It’s sad to say, but true: I couldn’t wait for this movie to end.
Where it goes wrong
Where to start? There are so many options.
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Let’s start with the low-hanging fruit: the runtime. Excluding the 13 minutes of end credits, this movie was 2-hour 01-minute long. I don’t think it would be a challenge to chop out 20-30 minutes of this movie and make it better in the process.
The Japanese TV style doesn’t fit the genre and setting for The War of the Rohirrim. I have watched a lot of series that use this style, and I’m not a fan. There are so many better styles to emulate. I think the 2D/3D hybrid that Blue Eyed Samurai and Arcane uses would have been a much better choice.
Of course the hero wins
When a movie ends with a showdown between the protagonist and antagonist, it is admittedly hard to build up tension because we know who’s going to win. The last fight scene drags on and on and is nothing but the Mercy Backfire trope.
Mercy Backfire Trope
When a protagonist, often adhering to a moral code or showing compassion, spares the antagonist in a moment of mercy. However, the antagonist then betrays this mercy by resuming their attack, leaving the protagonist with no choice but to end the conflict decisively, often by killing them.
Unrealistic Strength
Because this is animated, I think the writers felt that they could ignore, or at least exaggerate, the physicality of the characters. As such, the characters, specifically King Helm and his daughter Hèra, are stronger and more agile than they would have been in a live-action film. But this is also the Lord of the Rings universe. None of the characters in the movies appeared as anything like superhuman. Granted, Aragorn is badass, and has the endurance of a horse, but we never see him perform any extraordinary feats of strength. And that goes for the other characters as well. They are all limited to a believable amount of strength and agility. (Okay, Legolas is slightly over the top. But he’s not human.)
In this story, we see characters with ungrounded strength. That fits with the Japanese style animation, but not at all with the rules we know from LOTR. And don’t get me started with Hèra’s ice-wall climbing.
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One Dimensional Villain
There was an attempt to give the villain the proper motivation, but I think it fell short.
One thing I did like
The movie starts on a black screen with the haunting theme from the original LOTR. I’ve seen the movies so many times that just hearing the theme at the beginning of the movie puts me in the this is going to be epic mood.
And then the clunky narration begins. Starting a movie with a long narration is almost always a poor choice. The narration at the beginning of LOTR: Fellowship is one of the few exceptions. Peter Jackson needs to understand that just because it worked once doesn’t mean it will work again. And it doesn’t.
Grade: D
About The Peetimes: All three of the Peetimes are good. You won’t miss any action or crucial plot development in any one of them.
I think the third Peetime is the best. It’s a long search scene and nothing happens until after the Peetime ends.
| Rated: | (PG-13) Strong Violence |
| Genres: | Action, Adventure, Animation |
| USA release date: | 2024-12-13 |
| Movie length: | |
| Starring: | Brian Cox, Christopher Lee, Miranda Otto |
| Director: | Kenji Kamiyama |
| Writer(s): | Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | Japan, United States, New Zealand |
Plot
A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the H…
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