War of the Rohirrim - Wasted Potential

[@Aentium]

My biggest gripe with this movie is that it trivializes the themes of Rohan in LOTR by just rehashing them without any theme or substance, like the themes of hope in two towers or the Rohirrim screaming Death! when charging against the orcs in Minas Tirith, which is used in the movie like it was Rohan's battlecry and not anything special that Theoden came up with. It's one thing to make a lame-ass spin-off separated from the themes of its predecessor, but sabotaging the original story is probably the biggest sequel sin

[@Dragon.um5tz]

Well, it’s sad because I was actually looking forward to seeing this

[@oXRaptorzXo]

@@Dragon.um5tz if you want to see it you should see it

[@Ellebeeby]

To paraphrase King of the Hill: “You’re not making girlbosses any better, you’re just making Eowyn worse!”

[@scottybreuer]

This movie does not exist. Eowyn remains unspoiled.

[@jeffythesomething8772]

This is going to be one of the late 2024 projects that you can tell the studios thought Kamala Harris was going to win.

[@SuperXrayDoc]

She was unnamed in the book and naming her Hera using a Greek name instead of an Anglo-Saxon name is an insult to Tolkein and his language prowess. This movie should have been about Helm Hammerhand instead

[@crustboi93]

I agree, Helm absolutely should have been focus. Héra (the name does actually exist in Anglo-Saxon) at best should have been a tertiary character.

[@simonplumaj5542]

@@crustboi93 Héra in Anglo-Saxon means "male servant." WotR was lazy writing, through and through.

[@Alzbeta7]

I made a similar comment on the trailer about Helm being a better choice for main character. I had to remove it cause people got triggered lol. ...even though I'm a woman myself

[@scottybreuer]

​@@Alzbeta7 How very dare you. I must reeeeeeeeeeeee!

[@albertocruzado2899]

​@@Alzbeta7He is supposed to be the main character.

[@Babe2Ruthless]

I wish we could just get a female main character with a traditional hero’s journey. Where she’s talented, but she’s not the best, and she has to go on some kind of quest where she overcomes her flaws and learns to be better through hard work, not a character who’s already super talented with nothing to learn because she’s Just That Amazing. Just give us a character we can bond with!

[@Fionalah]

That's the original 'Mulan', really

[@Nightwizard63]

"Hey! Are you tired of the girl boss in rings of power?! 😯 well then you'll enjoy this film instead, where you'll be getting more girl boss"

[@Theonionofthedisneyjuniorlore]

But look at the bright side, at least it’s animated and not live-action

[@sulphuric_glue4468]

@Theonionofthedisneyjuniorlore Yeah even though it's slop I'm glad that it's another big example of animation being taken seriously

[@chrishunt586]

I disagree if you are referring to Hera as a girlboss, she has moments where she clearly needs someone else's help. She is captured and needs her comrades to rescue her. She is facing off enemies alone and still requires aid. This isn't some typical Hollywood marysue story

[@oXRaptorzXo]

Hera is less of a girl boss than Eowyn. If you like Eowyn you shouldn’t have an issue

[@justthinkingoutloud2538]

I was just relieved that, as far as girl-bosses go, Hera wasn't particularly unlikeable or overpowered, and didn't immasculate the men around her in the process. The movie's biggest issue isn't her character itself, just the overwhelming amount of unearned praise heaped on her by everyone else at every chance possible.

[@MorgothsBalrog]

Thank you for being honest. This movie is so disappointing. It had a few good moments, but the bad outweighs the few good moments. But it is better than Rings of Power.

[@alsoniagaming]

Thats not a bar anyone should use to measure their movie by. You need to bring a shovel to go under Rings of Power man.

[@MorgothsBalrog]

@alsoniagaming I know that, but the bar had been set by Rings of Power. So anything Tolkien related that comes out in the future will most definitely be compared to Rings of Power.

[@justthinkingoutloud2538]

I was just relieved that, as far as girl-bosses go, Hera wasn't particularly unlikeable or overpowered, and didn't immasculate the men around her in the process. The movie's biggest issue isn't her character itself, just the overwhelming amount of unearned praise heaped on her by everyone else at every chance possible and the lack of focus on Helm.

[@jesserochon3103]

At no point in the movie did anyone praise her for anything, much less praise her unearned and for nothing. She did some heroic things but was never praised for them.

[@justthinkingoutloud2538]

@jesserochon3103 Uhhh... I'm sorry, but you clearly weren't paying attention. No offense. Most notably there's the narration at the beginning and end that just tell us how awesome she is without us seeing it for ourselves, and then there's all the times Helm tells her she was always right about everything all along and she could rule the world, and then just every side character from the shield maiden to Wulf's general describing her as brave and clever every five minutes. But beyond the abundance of verbal praise, it's really just the fact that, as Master Samwise said, everyone just treats her as the main character of the story and gives her way more credit and respect than she has any right to, from Helm treating her as Rohan's savior to Wulf focusing his whole revenge plot on her for some reason. I'm not saying she does nothing or has no traits that are worthy of admiration, she is kind, loving, brave, loyal, and intelligent, and she makes some crucial decisions, but my point was that the amount of praise she gets feels unnecessary, as if the writers don't know how else to make us like her besides telling us we should, and a lot of it just feels necessary to make the plot happen.

[@emperorkane317]

@@jesserochon3103 They very much did at the beginning and the end of the movie.

[@kaleblam5084]

It’s not the idea of expanding upon the daughter of Helm Hammerhand that was bad. We saw this in the original Lord of the rings trilogy with Arwen and it did well because it furthered the plot in a meaningful way and it made Aragorn’s relationship with her even more rewarding when they got together, this just feels like they were trying to shoehorn in something that wasn’t there in the first place. I also don’t think it was a bad idea necessarily for helm hammer hand to not be the central focus, I just think it should’ve been his nephew, Frealaf, who ended the war in the original. This is the issue I have with feminist media, the men have to be dragged down for the women to shine. Sorry I needed to get that out of my system

[@jodieg6318]

I had feeling that we had been so disappointed by Rings of Power and their take on the person they're calling Galadriel (whose problem wasn't that they made her a warrior but that they turned her into every That Guy you had the misfortune to play a TTRPG with) that it generated a lot of bad faith for this film. It seems that the filmmakers took a lot of the modern media criticisms on board but were so scared of making a character with the over powered traits that they forgot to make a character at all.

[@moritamikamikara3879]

It wasn't just that she was that guy who you dont wanna play DnD with, but that she STAYED that way throughout all of 2 seasons. You read up on Tolkien's Galadriel and she was headstrong and athletic and loved riding around on horses swinging swords (She was also like 6 foot 2, which she is NOT in RoP) all throughout the years of the trees and the first age of the Sun and moon, but by the time you get into the second age... she changes. She moves to Lothlorien with Celeborn, chills out and begins working on herself, finding value in humility so that one day she might feel worthy enough to return to Valinor. A tolerable RoP would have seen Galadriel beginning as a girlboss (Although I would have her girlboss marginally less and in quite different ways) and by the end of the second season, she should resemble the character we saw in Fellowship of the Ring, and by the fourth season would be indistinguishable from FotR Galadriel. They... did not do this.

[@adamstevens4718]

I didn't know the story of Helm Hammerhand before hearing about this movie, leading me to Tolkien's appendices, so at least the film pointed me to something actually good

[@magmafang]

I'm glad that you focused on mainly the issues concerning the story/writing aspect of this film, as opposed to for example the visuals where I've seen all too many people complain about when they clearly do not understand the medium (Japanese anime)!

[@ShinzoAkira69]

I am sorry but this is NOT an anime as it was clearly not created nor was it produced by any Japanese studio. This is simply an animation created by Western studios for which the visuals took inspiration from anime. Just as Castlevania, Avatar the last airbender and the legend of korra are all animation tv series created by western studios that take inspiration from Japanese animation, so is War of the Rohirim.

[@CabooseRvB343]

From your videos I have learned much and found a new greater appreciation for the original Lord of the Rings movies

[@cal7447]

The moment you see the trailer you know it's doomed

[@cal7447]

To be clear I'm all for for anime adoptations, I just feel they chose the wrong studio and art direction, among other things

[@aurawry]

Full disclosure, I did not watch the movie. But did anyone else notice that it looked... cheap? Like comparitive to so many other movies from animated tv shows... did they have a smaller budget? The team that animated this clearly has a lot of good experience, but it looks like the animation of a standard episode from a weekly anime, with most moments not fully animated to save up budget for the fight scenes that are much more smooth. But even the lighting, shading, all looks just.... meh. As someone who's watched a lot of movies in this style, I KNOW it could have looked much better.

[@Aentium]

It certainly felt... amateur. Like, some moments were overly animated for absolutely no reason, like reactions that linger for too long and lead nowhere, or shots spinning around a character like three times for absolutely no reason. Musci was also mid, besides some of the original soundtrack, which, by contrast, made the new ost stand out as mediocre. It lacked in almost every department

[@cuthalion4281]

I did not watch the movie, but just from seeing clips I agree with you. It doesn't look up to par for what I expect from an anime film. I think they had 2-3 years to work on it, so what were they doing with that time?

[@Potato-yr2lw]

I don't know if this is true but I was told that it was an American studio that doesn't have much experience with this style

[@emperorkane317]

There is speculation that Warner didn't care whether War of the Rohirrim was a success or not. They only made it so they can meet contract quota so they can retain the rights to Tolkien's works.

[@moritamikamikara3879]

How tha fuck can it be anime then if it's made entirely by Americans. That's like saying "Oh we got this premier Cheddar cheese, made in fuckin Poland." or "We got this beautiful champagne, grapes grown in Arkansas" Wat the fuck?

[@michaelman957]

I appreciate that they didn't make her obnoxious, but they forgot to make her... anything.

[@Draconisrex1]

There was no potential in a story focusing on an unnamed character from a footnote. Worse, in Tolkien's world, there really is no room for bad-ass, warrior girl-bosses. This is not to say females were weaker or powerless. Females in Tolkien's universe, from the Valar to the most common Hobbit, exert their power in different ways from males, and the two sexes are equally important. These different modes of power between the two sexes result in the relative lack of female characters compared to the number of males. So this Galadriel, one of the most powerful of the Noldor was no warrior girl-boss. Luthien, probably the most powerful of the Elves and half-elves (being half Maia), used the power of Elven magic to rescue Beren and enchant Morgoth. The Entwives grew great gardens while the Ents tamed and herded the wild forests. Their power was, simply put, different. Much more about supporting peace and life, hence Lothlorien. Hence Arwen turning away from being a shieldmaiden and becoming healer at the end of The Return of the King. These people are incapable of understanding that. If a woman isn't a bad-ass, girl-boss then she is worthless. Which is feminism in a nutshell.

[@caril.9384]

do you mean Eowyn?

[@CarnisianLady]

And you are praising the greatest mary sue ever *cough* Luthien *cough*

[@moritamikamikara3879]

Feminism treats women like they are defective men. Which is odd given that our schools treat boys like they are defective girls. Why do we do this to ourselves?

[@Undomaranel]

​@@CarnisianLady I'd argue the women in Dracula and anything Jane Austin wrote are far more Mary Sues than Luthien. You also have to understand Tolkien as a person to fully comprehend why he found endurance and never giving up and always moving forward despite insane adversity to be heroic. His Christian values and experiences in WW1 trenched gave him a survivor's perspective on what bravery really is. Luthien faced the powers of hell to save Beren and claim the Silmaril, and like every other Orphic myth before her she had strengths and weaknesses. The difference was that Luthien did not succumb to her elven pride or any mortal (adjacent) fears. She pressed on, never giving in, and was rewarded with victory not unlike Cinderella and Snow White and every other fairy tale heroine before her. Luthien was not a girl boss, succeeding without merit, striking poses as the bad choreography showed her winning. She was a literary metaphor representing love, enduring hardship, loyalty, knowing when to use what skillset, and how to be a good partner. Tolkien understood that women do not naturally value combat for dominance, and instead we're far more political, social, and supportive. We want to manage and distribute resources. We want to help build and upkeep. We want to help those we care about find their own worth. That's what Tolkien's women characters are, actual women, not girls pretending to be boys while shunning learning healing skills because it's not violent. And Luthien's story? She approached her tasks as a woman who cared about her lover and stooped to the level of trickery and skirting evil to do so, both things that people applaud Frodo for but somehow make a Mary Sue out of her...

[@Eilonwy95]

@@UndomaranelI totally agree that Tolkiens female characters have great depth. But which characters in Jane Austen are Mary Sues exactly?

[@kurtisbennett7272]

Love the content. Especially your Kratos content. As a newer father it really helped put things into a perspective i think I needed. Keep up the fantastic work!

[@squikeeee]

if you haven't seen it already Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, is an actually good fantasy anime

[@AincradKnightNatlis]

That one actually reminded me quite a lot of LotR, namely from the magic system being some combination of hard and soft and Aureole instantly reminding me of the Undying Lands.

[@thethirdsicily4802]

@@AincradKnightNatlis I honestly don't know what it is, but yeah Frieren really does have a significant LOTR vibe to it.

[@moritamikamikara3879]

It's so LotR it hurts. Frieren is absolutely a LotR elf, like she's a Noldor. The main theme around her is her eternality verses everyone else's ephemerality. That is a major theme regarding the elves, that by being in middle earth and watching everything around them die and be born and die and be born and die and be born over and over and over and over causes them much pain. Hell, iirc that was part of the point of the rings in the first place, Sauron promised they could be used to make men and dwarves live longer so the elves didnt have to see every generation sequentially being born, growing old and dying.

[@3godzilla3]

While the movie wasn't perfect, I really enjoyed it. People love to trash on things that aren't the originals, and so I went into the film trying to not compare it to anything else. I also went in completely expecting some kind of "girl boss, woman power" agenda, and I was genuinely surprised with how downplayed that was, as this man said, and that's a REALLY good thing. It had drama, emotional moments, plenty of action, and good music. I'd say it falls between an 8 and 8.5 out of 10 for me. I just wish there was more depth to the childhood of Hera and Wulf to give us more reason to care for them.

[@Jebbtube]

It's important to note that this film was thrown together practically overnight so New Line could hold on to the LotR license, and the fact that they got they got the director of Akira to direct this is impressive in and of itself.

[@dhfvrfhjcfbbrfb]

I wish they would stop hoarding the rights and let someone else take a crack at adapting LotR. Peter Jackson’s trilogy was great but I’m tired of seeing his version of middle earth.

[@CsnvLsRnst]

​@@dhfvrfhjcfbbrfb I couldn't agree more. Anytime I see the names of Jackson, Boyens and Walsh attached to a new Middle-earth adaptaption, I sigh. Are we really that scared of finding new voices and visions for these stories? As great and groubdbreaking as Jackson's films are, it's been more that twenty years, and by this point Jackson (and co.) is no longer the young, passionate filmmaker who wanted to bring this epic story to life. He is a rich businessman for whom the legendarium has become just his favorite "I.P." (to use the soulless corporate word) to make a profit from.

[@Drragnorr]

To me this movie is the definition of ok movie, which you watch once and forget. If the movie characters have been drawn the same way as during the end credits and thus didnt clash so much with the detailed backgrounds, It would be worth the ticket, just to watch the art. Sadly It is not.Story is very simple, dialog uses too many lines just to play on your nostalgia of a better movie.I can take It as a tale told to children by Gandalf at some firecamp and nothing more.

[@battleshipboyd2758]

I actually really liked it. The music and animation were great. I didn't really get a girlboss vibe from Hera, and believe me I was worried that they were gonna make this a female empowerment LOTR edition. I'm one of the first to groan and complain when shows or movies use that trope, but I don't think she was overpowered or anything like that. I respect everyone's opinion and they are most certainly entitled to it, but I think a lot of people were going into the movie wanting to hate it. If you look hard enough for things to not like in any piece of media you will always find it.

[@MonroesArtStudio]

I like it. Solid b+

[@anonanon3112]

It's essentially modern slop. Just because the standard these days is 3/10 doesn't change the fact that a 5/10 is an F.

[@Hero_Of_Old]

The film was just...ok.

[@Nargon46]

Yeah. I kinda figured unfortunately. Oh well! Next!

[@SomeGuyXD65]

The second time I've ever walked out on a movie

[@Joe-Przybranowski]

I walked out of the first of the hobbit abortions.

[@farahahmed8201]

What was the first movie?

[@raptortown]

What was the 1st?

[@oXRaptorzXo]

Why would you walk out of this one it’s not even bad

[@Hat_With_A_Hat_On]

You only went to one of the hobbit trilogy?

[@michaelman957]

That was a great mic drop of a final line, Sam. It summarized the core problem. Perfection.

[@KraytDragon1138]

I always love your thoughts Master Samwise. In this case, this movie really worked for me. Helm was iconic, his lines were (imo) super well written and well delivered. Despite his pride, which led him to underestimate his enemy and fail to call for aid when he had the chance, in the end he embodied sacrifice and strength. Wulf was a classic villain. I don't need all my villains to be complex to feel real and impactful. I like a villain who is overcome by his vice, in this case vengeance. And Hera was a great pov character. While not the most unique protagonist, she was a leader who took responsibility when her people needed her to and gave up power when it was offered to her. In Rings of Power, Galadriel feels like a girl boss. Hera felt like a hero to me. She wasn't just better than everyone at everything. She overcame serious hardship and never quit fighting.

[@thecondorflyght8964]

The biggest problem with this film was how slow it was, and it never felt like part of a larger conflict. It felt more like one battle, then evacuating to Helm's deep, then a small anticlimatic battle at the end. At least in the original movies it felt like large conflicts were going off everywhere, but we focus on the most important stuff. Once they got to Helm's Deep, it was incredibly slow and boring. And my interest was no longer held once they got to the final duel.

[@akiraishin7141]

Kenji Kamiyama was the director of the least liked version of Ghost in a Shell, the art style also looked so generic that I decided from the start not to watch it.

[@GSal6]

The animation was spectacular in some instances but also very dull and stagnant in other scenes

[@kobewan9028]

Love your videos man, would love to see a battle scene comparison video on this and lotr like you mentioned !

[@user-kl5zd2oe3e]

Wouldn't it be cool if this was done in the 80's by Studio Madhouse? You know, like Record of Lodoss War? It would have been a lot more accurate too, especially with economic bubble money. Yeah, the last part was different than the novels, but the Grey Witch arc was pretty accurate. I'm sure they would have whipped something together that was pretty awesome.

[@equestrianrosie]

My brother wants to see this. I fear he will be sadly disappointed.

[@offtheshelfET]

We’re all free to have different opinions but personally, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this film. However, I think there were many changes I would have made to the story. 1. Instead of having Héra refuse Wulf’s hand in marriage at the Witan, have her accept it to try and avoid conflict between Helm and Freca and have it be Helm who acts impulsively by turning Freca down. That way the “I should have listened to you” moment from Helm at the end would’ve made more sense and Héra saying “everything you’ve done is for your people” would’ve been more impactful as it would’ve shown Héra’s growth, a moment of her finally understanding her father’s actions. 2. Héra should’ve died. It would’ve been a more poetic way to end her character to have her sacrificing herself in the place where her father died. Let Wulf get all that he wants in the end only to find he is still unhappy. He can then return to the ruins of Edoras to declare himself kings and the moment of realization that he gained nothing would set in on him. There, Frealaf would show up killing him and taking the throne as he is supposed to in the book.

[@jrconway3]

It really does make a lot more sense to have her die. Helm and his sons both die. Her dying in the war, too, makes a lot of sense, justifying Frealeaf taking the throne even more. The irony is the film uses Miranda Otto as Ewoyn to try and promote Hera even though Ewoyn is descended from Frealeaf....

[@offtheshelfET]

It’s funny, the more and more I think about it, the less I like this film. Mainly because there was so much they could have done that they didn’t.

[@alexandersebela370]

@@offtheshelfET no she didnt had to die. What sense would it make? Its as writing saruman should die as all orcs in film ealy as sacrifice, woudnt it be poetic? He died becouse orcs in first 10 minutes died.... Thats really nonsense.

[@le-chevalier-renaud]

To be fair, as far as the origin of shieldmaidens goes that is one of the theories of where Shieldmaidens came from in the real world.

[@SuperBroGaming-se6br]

Agreed, yes, sick of that trope! Why can't anything very good be made anymore 😭 P.S. pls do Xenoblade Chronicles character studies like this, i love your content and really want to see your spin on my favorite deep video game series!

[@theonedraven8007]

Gusy wake up! New Master Samwise video. seriously, thank you for all the great, nuanced, and balanced takes. youre a pro my dude. If you want a good character analysis to look into with solid rpg gameplay. the Tales of Berseria (Velvet) and Tales of Zesteria (Direct sequel to Berseria) have some of th ebest written characters in jrpgs

[@dodgyyoutuber9560]

I think animation would be amazing for a tolkein movie. This doesn’t fit for so many reasons. It’s cheap. There’s fricken 3d assets! The director directed Wolf Brigade which is just one of the most amazing looking movies, yet this just looks CHEAP! She’s wearing anime thigh high boots! She looks like Asuna from Sword art online! And, of course, Tolkein was heavily inspired by celtic folklore and language, so the animation should reflect that and have a mystical, european style, not japanese! Something either realistic like Wolf Brigade or stylised and fairytailish like this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJO5p6uunLOdaM0 Or cartoon saloon or even a little experimental like the tail of prince kaguya. Make it ART! This is not art

[@mordreek]

Helm was a Berserker, and he even goes down like one. They changed that and it took away a key part of his story

[@thewerdandi]

As Jeremy Jahns said in his review, Warner Bros made this movie to retain rights for the IP - and this is why it was so similar to Jackson's Middle Earth, because it was in it. Of course I don't know if Jeremy is right on this one.

[@azidal3755]

I thought something was off even from seeing the trailers, I just wasn't sure what.

[@claytonrios1]

Hera could have been a lot better but I do think this was better than Galadriel in Rings of Power. Even if that's not saying much.

[@barbararey-constantin5679]

I rarely go to the movies any more precisely due to the point you made, the hero's journey is usually not inspiring. I kid you not, I got to the cinema early and later someone pulled the fire alarm. So, in a roundabout way I was saved from a lower quality version of Tolkien. Thanks, I always appreciate your reviews and point of view.

[@LostHorizons0]

A unnamed character who didn’t exist in Tolkiens writings used to push an agenda with a horrible anime weeb art style. Disgrace

[@offtheshelfET]

The art style isn’t the issue

[@ChristopherGrisolia]

Can’t you (Hollywood) do ANYTHING RIGHT

[@LostHorizons0]

No never

[@SaviorofZaun]

Ohhhhh just what I feared.

[@ArenTainment]

I agree! Helm turned into Hera Hammerheld! Damn these subversive tactics!

[@chrishunt586]

I quite enjoyed the film. I thought Hera was a strong capable character without being "strong girl just because" I don't think there was any over exaggerated gender bias shoe-horned into the movie either. Night and day compared to rings of power. May have felt a bit too similar to The Two Towers due to the setting focus, but makes sense since it is a Rohan centered story. I would love to see more films like this one. I give it an 8/10.

[@n00bplayer72]

For me, the most annoying part was Hera's nanny, or whoever she was. The amount of plot armour that woman had, they could have just set her in front of the gates of Edoras and the enemy army would never have gotten in. She just teleports into the enemy base to save Hera, directly faces Wulf and escapes unscathed, at Helm's Deep she's the one calling shots (did ALL the other captains and generals die?!) and in the last battle she stands in the breach of the wall by herself and holds off most of the enemies. I seriously thought that was where she was going to die, but nope, she's completely unscathed by the end!!

[@elizabethlestrad5282]

"I wish I had more to say about [Wolf] but... I don't. He exists to antagonize." Though, unlike Sauron, it sound's like Wolf actually DOES do some antagonizing - not leave the entire role of badass evil villain to a flunky (Sorry, Witch King of Angmar). I will never forgive Peter Jackson for robbing us of the Aragorn vs Sauron fight.

[@Oozaru85]

It was never meant to be an outstanding, interesting movie. It was meant to be a rights retainer, clearly. Nothing more.

[@NeonViper00]

I only just now realized what books are sandwiched between sev and boss' helmets, and I couldn't be happier. Would it be possible master samwise to provide republic commando books conten

[@NDTexan]

I just wanted a simple depiction of the Helm story and the Helm story does not include a daughter of any true significance beyond the original marriage proposal. She was unnamed in the brief story for a reason. And it certainly doesn't include that daughter being a super mega unbeatable hero, basically cosplaying with the same beats as Merida from Disney's Brave. Tolkien was a humanist and this movie is just modern era feminist claptrap. People claiming it's good because it's slightly better than rings of power are dunking on themselves. It's not good because it cleared the lowest bar. It's just slightly less terrible

[@SoldierSpiderx]

Sometimes I feel like Hollywood has only seen one scene from The entire LOTR trilogy, that being Eowyn saying "I am no Man" before stabbing The Nazgul in his face.

[@hrafnagu9243]

Just a personal gripe of mine, but I really really dont like the Anime art style. And seeing a "Middle earth" adaptation, an explicitly western creation, in the style of anime just really doesn't sit well with me. Besides, they shouldn't have made a movie revolving around an unnamed character in the first place. Helm Hammerhand's story is RIGHT there!!

[@RunnyElephant44]

At least the art is neat to see in anime form that's it

[@beskamir5977]

Thank you. I had an interest in seeing this film, but now I know better.

[@Schellnino1994]

I really like it. It felt like a spiritual sequel to Bakshi's 70's film (which is one of my favorites) and also a in continuity with my favorite film (Fellowship 2001)

[@tylerstrickland9679]

I wouldn't necessarily say that this movie was bad, for me anyways it was entertaining for what it was a small story in the middle earth saga, I'm still new to learning about the different lores of this world but it was nice to see this, considering the rings of power is very pourly written and acted I like this one, what could of been better in a lot of the complaints I've seen is giving another animated movie for it, but when it comes to these projects you have to take it for what it is, a small animated film with too much to go through, these are my personal thoughts and just thought I'd share

[@janette2422]

well, honestly, Phillippa is Jacksons 'life partner' who is the mother of his 2 children and who basically receives half the credit for the films.......she was basically using her not-husband-but-husband's name and movies and it didn't work. Jackson clearly had VERY modern ideology (changing people like Aragorn and Faramir so 'they would be more believable because no one is REALLY..THAT...virtuous'. I think that showed why the movies deeply failed in the way of truth-telling. And this does the same with a far more vapid base.

[@jamesfloyd652]

My few biggest complaints. Why didn't they first kill wolf as soon as he attacked the king? Why did the guy fighting the King die in one punch? Why didn't the King listen to his nephew when his nephew told him exactly what was going to happen? Why did helm stay outside in the freezing cold when he could have snuck inside and closed the door himself? These are just a few questions I have. It was a decent movie but there was a lot of things that were made just for simple convenience and some plot holes that were just not given a chance to make sense

[@sakitorihd]

i didn't know it was an original story, it should have been stay that way, in a book.

[@deusvult7546]

I mean, let's be honest. The biggest red flag was her wearing black widow style clothing in the trailer...

[@JoshuaHeald]

*🤜Helm Hammerhand deserved better! 🤛*

[@RJ420NL]

My dislike of this movie is based on: 1. They should have focused on Helm instead of a character who was barely mentioned in the source material. But of course the modern "entertainment" industry must replace men. 2. The animation. It's the wrong style for this story. Also, with current tech they could have done much better. 3. The writing. It's immature, dull and lame.

[@hhowdy]

What is the book War of the Rohirrim is in? Tales of middle earth or the Silmarillion?

[@Shikatsuyatsuke]

Appendix A, House of Eorl

[@girlbigge340]

It's two pages in appendix a of Return of the King

[@Don9872]

Return of the King Appendices

[@benjaminmclaren8782]

The problem with character growth, is that they have to start in a sub optimal role. So if you want to write a selfless character, do you start them off as selfish? If you do that, people might not like them. And if they are a female character, you can't have people not liking them. So write them as perfect. Yeah, everyone likes perfect characters. And if you don't like perfection, then you must hate women. This thought trap is very easy to fall into. And I don't blame people for falling victim, just for dragging others down with them. Growing things takes time and effort. And some writers just don't want to do that.

[@ceejay1353]

For those who don't know, nothing is wrong with a Mary Sue. Bayonetta is a Mary Sue, Ciri from the Wticher is kind of a Mary Sue. It comes down to how you write the Mary Sue. If you write one unintentionally that could be a problem.

[@jeremiahjones9940]

Oh dang son the Masters on my feed. 🙏

[@1701EarlGrey]

Call me stupid by I thought that theme of the movie was pride and how it leads rulers to make bad, irrational decisions. I thought that Helm Hammerhand was prideful and that lead him to his dewfall - same with Wulf - at few points he could easily won if he wasn't so prideful; like if he accepted Hera's offer to merry him when he captured her or when only handful of starving refuges left behind Hornburg's has left and he could abandon the siege. Other than that I unfortunately have to agree with you about most things you said about this film. My biggest regret that even though movie was longer that it should, it still was pretty shallow and didn't really explored interesting aspect of Rohan politics - from the movie I didn't get any real reason for antagonism between Dunlendings and Rohirrim, why they hate each other. As you said; it's wasted potential...

[@Amateur_Ambiance]

The quality of the animation and design was really hard to watch, it’s like they primarily focused on making JUST the characters look alive.

[@Aentium]

What do you mean boring? I was laughing my ass off in the cinema with how bad the movie was

[@kylejenkins7166]

I got tickets for Gladiator 2 and I'm picking up the Rohan popcorn tin

[@FillingPassports]

This was at best a "Made for TV" movie. The animation was basic, the dialoged stilted and the battle scenes were unbelievable. Went in with low expectations and it met those low expectations.

[@motor4X4kombat]

I think the hunt for gollum will be worse.

[@damagingthebrand7387]

To make a political comment, Tolkien wrote a multi-faceted world where Rohan treats Dunlendings like garbage and pays for it in the War of the Ring. Around 1000TA Gondor treats non-Numenoreans like garbage weakening Gondor during the War of the Ring. Tolkien showed, without rubbing our face in it, the dangers of racism or culture-ism. Do modern writers who supposedly care about nothing else understand this point? No, they call Tolkien a racist nazi and write Helm as a pure good guy. Modern Hollywood and the woke in general are just clueless twits. Thanks for your review.

[@joshidejj]

It would've been better if the writers just thought of balancing the spotlight of having Helm AND "Hera" as Duo main characters instead, rather than just put Helm in the sidelines and let Hera be the main focus. After all this story is about Helm and the readers knows this, but not newcomers. So to transition from Hera abruptly that's like pulling the rug from the LOTR fans and gradually create conflict among the community over what's good and bad about the movie. It's unnecessary to do that and very scummy.

[@Nystagmus8123]

It was going to be bad when the trailer released and it leaned so much on scenes from the trilogy. I felt the keys being jangled in my face when the first three or four scenes I saw were from Peter Jackson and not the original work. I wanted this movie when it was announced. I wanted to like it. This is my favorite faction in LotR, and they just missed the (Ridder)mark so bad. Also, I don't think this is the best medium for the movie. Anime artists are amazing at what they do, but holy hells they cannot draw horses. They always end of having weird proportions and unnatural angles. But they used it for a movie called War of the Rohirrim. Land of the Horse Lords *face palm*.

[@ixhilkalaskiiver792]

Fired before Christmas, just caught cold, everyone in my demographic just voted for the guy I didn't want...(now this SH** again?) ... why am I here?

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

"Let's sell them ur w0ke girlboss shyt coated in animé... they will buy it"...

[@xmaryHXCx]

As a girl, I cannot tell you how sick I am of the girl boss trope.

[@sajjadalhachami7574]

Nice video Can you make video about Arwen Galadriel Gandalf Elrond

[@haleyschreiter9746]

When I saw an older woman in the trailer, I assumed it was Helm's sister, Hild. But apparently not 😕

[@SaviorofZaun]

Also here is me I guess “just being mean,” but why does nobody have blonde hair and blue or green eyes? Rohirric traits from Tolkien’s book say that they have light hair and light eyes.

[@randomchannel323]

I thought Wulf was cartoonishly evil

[@sammysam68]

I’m I the only one that loved it yea it’s not perfect but I enjoyed it and it’s the best lotr we had in years

[@anonanon3112]

It's sad too how people are looking at this as an example of "good animation." I guess people just haven't watched what was considered good animation in the 80's and 90's if they think this janky B roll should be considered anywhere above average.

[@BenjaminAlternate]

Guess what honored praise is what princesses get all the time in historically that's just realistic

[@michaelman957]

It's just... empty

[@TheJohn8765]

Knowing nothing about this movie other than what I've seen from reviews, the animation style is weird. I remember watching Robtotech in the 80's. Why am I getting Robotech vibes from a 2024 movie made about European-analogues? Hera could be dropped into Robotech and, other than the costume, would look totally authentic. It's just a klang moment for me. The animation style doesn't have its own look.

[@TuneNoob]

I personally don’t have problem with the girl Boss too much but the thing I do complain is how are they execute and develop in the story and their flaws development

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

This time they were subtle since they restrained themselves from race swapping everybody XD

[@alsoniagaming]

So were jusr gonna ignore how she single handedly takes down a Mumikil a task that is at least a team effort in any other iteration besides the PJ movies?

[@jesserochon3103]

She never takes down a mumik in the movie. She blows a horn and it chases her into the woods where a giant watcher eats it. She never takes it down.

[@daguroswaldson257]

Well, Homered took down two with one spear, and Eowyn took down one. But then again, Eowyn had to have Merry's help, and Eomere then had to use help from the Rhohirim horse archers after he used the spear.

[@ebransc09]

Is the thing that leaves this movie with no real punch that they skimped on the budget for voice talent?

[@Sirlance3000]

Yay the movie I was sort of looking forward to all year is yet another safe and uninspired story! Hooray! Well no point in watching it now. I mean is it really that hard to write a good story?! Hollywood please stop playing it safe and make a risk for once! Nobody wants a safe surface level uninspired dull predictable story, we have thousands of those! I want characters that get proper character development, not carboard cut outs trying to be a character, while having no room to grow as a character! Hollywood, I have no problem with female characters, I have no problem with female protagonists, heck most the characters I write are women, the main character of the story I am creating is a girl, my problem is that these characters, and especially the female ones are always depicted as perfect, or otherwise always right, they can do no wrong, but what I, and what most other people actually want are imperfect characters, characters that can be wrong, characters that struggle. I don't know what is so hard about this to understand!

[@OtherM112594]

I thought the film was great. My only issue with it really was the animation.

[@SaviorofZaun]

I had so much hope after hearing Jackson was working on this himself. I don’t believe he was actual proud of this like he said. That is why I won’t watch it. It makes me sad I that people (not including Jackson) are trying to ruin Tolkiens work.

[@alsoniagaming]

Jackson attached his name to this as part of the pissing match Amazon and WB are having. Amazon snubbed him for RoP so he attached his name to this. More content made out of spite.

[@oXRaptorzXo]

It’s good tho

[@SaviorofZaun]

@@oXRaptorzXo Yeah no like I don’t wanna rub on anybody that likes it that’s good for them you know.

[@SaviorofZaun]

@@alsoniagaming Yeah. Sucks. Money and clout and hurt feelings always win out nowadays. We wanna be right instead of honest. Shame.

[@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290]

He probably didn't work all that much on it. He was just giving WB the okay to put his name on it to spite RoP (Amazon refused to get him on the team for that show). It should also be mentioned, that this movie most likely only happened so that WB can keep the movie rights for Tolkiens works. Tolkien put a lot of love into his creations, so it hurts a bit when the adaptions of his works are made out of spite. Then again, evil can't create, only twist and corrupt.

[@hannigan40]

I liked it

[@targetexx]

Its a 0/10 movie feels like a tumbler "fan" fiction

[@nathaniellong4281]

Hera does look attractive. She's definitely a woman, not like the girlbosses with man features.

[@kat8753]

They want to make strong female characters great, stick to the Eowyns and Kataras. Enough with the 'to be a strong woman you have to be like a man' B.S. it's really tiresome and insulting.