The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Kenji Kamiyama

Cast: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino (VOICES)

Release Date: February 18, 2025

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the saga of the legendary House of Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan. When a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord attacks seeking vengeance for the death of his father, Helm’s daughter Héra must summon the will to lead the resistance or face total destruction.

‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ invites viewers back into J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic world and tells the story of the legendary House of Helm Hammerhand many years before the original trilogy. A tale of love, family, vengeance and hope, it joins the King of Rohan who upon being disrespected in his own hall and accidentally killing the man he fought as a result with a single punch finds his entire family and kingdom threatened when the ruthless Dunlending lord Wulf attacks in retribution for his father’s death. As the kingdom fights back and quickly proves to be overwhelmed, it will be largely up to Helm’s daughter Héra to find a way to overcome their new enemies.

Directed by Kenji Kamiyama (TV’s Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Blade Runner: Black Lotus) from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews (TV’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance) and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou (The Sorrows), from a story by Addiss & Matthews and Philippa Boyens and based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien, Kamiyama does a tremendous job at the helm of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ guiding along the emotional tale with heart and grace. The film’s voice cast includes Brian Cox (TV’s Succession), Gaia Wise (A Walk in the Woods), Luke Pasqualino (Snowpiercer) and Miranda Otto reprising the role of Éowyn from the Lord of the Rings trilogy who serves as the film’s narrator, along with many more voice stars and the majority each offer generally capable and fitting in their respective roles.

‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ offers a fascinating, inspiring and at times surprisingly brutal and heartbreaking look at the rise of an unlikely hero. Rich with atmosphere, beauty and most of the elements that make the franchise so beloved, uniquely explored in a new way via a feature length anime film that looks stunning in its animated design and does a splendid job of bringing a new look at Middle-Earth, and even those like me that may not be massive anime fans as a whole will have no trouble finding plenty to appreciate within.

The story that it tells is equally exciting, heartbreaking and powerful and even if it may have begun as a mere note in the appendices of Tolkien’s trilogy the film does a surprisingly thorough and moving job of expanding upon it and creating a full length feature that rarely feels overextended or forced, although at least a few sequences certainly could have been trimmed to improve its pacing without detracting from the story as a whole. Granted this anime tale may not be quite as marvelous or groundbreaking as Peter Jackson’s original trilogy of films, but it has a lot more going for it than some might initially expect and is a moving, thrilling and powerful tale that is definitely worth the time of any Middle-Earth fans out there to give a chance, even if you may not be a big fan of anime in general.

Overall, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ is a well-crafted and gorgeously animated tale that takes fans back to Middle-Earth for a powerful story told in a unique manner that benefits from the careful guidance of director Kenji Kamiyama and a capable voice cast led by Brian Cox. ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ is definitely recommended for any Lord of the Rings fans who should find plenty to appreciate and enjoy about the anime film and while it may not be as spectacular as Jackson’s live-action trilogy, it still manages to provide a fascinating and tragic story with plenty of action and excitement along the way. It should at least be worth the price of a rental to give a chance if you’re already even mildly intrigued and it’s also streaming on Max for subscribers as of the time of this writing.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks tremendous as a whole and offers a clean, sharp and richly colored presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any issues to be located throughout. Detail is great down to nearly every animated line with characters, backgrounds and landscapes along with everything else looking quite spectacular, while the Dolby Vision HDR boosts much of it by contributing more rich and lifelike colors on clothing, backgrounds and more; all of which is complemented by clean, deep black levels. Overall, this is a wonderful Ultra High Definition presentation that holds up splendidly and should easily please first time viewers and fans.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack is quite spectacular itself and delivers a clean, crisp and notably aggressive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly utilizes all seven available channels in order to send music, action and war related effects, crowd noise and plenty more regularly zipping throughout the various speakers and never causing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or problematic in the process. Overall, this is a great Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that never disappoints and should excite fans.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ features a few notable extras in the way of the Behind the Scenes Featurettes ‘Return to Helm’s Deep: History Becomes Legend’ (running approximately 13 minutes in length), ‘Middle Earth & Anime: A Marriage of Creativity’ (running approximately 7 minutes), and ‘Héra: A New Hero for Middle-Earth’ (approximately 7 minutes).

*Please note: The above images were provided by Warner Bros. and are not reflective of the actual 4K Ultra HD release or its quality. A standard Blu-ray copy of the film was not included in the release that could be used for screenshots therefore the above publicity stills were utilized. They are all the property of Warner Bros. Discovery and any other respective owners.

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Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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‘The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from New Line Cinema & Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

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You can purchase ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim’ on 4K UHD at Amazon HERE!

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