🐴 The Lord of the Rings: The ⚔️War of the Rohirrim

[d4rk3lf]

Early reviews are mixed, but seem mostly positive.

As I said when this was announced.
It's perfect time for business deal like that... I congratulate them for understanding that.
They realized that after Rings of Power, even if they create something really mediocre, it will shine in comparison with Rop.

I'll watch it for sure... and if it's better then mediocre, then great.
I was never much into anime... but ok... I have nothing against it either.

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@All who watched this already
How it compares to... let's say... Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge... which is also anime?
I watched Mortal Kombat, and I like it.
Not because of action sequences, and all that... but they had story going on... characters going on... all correct going on, behind the pure visuals.

So how it compares to that, I'd appreciate someone tells me, who watched both.

Cheers.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

https://gamingnovel.com/the-head-of-the-playstation-the-balance-between-ai-and-games-created-by-people-will-be-a-key-for-the-future-of-the-industry/

The actual video:

Spoiler:
Helm Hammerhand is a wraith 🙄

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

https://gamingnovel.com/the-head-of-the-playstation-the-balance-between-ai-and-games-created-by-people-will-be-a-key-for-the-future-of-the-industry/

The actual video:

Oh boy, no bueno, as a writer and creative, no bueno.


CL

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

https://gamingnovel.com/the-head-of-the-playstation-the-balance-between-ai-and-games-created-by-people-will-be-a-key-for-the-future-of-the-industry/

The actual video:

Yeah, I know. 😜
Post in thread 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim' https://thetolkien.forum/threads/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim.29621/post-621580

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Pretty animation but seems like a crap story

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

Pretty animation but seems like a crap story

When Helm gave leadership to his daughter and went out (spoiler!) I pretty much forfeited my imagination to the predicable story they want to tell.

(Also. PJ, ANOTHER Red head female character??)

CL

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Yeah, not to try and discourage anyone that wants to see it but I'll wait and see it when I dont' have to pay for it.

 

[Halasían]

Yeah, not to try and discourage anyone that wants to see it but I'll wait and see it when I dont' have to pay for it.

That was my motto for the PJ Hobbit bloat. Managed to see the three movies free at early premiere showings due to a wily old hobbit in Brisbane named Peter (not-Jackson) who ran a local Middle Earth club. He had connections.

Alqualisse and I have made War of the Rohirrim a 'date afternoon'. Will head out for lunch, then go to the IMAX for an afternoon showing. Will pay for it once, and if we're paying for it, may as well be IMAX. Alqualisse is a bit sore they stole her OC Freja Fireborn which she came up with back in ... 2016.

 

[Laurë]

Hmmm, I might need to come in as the unpopular opinion because I finally got around to watching the full clip and I really enjoyed it.

The animation isn't great, but luckily the issues seem like a low-fps sort of thing instead of the general stiffness or lack of technical skills I was worried about. In my opinion it's the 'lesser evil', when it comes to not as good animation. And I didn't find the issues distracting.

It felt more genuine to me, at least compared to RoP which had a lot more soullessness to it. Yeah, the story is a little bit predictable, but I could tell this was the direction it would take from the first trailer and am not surprised. I don't mind if the story is simple or tropey as long as it's heartfelt and fun. (Also consider that they may have shown us this clip because it includes easily-guessed plot points and as such is less spoilery, but that may be me overanalyzing things).

At the end of the day, I'm still optimistic and I think I will enjoy it. Knowing me though, I love fantasy as a genre so much that even if it falls flat I'll enjoy it for the fact that's it's my favorite genre anyway. (I mean I had fun with RoP s2, I can enjoy anything it seems 😄)

I also have to say, the line:

Spoiler: line from the clip

"To whom are you pledged?"
"Death."

Is pretty raw lol

 

[Vorondil]

but I'll wait and see it when I don't have to pay for it.

Same. I won't be driving two hours to the nearest cinema, only to be horrifically disappointed.

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

Our first introduction to the soundtrack.

CL

EDIT: in fact, the entire soundtrack is online on Spotify and Apple Music, as of tonight. Done by Stephen Gallagher.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Okay, the actual worse thing that could happen is STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER syndrome.

From early reviews I've so far seen, it doesn't appear she's a Mary Sue.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

the entire soundtrack is online on Spotify and Apple Music

And YouTube, of course. Here's another clip:

 

[Laurë]

From early reviews I've so far seen, it doesn't appear she's a Mary Sue.

I think what Elwing means when they say that Hera could fall into the negative strong female lead trope is not necessarily that she'll be a Mary Sue, but instead she'll have poor characterization and development with the excuse that she's a woman to cover it up.

Being a Mary Sue is definitely one of the main problems with bad female lead's, but Hera could struggle in the narrative and still be poorly written. There are a lot of other 'strong' female lead pitfalls than just being overpowered.

That said, from the 8 minute clip we got, the small amount of her personality and emotions we saw seemed pretty down-to-earth to me, so I still think she could be well written (if on the simpler side of things). She cried and screamed on-screen which is more then some can say.

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

And YouTube, of course. Here's another clip:

I'm hearing a lot of cues from the trilogy soundtrack in this one.

CL

 

[Annatar]

It felt more genuine to me, at least compared to RoP which had a lot more soullessness to it.

Yes, that's how I see it too.

I think what Elwing means when they say that Hera could fall into the negative strong female lead trope is not necessarily that she'll be a Mary Sue, but instead she'll have poor characterization and development with the excuse that she's a woman to cover it up.

Being a Mary Sue is definitely one of the main problems with bad female lead's, but Hera could struggle in the narrative and still be poorly written. There are a lot of other 'strong' female lead pitfalls than just being overpowered.

That said, from the 8 minute clip we got, the small amount of her personality and emotions we saw seemed pretty down-to-earth to me, so I still think she could be well written (if on the simpler side of things). She cried and screamed on-screen which is more then some can say.

Good point.

The 8-minute clip surprised me rather positively because it was quite atmospheric.
It all depends on how well or badly Hera is written and whether she fits into Tolkien's world in a natural way or whether she's more like another fan fiction character that doesn't really fit in with the original. And I'm still confused about the lost Amazon tribe, but let's see if the rumor is really true. The encounters with the eagles and the tentacle-watcher are also rather unnecessary...

I suspect the movie will just be pretty mediocre. One third pure Tolkien atmosphere, one third halfway suitable fan fiction by Philippa Boyens, who would like to see some kind of Eowyn in a leading role, and one third questionable nonsense. My prediction: after seeing the movie, you'll say: nice, but not really outstanding, but it could have been worse.

 

[Laurë]

The encounters with the eagles and the tentacle-watcher are also rather unnecessary...

Yes, while I'm mostly optimistic for this film because I love the medium, some of the extra Tolkien 'references' they've showed so far have felt somewhat forced. Especially with that one clip of the Oliphant they keep showing, it's like they're saying 'hey look Tolkien fans we're do the THING look it's the THING,' If you know what I mean. Same with the eagles and the hints at a lotr-setup related plotline in the clip.

I strongly disliked the meeting of Galadriel, Saruman, Elrond and Gandalf in the first Hobbit movie because their discussion about the necromancer and the rise of 'a bigger threat' was so clearly a desperate attempt to pull in lotr fans.

As always, I'll say that that's a worse case scenario and I'm hoping this film will be at least subtle about the marketing grabs, instead of shoving them down our throats like the Hobbit did. I'm forever optimistic 🫡 (and by forever I mean the next few days until the film comes out 🤣)

 

[Annatar]

some of the extra Tolkien 'references' they've showed so far have felt somewhat forced.

The strange thing is that the movie producers believe they have to include “memberberries” to satisfy the old fans. However, the opposite is the case. After the Hobbit, this also went totally wrong with the Amazon series, where original quotes were said in completely inappropriate ways by other characters. Or where certain characters were inserted in inappropriate places at inappropriate times, such as Bombadil.
They seem to think that if you copy and paste anything from the books, the fans will be happy. But the fans recognize very quickly when something is inconsistent, in the wrong place and too intentional.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I'm hearing a lot of cues from the trilogy soundtrack in this one.

The composer worked with Howard Shore on the soundtrack for the Hobbit movies, so it's not surprising.

 

[Laurë]

The strange thing is that the movie producers believe they have to include “memberberries” to satisfy the old fans. However, the opposite is the case. After the Hobbit, this also went totally wrong with the Amazon series, where original quotes were said in completely inappropriate ways by other characters. Or where certain characters were inserted in inappropriate places at inappropriate times, such as Bombadil.
They seem to think that if you copy and paste anything from the books, the fans will be happy. But the fans recognize very quickly when something is inconsistent, in the wrong place and too intentional.

Exactly! It is very strange, you'd think they'd understand that as fans we want to see:
A-the work you're promising to base your movie on adapted well and respectfully,
B-New additions or changes to the canon when it's needed and done in the spirit of the original work.

I think s2 of RoP actually walks a very interesting line where it does this both terribly and alright at different parts. For example I think that Annatar's line to Celebrimbor about how if he made the rings he would "no longer be remembered as just the last scion of Fëanor," was in really good taste. You could see it as name-dropping a well known character to get long time fans more engaged, but I thought it fit the scene really well and helped inform Celebrimbor's character.

In the end, it is a strategy that works--my ears certainly perked up when I heard Fëanor's name because I'm more of a Silmarillion fan these days then a Lotr fan. But it only ever works if your reference isn't forced or out of place. Annatar mentioned Fëanor because he was talking to Fëanor's grandson, if he had said it to anyone other then Celebrimbor or maybe Galadriel it would have felt just as cheap as the other references in the show.