Long before Peter Jackson took a swing at “The Lord of the Rings,” audiences got a glimpse into the fantasy realm of J.R.R. Tolkien via a trio of late-’70s animated projects: two animated TV specials produced by Rankin/Bass (of which “The Hobbit” remains fairly well-liked) and a dark and ominous big-screen feature from Ralph Bakshi (director of sci-fi psych-out “Wizards”). So there’s not just precedent, but a certain kind of poetry to Jackson and screenwriter Philippa Boyens commissioning an intense, hand-drawn extension to the existing mythology, like the one represented by “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.”
When I say “poetry,” I suppose I’m referring to the queer kind you might find at your local Renaissance Festival, accompanied by pipe music and a handful of costumed eccentrics doing a jig. The real selling point of “The War of the Rohirrim” is not that it’s animated, but that it’s anime — as in rendered in the fine-lined, adult-friendly style of Japanese TV series and films. Lending added cred, this one was directed by Kenji Kamiyama, who’d overseen “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” for Warner Bros. and “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” before that.
For those who can’t get enough of Middle Earth, here’s two-plus hours of deep-cut backstory to feed your appetite, centered around a siege at the stronghold that would come to be known as Helm’s Deep (where we saw Saruman’s Orcs obliterated by Ents in “The Two Towers”). If this all sounds rather technical, that’s consistent with the result, which was not adapted so much as extrapolated from Tolkien’s dense writing. It may please the faithful, but it’s not quite epic enough to give less devoted viewers the same thrill they once felt from the live-action movies.
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Set nearly two centuries before “The Hobbit,” the film opens with a young woman with hair the color of Advil tablets riding to the peak of a mountain, where she feeds a giant ham hock to one of the great eagles. This is no ordinary lass, as a swirling 360-degree shot and Éowyn’s opening narration affirms: “By her hand, many great deeds were done. But do not look for tales of her in the old songs. There are none.” The familiar choir-like score, composed by Stephen Gallagher (a music editor on Jackson’s films), may well send chills down your spine. If nothing else, “War” demonstrates how thrilling it can be to spend time in that movie-dream space we think of as Middle Earth.
But the writers (of whom there are four, plus Boyens) have not exactly gone out of their way to make “The War of the Rohirrim” accessible to amateurs. The title refers to the people of Rohan, who are ruled by a massive white-bearded, Viking-looking fellow named Helm Hammerhand, who can punch adversaries to death with a single blow — as he does in a standoff with a rival clan leader. Helm is performed by gruff-voiced “Succession” star Brian Cox, which feels like appropriate casting, since so much of the plot concerns who will inherit Rohan once this imposing patriarch passes away. He has two sons, but red-headed daughter Héra (Gaia Wise) is clearly his favorite.
The trouble starts with that first smackdown, which occurs when a fellow leader tries to offer his son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) in marriage — more of a demand that Héra accept the proposal, really. A flashback reveals how Héra and Wulf were once childhood playmates, and might even have grown into sweethearts (though she did give him that stylish scar across his left eye). Now, if Helm won’t cede his kingdom through marriage, Wulf plans to take it by force, leading a massive army full of four-tusked elephant-looking beasts to storm the great hall.
Héra cleverly anticipates the attack, evacuating the townspeople to Hornburg, a massive hideout built into the side of a mountain. While the first half of the film proves engaging enough, the remainder grows tiresome as the Rohirrim take refuge, and Wulf — who’s handsome as drawn, but irredeemably ruthless — tries to force his way in.
King Helm is still swinging that mighty hammer-hand of his, but he can’t defeat the invaders alone. Which leaves Héra, whom Boyens and Jackson are motivated to position as being every bit as brave and resourceful as any of the heroic men they celebrated in the live-action films. And why not? Fantasy feels like the ideal forum in which to balance the male-dominated feats that dominate human history on earth, where we’ll find no equivalent.
Meanwhile, over on Middle Earth, Tolkien had already imagined Éowyn, Miranda Otto’s character and a shieldmaiden of Rohan. Héra was clearly conceived in her image: another dynamic female role model in a franchise that’s fitfully stirring back to life. “The War of the Rohirrim” won’t revive it alone (it’s hardly sufficient to justify a theatrical release), but does bridge the gap between “The Hobbit” and Jackson’s forthcoming “The Hunt for Gollum.” Here and there, fans will find a few connecting references that most people should have no trouble skipping over. It seems the lure of the ring is no longer what it once was.