From 2001 to 2003, the Lord of the Rings trilogy adapted nearly 1100 pages of JRR Tolkien's source novel. These three movies filled nine hours, 18 minutes in their theatrical versions.

From 2012 to 2014, Hobbit trilogy adapted adapted a little more than 300 pages of JRR Tolkien's source novel. These three movies filled seven hours, 54 minutes in their theatrical versions.

In 2024, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim adapts about two pages of content in the appendix to Return of the King. It fills 134 minutes.

At this rate, I expect to eventually see a two-hour Rings movie based on a doodle Tolkien once sketched on a cocktail napkin. I guess we should count ourselves lucky New Line didn't stretch the miniscule source material for War into another eight-hour trilogy.

Set nearly 200 years before the events of Hobbit and Rings, Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox) serves as the King of Rohan. Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) leads the Dunlendings and blames Rohan for the death of his father Freca (Sean Dooley).

Wulf takes his legions and attacks the Rohan fortress called Hornburg. Helm's daughter Héra (Gaia Wise) takes charge of the defense.

Let's face it: War exists for legal reasons more than anything else. If New Line doesn't produce Tolkien-based material every so often, they lose those valuable rights.

War came into being as a stopgap of sorts to allow the studio to retain the Tolkien properties. Obviously the producers stretched thin to find usable source material, since War essentially riffs on some footnotes and doesn't exist as a direct adaptation.

Of course, Peter Jackson already did that to some degree with the Hobbit movies, as he needed to expand Tolkien's short novel to occupy nearly eight hours. As I understand it, though, Jackson used those appendices pretty liberally so I don't believe he invented all that much on his own.

This doesn't become the case with War, as it uses barebones text and makes up the rest. Does this lack of substantial connection to Tolkien's writing doom the film to failure?

No, as a version of this tale could work just fine. Unfortunately, as created, War becomes uninspired and tedious.

I don’t think War seems as flat as a film that exists for no real purpose other contractual. Nonetheless, it remains mediocre at best.

Granted, the film occasionally threatens to spring to life, especially during its second half. During the big assault on Hornburg, we get some reasonably vivid action scenes.

However, these pale in comparison to what Peter Jackson achieved with his live-action flicks and too often even the best parts of War feel rehashed. The set pieces may not literally copy what Jackson did, but viewers will encounter a definite sense of déjà vu.

The same goes for the characters. Héra comes across as little more than an alternate version of Eowyn, and her loyal assistant Lief feels too much like Samwise.

War attempts some soap opera intrigue via the Héra/Wulf relationship, as we see their childhood friendship and how she now spurns his desire to marry. These elements add nothing to the story and feel contrived.

As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, I don’t like the look or style of anime, and I admit that makes War tougher to swallow. The choppy framerate and flappy mouth movements remain an obstacle for me.

Even with an animation style I preferred, though, War would remain mediocre because it simply lacks real creative or narrative verve. As a film that exists for contractual purposes, it certainly could’ve been worse, but nonetheless, it fails to turn into anything memorable or especially engaging.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. This turned into a solid Dolby Vision presentation.

Sharpness looked strong. No issues with softness materialized in this tight image.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws remained absent.

The film’s palette leaned toward an amber-reddish vibe, with some blues and greens along for the tide as well. These looked vivid, with a nice boost from HDR.

Blacks seemed dark and deep, while low-light shots displayed appealing delineation. HDR added punch to whites and contrast. I felt pleased with this fine UHD.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack didn’t work quite as well as the visuals. However, it still boasted a pretty involving mix.

Much of the movie opted for general ambience, but the soundscape kicked into higher gear during action scenes. These created a broad soundfield that used the various channels to good advantage and involved the viewer in the battles.

Audio quality succeeded, with speech that came across as natural and crisp. Music showed nice range and impact.

Effects brought appealing reproduction, with tight highs and deep bass. The audio served the movie well.

Three featurettes appear, and History Becomes Legend runs 12 minutes, 53 seconds. It offers notes from producers Jason DeMarco, Joseph Chou and Phillippa Boyens, director Kenji Kamiyama, screenwriters Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou, Weta Workshop Creative Director and CEO Richard Taylor, design consultant Daniel Falconer, supervising sound editor Martin Kwok, composer Stephen Gallagher, score producer/mixer Mark Willsher, co-songwriter David Long, singer Paris Paloma, and actors Brian Cox, Laurence Ubong Williams, Miranda Otto, Luke Pasqualino, Gaia Wise, Michael Wildman, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd.

“Legend” examines the story’s source and expansion for the film, visual design choices, cast and performances, and music. Some useful details emerge but “Legend” comes with happy talk too much of the time.

A Marriage of Creativity spans six minutes, 52 seconds. Here we get remarks from Boyens, Kamiyama, Chou, DeMarco, Wise, animation director Wanqian Xie, character designer/1st animation director Miyako Takasu, part director Iori Miura, and in-between animation checker Shizuka Okumoto.

With “Marriage”, we look at the film’s anime style and animation. We get a decent – albeit fluffy – overview.

Finally, we move to the six-minute, 53-second A Hero For Middle-Earth. This one offers statements from Boyens, Chou, DeMarco, Wise, Kamiyama, Gittins, Papageorgiou, Cox, and actor Lorraine Ashbourne.

“Hero” focuses on the Héra character. It offers another mix of puffy material and moderate insights.

If fans expect Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim to live up to the standards of Peter Jackson’s Rings trilogy – or even his weaker Hobbit series – they will encounter disappointment. Despite a handful of well-executed scenes, the movie usually feels stale and cheap. The 4K UHD comes with strong picture and audio along with some mediocre featurettes. I hoped War would rise above its origins as a “contractual obligation” but the end product seems uninspired.