The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

 

“You do not seek an alliance. You seek a throne.”

Exciting, epic and visually stunning, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a beautifully animated fantasy adventure that delivers a compelling prequel into the Middle Earth canon complete with brutal battles, powerful characters and kingdom intrigue that can’t fully overcome its genre cliches and overlong runtime but should still engage fans of the franchise. 

Discussion Points:

I’ll be honest. I really enjoyed this. It’s not amazing. But it’s also not bad. It’s a solid, sprawling, epic, albeit overlong entry in the Middle Earth lore that features some compelling characters, brutal battles and stunning anime animation. Whilst it hits many of the expected story beats, and doesn’t subvert any expectations or cliches, I personally found that it still did justice to the formula and was a great new entry into the series. I’m not a massive Tolkien head, but I’ve always enjoyed the world and found the characters and stories fascinating. Whilst it may feature just one too many Easter eggs or references of what’s to come, it also feels like a solid self-contained story that doesn’t feel overly reliant on the rest of the franchise. I loved Héra as a powerful lead who evokes other great warrior women of pop culture and the films vocal cast is fantastic. Wulf is also a wicked villain who’s absolute selfish disregard makes him a great enemy to root against. I was absolutely in awe of the stunning 2D anime visuals and found the battles intense and engaging. Overall, for fans of LOTR I can see what you’d love and what you’d dislike, but I was thoroughly entertained the entire time.