If you wondered where the ‘Helm’ in ‘Helm’s Deep’ comes from, well, The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim can scratch that specific itch. But if you’re hankering for an animated, Middle-earth-set epic that kickstarts a line of anime adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fabulous mythos, you won’t find it here.
Helm Hammerhead (Brian Cox, invoking Logan Roy), famously stubborn King of Rohan and namesake for everyone’s favorite battle destination (Helm’s Deep), messed up. A bitter one-on-one brawl against the Dunlending leader Freca (Shaun Dooley) ends too decisively; Helm accidentally kills him with a single blow. This very bad, very public whoopsie stokes a fire that burned well before that fateful crack to the jaw; if Helm was courting conflict with the Dunlendings before, he’s hopelessly wed to it now. His dead rival’s son, the glowering Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), vows revenge, and that’s the movie. We see glimpses of Wulf’s childhood with Helm’s daughter Héra (Gaia Wise), Rohirrim‘s protagonist, but none of it coalesces into anything memorable or meaningful. Wulf’s emotions and motivations are teased but never explored, and because so much of what happens depends on us giving some form of a shit about the fallout of his actions, emotional investment is difficult.
Rohirrim turned heads when it was first announced, and for good reason. An animated epic focused exclusively on the people of Rohan, the MVPs of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy? The concept markets itself. Throw in the fact that prolific animator Kenji Kamiyama is directing, and you’re all but guaranteeing a blockbuster.
Unfortunately, what we end up getting is a thin revenge yarn seemingly spun without verve or any true narrative thrust, a story that, for all its built-in potential, can’t overcome its oppressive dullness. Even its battle sequences, a key selling point for many fans, leave us wanting. Kamiyama and co. blend motion capture with 2D and 3D animation, a fusion that never looks as fluid or seamless as intended.
War of the Rohirrim isn’t especially epic or immersive, and whatever interest it can coax from its audience will likely be thanks to its voice cast, who breathe vitality into underwritten characters who wouldn’t have made an impression otherwise.
There’s a fantastic Lord of the Rings anime waiting to blow our minds, but War of the Rohirrim just isn’t it.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM is in cinemas now.
