The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a soulless return to Middle-earth

Warner Bros. Discovery has been precise vocal astir its tendency to support producing an untold fig of stories based connected J.R.R. Tolkien’s books successful hopes of recreating the monumental occurrence of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. Even though it wasn’t a WBD production, The Rings of Power proved that Tolkien’s appendices could be fashioned into riveting explorations of Middle-earth’s past that consciousness similar thing much than transparent currency grabs. Unfortunately, the aforesaid can’t beryllium said for the caller animated movie The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Based connected Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Appendix A, manager Kenji Kamiyama’s (Ghost successful the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Blood: The Last Vampire) The War of the Rohirrim is an effort astatine creating a mountain-sized phantasy epic retired of a molehill of footnotes. At times, the movie comes adjacent to being a beauteous presumption of Middle-earth, and you tin consciousness it trying to bring thing of a feminist vigor to the Lord of the Rings canon. But The War of the Rohirrim’s characters are truthful two-dimensional and its communicative is truthful plodding that it’s hard to recognize wherefore the workplace thought this peculiar spot of lore needed to beryllium adapted for the large screen.

Set astir 200 years earlier the events of Jackson’s archetypal Lord of the Rings trilogy, The War of the Rohirrim tells the communicative of however King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) and his daughter, Princess Héra (Gaia Wise), became legends portion defending the radical of Rohan. While the Rohirrim are nary strangers to war, bid is what Helm longs for arsenic helium settles into his aged age. As is tradition, Helm intends for his eldest lad Haleth (Benjamin Wainwright) to 1 time instrumentality his spot connected the throne. It’s evident to everyone that Héra is the astir courageous of the king’s children and the benignant of idiosyncratic who could go a large leader. But arsenic an adventure-loving escaped spirit, Héra would overmuch alternatively walk her days retired successful the wilderness with her equine alternatively of being saddled with royal responsibilities.

All seems good arsenic Helm convenes a gathering of Rohan’s large houses meant to representation retired a program for the kingdom’s future. But erstwhile conniving Dunlending Lord Freca (Shaun Dooley) unexpectedly arrives demanding that Héra beryllium wedded to his lad Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), it leads to a deadly skirmish that sets disconnected a warfare and plunges each of Rohan into chaos.

In The War of the Rohirrim’s absorption connected Héra — who is ne'er named successful Tolkien’s enactment — and her equipped minder Olwyn (Lorraine Ashbourne), you tin spot co-writers Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou attempting to rework details from Appendix A into a much afloat fleshed retired communicative centering the women of Middle-earth. That extremity feels similar portion of the crushed the communicative is narrated by Rohirrim shield maiden Éowyn (Miranda Otto, reprising the relation from live-action Jackson films). That item reinforces however WBD and New Line Cinema spot War of the Rohirrim as an enlargement of their Lord of the Rings canon. But the movie wastes its imaginable to bash thing genuinely caller with its cardinal characters and alternatively uses them to archer a communicative that’s disappointingly rote and predictable. Shocking twists of destiny aren’t precisely the constituent of Lord of The Rings, but it’s benignant of astonishing conscionable however overmuch similar Generic Fantasy™ The War of the Rohirrim feels arsenic its communicative unfolds. 

There is small nuance to anyone’s characterizations oregon motivations. Héra’s different headstrong princess whose sex keeps her from being seen arsenic a invaluable warrior, and Wulf reads arsenic truthful transparently evil that he’s hard to bargain arsenic the benignant of villain susceptible of outmaneuvering his enemies. Those weaknesses would beryllium easier to place if the movie had much to connection successful the mode of breathtaking visuals. But adjacent erstwhile The War of the Rohirrim is intelligibly trying to impressment you with soaring shots of Middle-earth from Great Eagles’ perspectives, it ne'er feels similar the movie is taking vantage of animation’s quality to contiguous phantasy worlds successful ways that aren’t imaginable with unrecorded action. 

Often, The War of the Rohirrim feels excessively committed to making its depiction of Middle-earth look and consciousness similar what we’ve seen successful Jackson’s films. While characters are artfully stylized, the settings they’re moving done thin to consciousness similar uninspired approximations of world alternatively than places filled with monsters and magic. This becomes particularly evident during enactment acceptable pieces and whenever things are engulfed successful flames that look digitally crafted and animated astatine a distractingly antithetic framework rate.

Between The War of the Rohirrim’s multitude of Lord of the Rings musical cues and its smattering of on- and off-screen cameos alluding to aboriginal events, you get the consciousness that the studios are banking connected fans’ emotion of the live-action films to catapult this caller diagnostic to box-office success. But turning an appendix introduction into a diagnostic that puts butts successful seats requires much than a spot of nostalgia, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim just doesn’t person what it takes.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim hits theaters connected December 13th.