With The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of the Rohirrim, a new movie in Tolkien’s beloved universe is released. MyMMO editor Nikolas Hernes was able to watch the film and was glad that it tells a small story.
What is The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of the Rohirrim? The new movie in the Lord of the Rings universe tells a story that takes place over 200 years before the known trilogy events. The protagonist is Hera, the only daughter of Helm Hammerhand, who is the king of Rohan at the time of the film.
However, the Dunlanders do not seem to be that satisfied, and a tragic event leads to a war in which Hera will play an important role.
First of all: I rate the film as a Tolkien casual
. I’m not an expert on the series, but I think The Battle of the Rohirrim is a good movie, and that is mainly due to two things: It tells a heroic fantasy story and does so on a small scale. This way, the film gets everything right that the current Star Wars and also Rings of Power get wrong.
You can find a trailer for the film here:
The film is most fun during battles and fights
Let’s start with the most obvious: The Battle of the Rohirrim is an anime film and looks quite solid. While it can’t compete with other genre representatives in terms of pure animation like Suzume, it is still exciting to see Lord of the Rings in such a style.
The most fun is had in the battles and fights. They have good choreography and, above all, a clear understanding of proportions. When large creatures or armies appear, the contrast between the weaker
heroes is well staged.
The film also has a few successful compositions and ideas for the heroic moments. Picturesque imagery emerges under snow and rain, which at one moment even reminded me of a legendary moment from Whitebeard in One Piece.
This ensures that the fight scenes and battles have a good weight that reminds me of beautiful moments from The Two Towers. The Battle of the Rohirrim, like the films, is a story about heroes.
A simple hero story
The Battle of the Rohirrim is a rather simple story for which you don’t even have to have seen the films. It tells a compact conflict, which does without the big aspects like Sauron or the Ring. Rohan and its inhabitants are at the center.
For me, that was really good because I absolutely did not want a film that tries to further explore or question the mythology of the world. The Battle of the Rohirrim could also have been mentioned in passing, but that’s exactly what makes the film so good.
What I like so much about The Lord of the Rings is the story about heroes. There aren’t always the most complex motives, and it doesn’t have to be. The Battle of the Rohirrim is a small piece of the larger story, but it’s a small heroic piece that captures the essence of the original films.
The film manages to convey the same feelings of heroism and hope that one feels at the end of The Two Towers. Hera is not a complex character, but she is a heroine with whom one quickly empathizes. She is not a character you will remember, but an embodiment of the Rohirrim, who gets more spotlight with this story.
Star Wars should take a cue from this
The Battle of the Rohirrim is exactly what the Star Wars series and The Rings of Power lack: It’s simple. It does not aggressively delve into the lore of the universes, but still expands the universe. New series and films in familiar worlds do not always have to be world-shattering stories. Sometimes it is enough to simply tell a small story from a corner of these universes.
That’s the beauty of The Battle of the Rohirrim. If you don’t want to watch the film or don’t like it, that’s okay. You’re not missing out on any major event. It doesn’t change anything about the great films afterwards.
But if you let yourself be drawn in, you can return to the beloved world that offers heartwarming music and little details that insert the shallow story into the big picture.
When can you watch the film? The film will be in theaters from December 12, 2024. Whether and when it will be available on streaming services is still unknown. If you want to know beforehand which Lord of the Rings film is the best, check out this list: All 9 films of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit ranked – Which is the best?
