The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

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Glanza

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Peter Jackson presents a groundbreaking journey back to Middle-earth through the eyes of legendary director Kenji Kamiyama. The War of the Rohirrim

New Line Cinema’s original anime feature “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” returns audiences to the epic world brought to life in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, based on the revered books by J.R.R. Tolkien.Under the direction of award-winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” and “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” TV series), the talented voice cast is led by Brian Cox (“Succession”) as Helm Hammerhand, the mighty King of Rohan; Gaia Wise (“A Walk in the Woods”) as his daughter Héra; and Luke Pasqualino (“Snowpiercer”) as Wulf. Miranda Otto, who delivered an unforgettable, award-winning performance in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, reprises her role as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, who serves as the tale’s narrator. The voice ensemble also includes Lorraine Ashbourne (Netflix’s “Bridgerton”), Yazdan Qafouri (“I Came By”), Benjamin Wainwright (“World on Fire”), Laurence Ubong Williams (“Gateway”), Shaun Dooley (“The Witcher”), Michael Wildman (“Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”), Jude Akuwudike (“Beasts of No Nation”), Bilal Hasna (“Sparks”) and Janine Duvitski (“Benidorm”).

Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg— a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.

With Kamiyama at the helm, the original feature is being produced by Oscar winner Philippa Boyens, from the screenwriting team behind “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” Trilogies, alongside Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou, who, in addition to their many separate animation projects, collaborated on the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” series. The executive producers are Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood and Toby Emmerich. The screenplay is by Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou, story by Addiss & Matthews and Boyens, based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The team of creative collaborators returning from “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy also includes Oscar winners Alan Lee and Richard Taylor, along with esteemed Tolkien illustrator John Howe.

A New Line Cinema Presentation, a Warner Bros. Animation / Sola Entertainment Production, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” will be distributed theatrically worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, released in cinemas nationwide 11 December 2024.
 
kakarott said:
Not bad but who's the MC? From lore or just whiffed up?
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From lore, it's apparently following Helm Hammerhand and the war with the Dunlendings which has the potential to be fairly interesting. The Dunlendings made up a number of the people who attacked Helms Deep in the Two Towers, and we have mentions of Helm too, both in the name of Helms Deep but also Horn Hammerhand.

For me, not a big fan of animation, but might give it a go if the consensus across the LoTR world is that it's good.
 
Throrik said:
From lore, it's apparently following Helm Hammerhand and the war with the Dunlendings which has the potential to be fairly interesting. The Dunlendings made up a number of the people who attacked Helms Deep in the Two Towers, and we have mentions of Helm too, both in the name of Helms Deep but also Horn Hammerhand.

For me, not a big fan of animation, but might give it a go if the consensus across the LoTR world is that it's good.
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Thanks but looks like his daughter is the MC.
 
I think it kinda depends how 'ackshually' you want to get about it all.

The fact Helm had a daughter etc. was mentioned in the lore, unlike say Tauriel being (afaik) a complete invention for the films, but she wasn't named and whatever story has been written for her role in this film is likely to be mostly made up by the film's writers rather than any significant detail coming from Tolkien's works.
 
I saw the trailer for this at the cinema over the weekend.

My impression was that it could have been any old ‘warring tribes’ romp with a LotR aesthetic, but nevertheless it looked alright.

The ‘more than just a princess’ plot highlighted in the trailer does feel pretty tone deaf tbh as I expect some people will deem it poop for that alone. I would be pretty disappointed if it’s not much more as I’ve seen that story too many times recently. But will give it a chance as it’s all down to the execution.
 
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Seems as I get free cinema tickets through Vitality, I've booked to go and see this next weekend. The trailer doesn't look great and the animations look pretty sub par, but me and the kids love everything in that space, so going to give it a go. Anyone else looking forward too it?
 
Planning to go see it next week. Partner is a huge LOTR fan so it was her idea to see it but after watching the trailer I quite like the animation style used and seems like something I might actually enjoy
 
I watched this the other night and it was ok, it wasnt anything spectacular but it was linked to LotR... kinda. The story was a tad weak in areas and the art wasmt bad but not top notch. The voice acting could have been better. Brian Cox was solid but the female lead could have been better. Still enjoyable. Overall 6/10.
 
Kyo said:
I watched this the other night and it was ok, it wasnt anything spectacular but it was linked to LotR... kinda. The story was a tad weak in areas and the art wasmt bad but not top notch. The voice acting could have been better. Brian Cox was solid but the female lead could have been better. Still enjoyable. Overall 6/10.
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Disappointing but not unexpected, I think I'll skip this tbh from all I've seen.

The last few LOTR related productions have all been let downs, I didn't like the Hobbit movies and the Amazon series is absolute poo in my opinion. I absolutely love Tolkien and his work, grew up reading The Hobbit and LOTR, I don't have the heart to suffer through anything short of excellence in regard to LOTR anymore.
 
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Yup I was also underwhelmed. From my post in ‘what did you watch last night’:

Mixed thoughts on this.

Aesthetically, I really enjoyed it. It felt like it was part of that ‘universe’ and set in New Zealand. The familiar musical motifs were similarly rousing.

Plot-wise it wastes no time getting on with a ‘set up’, which was welcome, but I soon started to suspect this was a six part TV show stitched together. The characters are severely under-developed. There just isn’t enough rapport between them all to feel vested. By the half-way point this starts to make it sag and I felt like I was binge watching a Netflix series.

Matters did get a bit ‘spicier’ and ‘Game of Thrones’-y than I expected, which caused my interest to peak, but overall more work on the characters was needed to make this satisfying.

Final thought, the lead woman is drawn and dressed with such emphasis on her feminine physique that it was a bit distracting (for this simple man) :o Her boobs and waist, emphasised with belts, may well each get spin off films… with the small of her back being the focus of series 2.

6/10
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I went to book a ticket yesterday only to find there were very limited screenings and all from 22:05, a bit disappointing.

It seems due to underwhelming performance it's being released to digital earlier than originally planned.
 
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