Lord of the Rings anime prequel The War Of the Rohirrim is only for hardcore Tolkien fans

The anime style gives the action punch, but Lord of the Rings prequel The War Of the Rohirrim is too long and talky for all but the most diehard of Tolkien fans, writes Leigh Paatsch.

With an underwhelming Lord of the Rings prequel and a solid homegrown Christmas film, it’s a mixed back of movies this week.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM (M)

Hera (Gaia Wise) and Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) in The War of the Rohirrim.

Director: Kenji Kamiyama (Napping Princess)

Starring: the voices of Gaia Wise, Brian Cox, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto.

Rating: ★★½

A long, losing battle

If you count yourself a proud devotee of all things Lord of the Rings, then Christmas has indeed come early: the all-animated prequel The War of the Rohirrim will prove itself a gift that will keep on giving across its run in cinemas.

However, if you felt Peter Jackson’s peerless LOTR trilogy put a definitive full stop on the fantastical writings of author J.R.R. Tolkien, this Japanese-produced afterthought stands little chance of changing your mind.

While this project does benefit from the limited involvement of Jackson and key collaborators from the live-action movies – true fans will enjoy discovering the many narrative links and thematic shout-outs to the trilogy – its overall appeal is underwhelmingly selective.

The story of The War of the Rohirrim transpires some two centuries before the commencement of Tolkien’s famous novels.

We find ourselves in the Rohan region, where tensions between neighbouring kingdoms are on the rise after a long period of peace.

The Rohan king Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Succession star Brian Cox) is largely to blame for triggering the turmoil after his temper gets the better of him. A fist fight with a rival royal ends with a needless death that creates a mortal enemy in the form of a young headstrong warrior named Wulf (Luke Pasqualino).

Aspiring warrior princess Hera in The War of the Rohirrim.

Banished to the far fringes of the land, Wulf plots an earth-scorching, palace-emptying vengeance that could bring the Hammerhand dynasty to a prematurely definitive close.

With an ageing Helm teetering on the brink of losing his grip on the throne, it is left to his feisty daughter, the aspiring warrior princess Hera (Gaia Wise), to step inside this dangerous power vacuum and save the day.

Despite her inexperience on the open battlefield, Hera just might be the only person capable of repelling the threat posed by Wulf and his growing legion of followers. After all, once upon a time, she knew him so well there was the chance they may have married some day.

Storytelling-wise, this is all analog good-vs-evil stuff with very little light, shade or complexity to forge a lasting connection to the viewer.

While the traditional Japanese anime-styled visuals lend a visceral punch to the action sequences, the look of the movie counts against it when too many awkward dialogue-driven scenes are strung together.

Locating the few pockets of the genuine excitement amid all the unnecessary (and often dull) padding stuffed into the script feels too much like hard work after a while.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is in cinemas now

HOW TO MAKE GRAVY (M)

Hugo Weaving (Noel) and Daniel Henshall (Joe) in How To Make Gravy.

Rating: ★★★

Now streaming on Binge and Foxtel

“Hello Dan. It’s Joe here. Hope you’re keeping well …”. No matter when you first hear the timeless Paul Kelly song How To Make Gravy, it is sure to live rent-free inside your head forevermore. Now someone’s gone and made a movie out of the thing. While it is nice to see this evocative composition come to life on screen, it is safe to say it won’t be a permanent lodger in your memory afterwards.

How To Make Gravy is based on Paul Kelly’s iconic song. Picture: Binge/Jasin Boland

The acting certainly can’t be faulted. The ever-credible Daniel Henshall (Snowtown) is Joe, a decent bloke who has made enough wrong decisions to cop a spell in the slammer over Christmas. The threads of regret, resilience and redemption that Kelly so expertly weaved through his four minutes of song time are definitely to the fore here. However, when stretched to incorporate a plot where Joe’s expertise in gravy production starts having a mystical healing effect on the many hurting hard cases around him in jail, the movie’s emotive abilities fade noticeably. Seasoned players such as Hugo Weaving and Kieran Darcy-Smith do their part in restoring balance where needed.

As a side note, if this is to be the start of a trend, here’s five other classic Aussie tracks to plonk at the front of the queue for cinematic expansion: Reckless by Australian Crawl, Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel, Wide Open Road by The Triffids, Pub With No Beer by Slim Dusty, and Shaddap You Face by Joe Dolce.

OUT OF SEASON (M)

Guillaume Canet and Alba Rohrwacher in the French romantic drama Out of Season.

Rating: ★★★

General release

This quiet and sincerely heartfelt romantic drama from France won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. However, there are faint parallels to last year’s gorgeous Past Lives that will be relished by those who can’t resist a love story about missed chances and maybe never quite moving on.

Prolific French star Guillaume Canet plays Mathieu, an overly stressed actor who checks into a plush country spa to recharge his batteries. Turns out this lavish joint isn’t far from where his long-cherished ex-girlfriend Alice (a delightful Alba Rohrwacher) now lives. A desire to reconnect and possibly work out where they once went wrong is recognised by both parties.

Though the movie is fated to end in ways that some will find most unsatisfactory, there is an authenticity to the exchanges shared between these two that keeps you hanging on their every word.

Originally published as Lord of the Rings anime prequel The War Of the Rohirrim is only for hardcore Tolkien fans