The one of a kind success of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy has lead to many attempts to mine JRR Tolkien's wealth of supplementary material to tell further stories to continue finding ways to make the lightning strike again. This attempt, an animated telling of the history (sort of origin story) of Helm's Deep, the centrepiece of The Two Towers film, is designed to be as much of a tie in as possible with all of it's direct linkages to the previous films with even the title sequence and score themes pulled right from the popular movies. I went in fully expecting this to feel like the sort of cash grab the Prime series often feels like. But there was something about this unique and discreet entry in the canon that made it more enjoyable than it likely should be.
There is a damn good story here. It mixes a little Game of Thrones energy into the very Tolkien-ish world we've come to know, and feels just familiar enough, giving us just enough of the nostalgia feels, to let us appreciate that this is a new story that informs what we've seen before but it full of new, rich characters with their own tragedy and heroism. For all of the nostalgia porn Hollywood is cranking out right now, this one felt fairly honest in terms of being a story that deserved to be told in its own right.
The choice to make this in animation was likely an economic one. But once again, this choice likely motivated for business purposes, was executed in a way that make the choice a very happy one. The animation here, fully embracing anime style, is gorgeously drawn. It is the sort of film that is just lovely to watch. The directoral choices here, what to show what not, are so wonderful decided.
The story quite deftly deals with some of the insidious racism present in Tolkien's work while also centring a female character (one that could be quite explicitly read as queer or ace). Its story both looks back at the legacy of this IP while also looking forward to the sorts of stories that are resonating today.
For some reason the film wasn't heavily promoted and perhaps this is just a place holder for keeping rights and not necessary the future of any Lord of the Rings franchise. But whatever the outcome and future I am just glad we have this very satisfying and enjoyable film.
Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim
Starring: Brian Cox, Miranda Otto, Christopher Lee
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Writers: Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins, Arty Papageorgiou
No comments:
Post a Comment