Like many a geek and nerd, J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings was a staple for me growing up. Since third grade, I have watched films and read books many times, played many video game adaptations, and even worked on the social media campaign for the Prime Video seriesThe Rings of Power. So when I first heard that Peter Jackson was returning to Tolkien as a producer of an anime adaptation of the tale of Helm Hammerhand, I was extraordinarily excited.
Set 200 years before the events of The Hobbit, The War of the Rohirrim expands upon Middle-earth lore included in the appendices of The Return of the King book. When Helm (Brian Cox), King of Rohan, accidentally kills the lord of the Dunlendings who challenged him to a duel, he ignites a blood feud with Wulf (Luca Pasqualino), the lord’s son, whom Helm banishes. When Wulf returns with a vast army, the people of Rohan must fight for survival and to defend their home.
Told through the perspective of Helm’s daughter Héra (Gaia Wise), who is not named in the books, The War of the Rohirrim explores the battles of the people of Rohan and their defence at the Hornburg, which would later be known as Helm’s Deep, the site of the climactic final battle from The Two Towers.
The interesting and divisive aspect of this new LOTR film is that it is an anime. The popularity of the Japanese-originating animation form has grown considerably among Western audiences, and it is now a style used to adapt Western stories. War of the Rohirrim doesn’t feel out of place in the LOTR cinematic canon-it’s undoubtedly a much prettier and more stylistic cartoon than the Rankin/Bass adaptation of The Hobbit or Ralph Bakshi’s odd rotoscoped The Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien’s maps spring to life on the screen, and the film’s opening scene truly feels like jumping into the pages of his works. The wide fields and majestic hall of Rohan look as stoic and breathtaking as I remember when I first watched The Two Towers. The warriors of Rohan are a sight to behold in their armor as they face down threats like the towering elephant-like mûmakil. The battles, which were what excited me the most about the film, were tense, engaging, and some of the best animated moments of the film, be it Helm Hammerhand singlehandedly taking down an army of Dunlendings or Héra locked in deadly sword duels.
Considering how smooth, clean and detailed modern anime like My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer and Spy Family are, The War of the Rohirrim had a high bar to meet. Unfortunately, despite how high the animation soars at its best moments, it never quite meets expectations. Outside of battle, many of the characters’ movements are choppy and jerky, as if we were watching a video struggling to buffer or with a bad frame rate.
The character and background design are gorgeous, but it feels like director Kenji Kamiyama was using that as a crutch to forgive lazy moments. In one particularly egregious instance, the action cuts away from a tense forest chase and instead zooms in and out and pans across the static background of trees. It’s abrupt and jarring in its lack of effort, and it made me wonder if moments like this resulted from the animators running out of budget focusing on the battles.
While you would assume that the best part of an animated film would be its visuals, the real standout was the sound design. The thrill of hearing Howard Shore’s iconic score in theaters once again was worth the price of a ticket alone, and that combined with Stephen Gallagher’s music creates a wonderful sense of place full of magic, danger and adventure.
The sound effects are superb. The shuddering footsteps of the giant mûmakil combined with the droning of war horns and booming of drums feel as accurate as if you were standing in the middle of the battle yourself. Swords ring as they clash against each other, and the punches from Helm’s infamous fists are satisfyingly crunchy and powerful. For me, no question, listening to the movie was the best part. It could almost have served as an audiobook or a podcast.
I’m glad that we’re finally getting an adaptation of Helm Hammerhand’s story. When I read the appendices of LOTR, his story stood out the most to me. If you’re looking for a word-for-word, strict adaptation of Helm Hammerhand’s story as Tolkien wrote it, you probably won’t be satisfied with this adaptation. But if you’re looking for another excuse to delve back into Middle-earth, then at the very least, The War of the Rohirrim is a fun and unique way to scratch that itch.
I like how the smaller cast allows us to delve into their personalities. The story of a singular human conflict and the origin of the name “Helm’s Deep” feels intimate and focused. However, seeing it in the context of Peter Jackson’s films, I missed the grand scope. Jackson’s films were wide, sweeping adventures crossing a wide variety of environments featuring characters of different species in grand, epic battles between armies thousands strong.
In contrast, the conflicts in War of the Rohirrim seem more like duels and brawls than true battles. While the smaller scope is, in some ways, something refreshing and new to the Jacksonverse, I couldn’t help but miss that sense of epic grandeur so common in fantasy films. As a story about a feud solely between humans and without those things that make LOTR unique, War of the Rohirrim can’t help but feel a bit generic.
The film’s three leads, Cox, Wise and Pasqualino, make for enjoyable and complex characters. Wise carries the film with her strong, adventurous and willful Héra. Her heroism and righteousness are balanced by the pain she feels at her old friend becoming her enemy and the damage he does to her people. Pasqualino’s rage-filled Wulf is equally satisfying as a villain, unhinged, greedy and lusting for power and revenge.
Though he delivers his lines with contempt and malice for most of the movie, the soft-spoken introduction we have to his character and the hurt he feels at his marriage proposal being spurned by Héra signals enough contrast that we can see both the boy he was before and the villain he thought he was forced to become.
Brian Cox’s Helm Hammerhand is the show’s real star, though. Cox’s every line rings with power and authority, every bit as kingly as one would expect the leader of the proud riders of Rohan to sound. The hot-tempered pride and stubborn self-righteousness he imbues into his character contrasts sharply with his daughter and his nemesis. Where Héra urges caution and wisdom, Helm ignores her and rules with the idea that might make right.
Their egos govern both Helm and Wulf, but where Wulf seeks to make the world suffer for the misfortunes foisted upon him, Cox’s performance makes Helm a man who believes he can force the world into submission through feats of strength and simply because he is the king. It’s a masterful bit of voice work, and despite his obvious faults and poor judgment, I couldn’t help but cheer Helm on.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim doesn’t recapture the glory, wonder and cinematic magic of Peter Jackson’s live-action films. But then again, nothing ever will. As its own entity, The War of the Rohirrim is an enjoyable but flawed exploration into one of the more memorable moments in Middle-earth’s history.
If you can get behind the idea of a LOTR anime, it’s a unique way to adapt Tolkien’s work, but the animation quality fluctuates and doesn’t quite live up to the standard set by modern anime or even shows from the past 20 years. The sounds of the movie are what carry it with excellent voice acting, a rousing musical score, and expertly designed sound effects. Though it can seem a little gimmicky and sometimes feels like corners were cut, The War of the Rohirrim is still a welcome and fun adventure in Middle-earth.
Rating: 6/10