The purpose behind the making of the certain a movie sometimes tends to be all that you need to know. ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ Kamiyama directs claims to be a prequel to the start of the trilogy however it has no relevance to the story whatsoever nor does it make any sense, there was no need for it, already focused on Blade runner Kamiyama was asked to make this. While it could’ve been something big, it does not go beyond the basic idea of being a tool to make money for the company.
Kamiyama’s work never ceases to amuse me even though its dark an interesting concept lives rental of renting out movie rights. In the best case scenario where the film does center around Tolkien’s Middle Earth, that concept is put to waste as the animation itself is half the time around a mediocre block and tackled out from the shadows of Hayao Miyazaki and the ‘Makoto Shinkai’. The rest of the time it does make sense where this project was made, as there is no love poured into it the criticism it garnered was justified. A franchise is perhaps the best way to put it.
Miranda Otto, returning as Éowyn the shieldmaiden, begins the narration with a cool fact: the events we are about to watch unfold two hundred years before Bilbo Baggins’ encounter with Sauron’s ring. Rohan, led by the epically named Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox, with a dash more war-hardened gruffy than Logan Roy’s expressed egoism) and Sons Hama (Yazdan Qafouri), Haleth (Benjamin Wainwright), and Héra (Gaia Wise), is not at the peak of its glory. The primary conflict turns when Freka (Shaun Dooley), head of the Dundelings, seeks to contest Helm’s claim to leadership and expresses an interest in marrying his son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) to Héra, uniting their warring factions. Lively Héra, an embodiment of the spirit of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind from the movies of Hayao Miyazaki, gets over the idea and looks at Wulf as a friend, not a king15. An annoyed Freka resorts to slander her a bit as well as the Hammerhand’s pastime. And from that moment and further you can consider it watched angered Helm. The King hand Fu fight suggests he and Freka can ward away who needs to and control the other in the combat.
Nonetheless, it reaches a fatal climax in the most unpredictable fashion when Freka’s death comes at the hands of Helm thanks to a single strike (Cox is especially commendable in this scene and attempts to bring across the complex statement by saying, “But I only hit him once!” with mixed emotions “Happy and Sad” at the same time). Filled with anger, Wulf vows to take revenge on the kingdom of Rohan and went on to lay siege and attack the kingdom for years to come.
The film emphasizes the fact that Rohan is its inherent weakness, a huge smaug sized weakness to say the least, the undeveloped characters; this is most unfortunate because Wise’s style of voicing Héra is the type which is quite likely to get one immediately hooked. There are a few occasions in the film where the camera angles and the action sequences make Kamiyama seem like he knows what he is doing and is willing to give the characters depth, one of these moments is slightly to the start of the movie where Héra is bonding with giant eagles (“The Boy and the Heron” meets herons). Mostly silent, it does reveal Héra’s appreciation of nature as well as her skills on a horse, and there’s an impressive effect of Héra running after the eagle, quickly obscured by the bird’s wing’s shadow suggesting the challenges to come.
I can’t help but demand to ask myself, how could a film like In the Name of the King lack moments like those, when after all it tries to keep trying to develop such compelling plot premises. There are many examples where the smashing turns intrusive to put it lightly, being an obvious one the oliphant scene, beating Wulf’s crew out of sheer competition. It was jarring to see her competence in a sequence prior.
But even on that front, and in an exact parallel manner, the film falls short. Corspe Archers Documentary inspires this eventry, for God sake, Can’t reminisce about one don’t think it about in bollywood films. It’s hard to believe Cox’s gravelly baritone hasn’t been utilized in prior Middle-earth projects, it was a satisfying sight to see him go berserk as he bashes his enemies in the face with a hammer, one would think it’s ‘God of War: Ragnarök’s’ Thor. He feels every crunched bone and saws his way through them with pure brutality.
The only moments the film lacks charisma is when there’s no action ongoing, like for instance when the characters are speech and their enthusiastic tone of expression clashes with the blankness of their facial features.
Respect should be given where it is due. While the film still depicts how the famed battlefield of Helm’s deep earned its name, which can be a dangerous source of inspiration, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” largely avoids the pitfall of being too fascinated with other movies. But some writers can’t help but let it slip in some much cringeworthy fan service, which in this case Isaac was not shy away from.
“What does Mordor want with rings?” super grates an Orc later in the film and the way he delivers it is pure seriousness, you start to feel like Sauron is going to pop in, poke his head in, and explain the reason why Old Pike animated the circles, probably wearing a ratty old hood. The film is most entertaining when it illustrates battles fought by Wise’s Héra and how diversity within the monarchy and its expansionist ambitions precipitated the calamities that befell her people.
Watch free movies on Fmovies.
