle-Earth

Set 183 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim returns audiences to author J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth and the land of Rohan. Under the direction of Kenji Kamiyama, produced by Peter Jackson, and with a story and script credited to five different writers (including Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy veteran Philippa Boyens), the film is a boldly original spectacle, unlike any other animated feature I’ve seen in 2024.

However, it is the audacious and imaginative visual aesthetic that will undoubtedly polarize viewers the most. For those familiar with Kamiyama’s stylistic tendencies, this mixture of reference capture, hand-drawn, and CG animation won’t come as a surprise. For everyone else, this herky-jerky approach will take some getting used to. It’s guaranteed some will flat-out hate it.

Thankfully, I was in the former camp, but it likely helped that I’m a fan of Kamiyama’s Napping Princess and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. Additionally, I found The War of the Rohirrim to feel more like a spiritual sequel to Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings than it did Jackson’s Academy Award-winning live-action trilogy. The pair have a similar temperament, especially as it pertains to emotionally broad character interactions.

But for all its epic aspirations, this prequel to the final battle for Middle-Earth and the eventual destruction of the One Ring is monumentally thin on plot. At 134 minutes this thing spends a considerable amount of time dragging its feet before finally delivering a rousing sequence of brawny grandeur. Kamiyama strives to take things to mythic heights only for the narrative’s rudimentary simplicity to work in direct opposition against many of his best efforts.

What is going on? After Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox), the powerful King of Rohan, inadvertently kills Frecca (Shaun Dooley), the ambitious Lord of the West March, his brooding son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) vows to get revenge. As an ancient evil starts creeping silently over the land, this determined and conniving warrior bides his time, making alliances with the worst dregs of humanity so he can build a massive army that will bring Helm and his kin — especially his headstrong daughter Hèra (Gaia Wise) — to their knees.

Things ultimately end up at the Rohan stronghold The Hornburg, later renamed Helm’s Deep. Wulf’s forces lay siege to the fortress as Rohan’s citizens fight to survive inside its impenetrable stone walls. While Helm heals from wounds received outside the keep’s gates, Hèra is the one the citizens will look to for leadership. A series of fights, sequences of surreal terror, and exhibitions of selfless heroism transpire from there.

Everything builds to a final confrontation between good and evil that will pit former childhood friends against one another, only now as mortal enemies. Happily, it’s worth the wait. Kamiyama pulls out all the stops, Hèra and Wulf matching wits and crossing swords with barbarous abandon. The screen crackles with colorful vitality and the brawny score composed by Stephen Gallagher (which utilizes several of Howard Shore’s familiar The Lord of the Rings trilogy themes) thunderously reverberates throughout the theater.

Even better are Hèra’s far-too-brief meetings with a pair of Great Eagles that bookend the story. They achieve an ethereal majesty that’s awe-inspiring. The Rohan princess also has an encounter with a Watcher in the Water very similar to the one the Fellowship will battle outside of the Mines of Moria almost two centuries later. This is a pretty terrific moment, too, the tentacled behemoth making quick, nasty work of a rabid Oliphaunt while Hèra looks on in mesmerized awe.

I like that the core primary cast, save Cox, Miranda Otto (returning as Éowyn to narrate the proceedings), and a brief cameo from the late, great Christopher Lee (as Saruman the White via unused audio recordings from Jackson’s live-action trilogy), is composed of relative unknowns. Wise and Pasqualino are excellent, each bringing noticeable depth to their respective performances. Also quite good are Lorraine Ashbourne (as the Rohan shield maiden Olwyn, who it is continually hinted at maybe being one of Éowyn’s ancestors) and Michael Wildman (as Wulf’s grizzled advisor General Targg), each actor making the most of their limited screentime.

As much as I did end up enjoying The War of the Rohirrim, I’m hard-pressed not to believe that this all would have worked a heck of a lot better had it been a good 20 or 30 minutes shorter. Additionally, primarily due to the peculiarly quirky animation, I can’t help but think there will be several in the audience who check out of the proceedings long before spears are shaken and shields are splintered.

Be that as it may, I did have a good time. This return to the realm of Rohan won me over. These riders still know how to awaken primal forces lurking within my soul, and I cheer every impossible charge against the forces of evil they make. Forth Eorlingas!

Film Rating: 3 (out of 4)