The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)
There is a particular kind of frustration that comes with watching a film get quietly buried at the box office, especially when that film carries the weight of one of the most beloved fictional worlds ever committed to paper. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim arrived in cinemas in December 2024 to a reception that was, to put it charitably, underwhelming. It grossed somewhere in the region of thirty million dollars worldwide against a reported production and marketing outlay that suggested considerably higher hopes. For a franchise that Peter Jackson turned into a genuine cultural phenomenon across the early 2000s, a spin-off that comes and goes in a matter of weeks feels like something worth examining. The film draws its story from the appendices of Tolkien's The Return of the King, specifically the legend of Helm Hammerhand, the ninth King of Rohan, and the origins of the fortress that Jackson's films made iconic. It is a prequel, then, but one rooted in material that has always sat at the edges of the main narrative, the kind of folklore-within-folklore that Tolkien was so fond of embedding in the margins.
The production is an unusual collaborative arrangement, bringing together New Line Cinema and WingNut Films (Peter Jackson's own company, lending a degree of continuity to the project) alongside Warner Bros. Animation and Japanese studio Sola Entertainment. The choice to produce the film as an anime-influenced animated feature rather than live action raised eyebrows in some quarters, though it makes a certain creative sense when you consider the director attached. Kenji Kamiyama is a respected figure in Japanese animation, perhaps best known for his work on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and the Eden of the East series. He brings a sensibility that is comfortable with world-building on a grand scale, and with long-form, mythology-heavy storytelling. His work sits closer to the serious, considered end of anime than the bombastic spectacle end, which makes him a quietly fitting choice for Tolkien material, even if Western audiences may not have immediately recognised his name on the poster. Fans of Japanese cinema reviewed on this site, including Monster and On-Gaku: Our Sound, will have some sense of how richly varied that tradition of storytelling can be.
The voice cast is a polished but varied ensemble. Brian Cox leads as Helm Hammerhand, and Cox's particular brand of gravel-voiced authority is well suited to a king who rules more through force of personality and physical legend than political cunning. Gaia Wise takes the central role of Héra, Helm's daughter, a character who exists largely outside the published text and has been constructed for this film as the audience's primary point of view. Luke Pasqualino provides the voice of Wulf, the vengeful antagonist whose grievance against Helm sets the entire conflict in motion, and Laurence Ubong Williams and Lorraine Ashbourne round out a supporting cast that grounds the material in recognisable human feeling. There are also cameos from alumni of the original Jackson trilogy, including Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Miranda Otto, and Christopher Lee, whose involvement adds a layer of continuity that fans of Peter Jackson's broader filmmaking legacy will appreciate. The score, composed by Stephen Gallagher with clear debts to Howard Shore's original work, picked up awards attention on the festival circuit, which at least suggests the film found its admirers somewhere.
I honestly don't understand why Kenji Kamiyama’s 2024 animated feature, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, was such a colossal box office failure or why it garnered such mediocre critical reviews upon release.
Delving into the rich, often unexplored lore of Tolkien’s appendices, the film brilliantly tells the sweeping origin story of the legendary fortress of Helm’s Deep and the fierce, horse-lord kingdom of Rohan. Going in, I was fully expecting a bit of a misstep given the somewhat muted reception, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I enjoyed this far more than Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, as it captures the grim, mythic weight of Middle-earth far better.
Visually, the picture is an absolute triumph. The artwork is fantastic, bringing the rugged, windswept plains of the Riddermark to life with a stunning aesthetic that feels both fresh and deeply respectful of the source material. If you’re a fan of the breathtaking, epic animation found in Studio Ghibli masterpieces like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind or Princess Mononoke, I truly think you’d love this. Kamiyama has crafted a brilliant animated film that captures the grand scale of Tolkien’s world, utilising a dynamic, stylised approach to the battle sequences that makes every clash of swords feel incredibly visceral and grounded.
The auditory experience is just as impressive as the visuals, with voice acting that is right in line with the live-action Lord of the Rings films, grounding the fantastical elements in genuine emotion. It’s also an absolute treat to hear some fantastic cameos that add a really fun, nostalgic flair to the proceedings, including Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Miranda Otto, and the legendary Christopher Lee. To top it all off, the soundtrack is an absolute masterpiece and it's no wonder it won awards. It takes the sheer musical spectacle of Howard Shore’s original compositions and makes amazingly adapted, sweeping pieces that elevate every single battle scene and quiet, melancholic moment.
The War of the Rohirrim is a thoroughly enjoyable, deeply passionate love letter to Middle-earth that deserves far more love than it received at the cinema.
It proves that there is still a massive appetite for traditional, beautifully crafted animation in the high fantasy genre, delivering a story that feels both intimately character-driven and epic in scope. While it might not have conquered the global box office, it has certainly won me over with its stunning visuals, brilliant sound design, and respectful expansion of the lore. It’s a brilliant, sweeping animated film that any fan of high fantasy or Japanese animation owes it to themselves to watch.
Whether The War of the Rohirrim finds the wider audience it missed first time around through home release and streaming remains to be seen, but it is the sort of film that tends to accumulate quiet devotees over time. The conversation around what animation can do in the high fantasy space has never been more open, and a film like this, sitting somewhere between the grand operatic sweep of the Jackson films and the considered craftsmanship of the best Japanese animation, is genuinely an interesting point on that map. It is not the film that was going to restore Tolkien adaptations to their early 2000s cultural dominance, but then perhaps nothing was. What it is, by the sound of things, is something made with care by people who understood what they were working with. Sometimes that has to be enough. And sometimes, it turns out, that is quite a lot.
Rating: ★★★★ | Year: 2024 | Watched: 2026-07-06
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) on YouTube
Where to watch
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