The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

War of the Rohirrim is a prequel to the Peter Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it doesn't let the audience forget that. Which is a problem, because compared to the classic films from 20-plus years ago, War of the Rohirrim simply can't keep up. Yet it invites comparison at every turn, and each time comes away lesser.

The narration sets the story hundreds of years before the War of the Ring. In Rohan, the land of the horse lords, lives Hera, the wild and carefree daughter of Helm Hammerhand. She cares not for the courts and the plottings of kings, yet her status and gender force her into a life far apart from her dreams.

One day, a rogue vassal of Rohan arrives with his son, Wulf, demanding Hera's hand in marriage. She refuses, and her father duels the would-be usurpers in unarmed combat. It leads to death, vengeance, and a war that devastates the lands from Isengard to Gondor.

It's all very operatic and big, as you'd expect from a J.R.R. Tolkien adaptation. The inspirations, taken from Nordic myths and English history, are easy to spot. As with Jackson's films, the best parts of War of the Rohirrim are in the details. There's texture here that gives the film a lived-in quality. Like we're witnessing old campfire stories come to life.

Sadly, it doesn't last, and part of that is due to how the film looks. The animation is janky and often unfinished as if the production didn't have enough time to smooth things out. It feels like a TV special rather than a big cinematic event. Which, when compared to its predecessor, isn't a good sign.

The same applies for the soundtrack, which liberally borrows from the score of Jackson's trilogy. Howard Shore's original score is one of the greatest pieces of music ever recorded for a film. It would be unfair to expect another masterpiece like it. Yet War of the Rohirrim doesn't even register as interesting. Instead, it sounds like a mix of temp music in between recognizable blasts of French horns and rousing violins.

At almost two and a half hours, War of the Rohirrim is also far too long for its own good. This is a tragedy best told in brief, yet the filmmakers drag out every scene as if to catch the majesty of prior films. At the halfway point, when I realized we still had an entire siege to go through, I felt my mind wandering. It never did during Lord of the Rings.

There are good bits. Some of them are almost enough to right the ship. A fantastic final battle kicks up energy levels in a way the film desperately needs. There's a chase scene involving a frenzied Mumakil and ancient creatures of the forest that is far more interesting than any of the political machinations. A cameo performance involving cave trolls is a delight.

In a shorter, more finished film, these would amount to highlights in an already good picture. Now, they're remnants that remind us of how poor all other areas turned out.

And let's not even get into a despicable case of thespian necromancy at the end. It's one of those moments where the filmmakers want to remind audiences of the past at any cost, and it's so distasteful it ruins the finale entirely. Just let dead actors rest already.

If this was a TV special, or a mini-series celebrating the anniversary of Jackson's films, I think I'd react more warmly to it. But it's sold as a major extension of a classic trilogy that doesn't need it. There's a desperate sense of IP conservation, and it feels crass. I'm all for a return to Middle-Earth, but it doesn't need to be Lord of the Rings.

After all, The Rings of Power proved we can do something different and still feel like Tolkien. Here, as in Amazon's big gamble, the film comes to life when it takes the most liberties with its material. That's the whole point of stories. They change over time, like we do. Only when they stay the same do they stagnate.