Review

Film Review: War of the Rohirrim

/ Peter Martuneac / 2 Comments

After a long wait, I finally got around to seeing the latest media entry into J.R.R. Tolkien’s world of Middle-Earth this Christmas season, the animated film ‘War of the Rohirrim’. My short, spoiler-free review is that the film was adequate. I kept my expectations low as the release date approached, having learned my lesson from Amazon’s ‘Rings of Power’, and that ended up being the correct choice.

The film is fine. No better and no worse than that. Now, on to the full review!

Spoilers ahead

The film is your typical high-fantasy fare: plenty of swordplay, orcs and other monsters make appearances, and a bit of magic. Hera, daughter of Helm Hammerhand, King of Rohan, is propositioned by her father’s rival, a warlord who seeks the throne, to marry his son. Insults are exchanged, the rival is accidentally killed by the king in a fistfight, and the man’s son, Wulf, vows vengeance.

(By the way, I will note that agreeing to a fistfight with a man who is literally called Hammerhand was probably not this villain’s wisest decision)

You can probably guess the rest of the plot. Some have always seen this level of predictability in Tolkien’s stories and any works derived from his writing as a weakness, but there’s something to be said for the simplicity of it. Not every piece of media we consume needs to be a series of curveballs. Is it nice to be surprised sometimes? Sure, but as we’ve seen with Game of Thrones, eventually you’ve turned convention on its head so many times that the twists become tiresome and expected.

So yeah. War ensues, lives are lost, families are broken, but Hera eventually leads her father’s people to prevail with a little bit of guts, a little ingenuity, and a healthy dose of high-fantasy magic.

What did I like about the movie? For one, the music was excellent. It always set the scene nicely and helped keep me in the story. The voice acting was also terrific. Brian Cox plays Helm Hammerhand the King and stole the show, as far as I’m concerned. As a matter of fact, seeing his name in the casting was what got me excited for this movie in the first place, over a year ago.

Miranda Otto, who played Theoden King’s niece Eowyn in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, served as the narrator. I really appreciated that nod to the original trilogy and hearing her familiar voice first was like a warm welcome by an old friend as we returned to Middle-Earth.

Speaking of returns, the opening shot of the film has one of my all-time favorite transitions. It begins with live footage of a flyover of a hilly meadow and a rushing stream, possibly archived from the original trilogy, and as we get closer to ground the picture subtly swaps to the animated version. You almost don’t catch it, and it is beautiful.

Everything else was either fine or a tad disappointing. The animation was inconsistent: at times breathtaking and at others a little sloppy. One fear I had going into the film was that Hera would be your typical ‘Mary Sue’ character, inexplicably fighting off entire hordes of orcs on her own. Mercifully, she only engages in direct combat with enemy soldiers twice, and neither encounter crosses over into the absurd.

Some of the relationships seemed ill-defined, especially between Hera and Wulf, the main antagonist. They give almost no background to these two characters who are supposed to be childhood friends, so the emotional climax of the film doesn’t hit like the director intended.

Finally, I know I said I appreciated the nod to Peter Jackson’s original trilogy by bringing in Miranda Otto to voice the narrator, but there is such a thing as too many nods. Some of the dialogue for Helm Hammerhand was ripped directly from Theoden King in The Two Towers or The Return of the King, with only a word or two changed.

Come on, folks. You’re writing what’s supposed to be an impassioned speech and call to arms just before a battle. Are you really going to take this opportunity to plagiarize yourselves?

Also, Saruman the White is introduced at the end of the film, which was delightful, but moments later Gandalf the Grey is then mentioned. Apparently, he heard of Hera’s telling that she overheard some Mordor orcs discussing their master’s quest for magical rings, and he’s sent a letter requesting that she visit him.

This is wholly out of character for a guy known as the Wandering Wizard. When Gandalf seeks information, he does not send letters requesting that people come to him. He hops on his horse and arrives suddenly to demand an audience. I suspect they chose this route as a way to write Hera out of history. In Tolkien’s writings, she is not even given a name but she was made the main character for this story. How then to make it so that this heroine is not sung of in the annals of Rohan’s great battles? By giving the crown to her cousin, sending Hera off to meet Gandalf in a distant land, where, according to the narrator, she remained wild and free to the end of her days.

There’s more I could discuss but this post has already run long. All in all, as I said above, this film was fine. If you’re a Tolkien fanatic like myself, I highly recommend watching it, but only once. I won’t be adding this to my collection of Blu-rays.

Rings of Power: Season 2 Review

/ Peter Martuneac / 3 Comments

I was a week late but managed to avoid any spoilers online for Rings of Power‘s season finale, which I think is no small feat. However, I almost wish I’d seen a spoiler or two because the finale was deeply disappointing. Overall, this season was much better than the debut season last year, which suffered from poor writing and odd pacing. Then the finale came and it fell right back into those old problems.

(Spoilers ahead)

I’ve mentioned on my Twitter account before that I don’t like how Numenor is portrayed in this show, even as I accept that it’s largely due to the compressed timeline compared to the books. The decay and fall of Numenor took place over many centuries and obviously that won’t work when trying to make a show about all this. I get it, and I accept that.

What I refuse to accept is the infantile portrayal of Numenorians. In the previous episode, the rightful queen, Tar-Miriel, had passed what is essentially an ancient witch trial: jump into the sea and if the sea monster down there doesn’t eat you, then you have the Valar’s favor. The Numenorians in attendance cheer and accept her as their queen.

Fast-forward to this episode and Ar-Pharazon, the usurper of the throne, hands a committee of citizens called The Faithful a letter that says Tar-Miriel is in league with the enemy Sauron and based on this she is to be arrested. We never get to read this letter, all we get is the character saying, “Sauron?” after he glances at it for a second.

Worse yet, nobody questions the letter at all. Not one person wonders if maybe, just maybe, this convenient admission of betrayal was fabricated by a man who stands to lose everything if Tar-Miriel is installed on the throne.

The Numenorians are basically a race of demi-gods. They have seen the Valar, their very island was raised from the depth of the sea as a gift from the Valar for standing with the Elves in their war against Morgoth. But in Rings of Power they are stupid, fickle, cowardly, and worst of all, boring. Almost every scene set in Numenor is a colossal bore.

Which segues nicely into my next problem with the show. As aforementioned, I can deal with compressed timelines because it’s a necessity. But things wouldn’t have to be so compressed if the showrunners didn’t waste so much time on useless characters who add nothing. Isildur is given a short-lived love interest who added nothing to his character development. Both Theo and the elf warrior Arondir lost all use as characters when Theo’s mother, the only thing tying them together, was written off the show after Season 1, yet they receive vast amounts of screen time.

And the writing, which had been so much better, was just atrocious. If you’re going to shoehorn in not one but two names of the story (Rings of Power and Lord of the Rings), don’t put it in the same sentence. It wasn’t a cool moment as intended; it was just awkward. Galadriel also had a really dumb ‘go screw yourself’ line delivered to Sauron near the end of the episode that made no sense in the moment. And in another moment, one of the faithless Numenorians, instead of artfully deceiving Isildur about the state of affair back home, immediately revealed his evil intentions. What could have been a cliff-hanger of sorts was thrown away.

The storyline at Khazad-dum and the struggles the dwarves face is by far the best of the show, and I really have no complaints here. The casting is excellent, the sets and costumes are gorgeous, and the writing is brilliant.

In a climactic scene in the finale, when Durin faces his father the King who has been driven mad by the ring he received from Sauron, Durin tearfully says (I’m paraphrasing), “Remember when I was a wee lad and we would arm wrestle? You would let me push your hand down sometimes and I would think that maybe I had finally grown strong enough to beat you. Then in an instant, you’d flatten my hand back down. And I’d be reminded that no one and nothing was stronger than my father. Be strong for me again, Father. Take off the ring.”

Moments later, as the King prepares to sacrifice himself in combat with the awoken Balrog, he turns to Durin and says, “I never let you push my hand down, my son. Not for a second. You are stronger than you know.”

As both a son and a father myself, that really got to me. I grew up the same way, believing that no one and nothing in the world was stronger than my dad. Even well into my adulthood, when my dad had grown into his sixties and I had surely become the stronger man by then, I wasn’t sure I’d want to get in a fist fight with him. He was Superman to me as a kid, my own Man of Steel, and that image lasted for decades.

Sauron himself has also been a bright spot in the series. Charlie Vickers is brilliant as the corrupted Maiar, known in his deceitfully fair form as Annatar, the gift-giver. Vickers masterfully projects a subtle, malevolent aura, straddling the line between good acting and corny showmanship. It would have been so easy, I think, for a lesser actor to fail in this titanic role and come across as a Snidely Whiplash type of villain, but Vickers has nailed it, stealing every scene he’s in with a wicked gravitas. A sly look here, a carefully worded lie there, convincing others to do his bidding all while they believe it was their own idea, it all gives us just a glimpse of the unfathomable evil that simmers just below his surface.

There’s more I could say but this post has already run long and I wouldn’t ask you to surrender more of your time reading my complaints. I’ll conclude by saying that if there is a Season 3, I’m going to watch it. There was enough good from Season 2 to make me believe that the showrunners have at least a faint idea of what they’re doing. Their biggest crime of this season was, in my opinion, wasting our time with useless characters.

But man, that finale was a massive killjoy. It’ll take a while to rinse that foul taste from my mouth.

12 Strong: Film Review

/ Peter Martuneac / 4 Comments

I don’t typically watch movies about war, not anymore. It was one of my preferred genres as a 17 and 18 year old. Movies such as Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers, Letters From Iwo Jima. I’d seen them several times.

I then joined the Marines and participated in a war. Over in Afghanistan, I experienced the combat I’d only seen in movies and in video games, and that completely killed any taste I had for the genre. I can count on one hand the number of war movies I’ve watched since then and have fingers left over. I decided to break with tradition this week and watch 12 Strong, and that ended up being a good (and bad) decision.

This movie called to me in a way others just don’t, probably because it’s about the very war I fought in. Most modern war films are based on experiences from Iraq. Afghanistan, the new ‘forgotten war’, doesn’t get much attention. Perhaps because it wasn’t the kind of war Americans like to hear about very much, with its guerilla warfare, invisible enemies, and precious few glorious triumphs.

The movie is based on the true story of ODA 595 (Operational Detachment Alpha), a group of 12 Special Forces soldiers who were the first American troops into Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attacks. They are assigned what is considered by many a suicide mission: to link up with an Afghan warlord and help him drive the Taliban out of a key stronghold in northern Afghanistan. These soldiers aided the Afghans in combat, both directly with their rifles and indirectly by calling in massive airstrikes.

Because they were alone in a hostile country, these Special Forces soldiers got around the same way many Afghans did at the time: on horseback. Thus was born their legendary nickname, the horse soldiers.

The movie unfolds in a fairly typical, predictable manner, and in that respect it wasn’t terribly good. There are no real surprises here. What I did enjoy was the overall accuracy and true to life portrayals of military life. The Special Forces soldiers who were actually part of the mission were brought on to advise the team, which was obvious to me as I watched it. The lingo, the mannerisms, the behavior, it all clicked. I said, “These are definitely grunts.”

The acting was also superb. Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Geoff Stults, Rob Riggle (who portrayed the soldier he once actually worked for during his time in the military), Michael Pena, and William Fichtner in particular all did amazing jobs bringing these real heroes to life on the silver screen, and the rest of the cast deserves a bow, too.

Navid Negahban as General Dostum was magnificent. The final lines for his character, when he speaks of Afghanistan as the graveyard of empires, really tied the whole movie together. There are no right choices here. This is Afghanistan, graveyard of many empires. Today you are our friend; tomorrow you are our enemy.

But I think what makes this movie about the Afghanistan war work is that it’s one of the few battles in the entire war that Americans would like to see in a movie: clearly drawn battle lines, enemies flying their flags vs good guys flying their flags, infantry and cavalry charges against artillery, and an ultimate triumph, a flag-raising over a defeated enemy. As aforementioned, such moments in Afghanistan were few and far between.

I recommend this one to any fans of war movies, or to folks who are interested in learning more about the war in Afghanistan. For a war film, the cursing isn’t bad and there’s no gory or over-the-top violent deaths, but of course there are killings by gunfire and explosions, and so the particularly squeamish may want to pass.

I myself enjoyed it, but all it did was confirm that war movies are no longer for me, especially not movies about Afghanistan. To sit there and watch the evil deeds of these Taliban terrorists, murdering a woman for daring to teach girls how to read, executing a man for listening to music, stoning another woman to death for not wearing her veil. Make no mistake, the US military may not be a perfect organization, and we’ve made our own mistakes, but the Taliban are pure evil. They hate you, whoever you are, and would slit your throat without a second thought.

And now those wicked men are back in charge. They won. Evil defeated good, darkness swallowed the light. It’s like if The Lord of the Rings ended with Frodo captured by a Nazgul and the Ring returns to Sauron.

It kills me to admit it, to know the most primal, visceral act I ever engaged in, the act of war, was for naught. We won every battle, but those bastards won the war. So much blood spilt, bombs dropped and bullets fired, lives lost and families ripped apart, all of it, for nothing. Nothing has changed. The Taliban rule, and the Afghan people suffer.

I don’t believe I’ll be watching any more such movies. It’s just too painful for me, and it left me depressed for a few days. It took me until today to finally write up a review though I watched the film on Tuesday. But again, for the rest of you, I do recommend it. It’s a story that deserves to be told and to be heard.

Enlisted: Movie Review

/ Peter Martuneac / 2 Comments

Okay, it’s not a movie but titling this post as ‘TV Show Review’ felt weird.

I was reminded the other day of a TV show I’d watched about nine years ago called ‘Enlisted’. As you can imagine, it’s a military-themed sitcom. It’s available on Hulu, so I decided to re-watch it to see how it aged.

I was in the waning weeks of my own military enlistment when Enlisted premiered back in 2014, and with little else to do except await my inevitable return to civilian life, I tuned in. Sadly, I was disappointed with the first episode. As is all too common with media based on the military, so much was done wrong. Too many soldiers were on a first-name basis, soldiers were walking around outside without their caps, salutes were made without caps, and the dirtbag soldier walked around with his shirt unbuttoned and sleeves pulled up.

Look, there are definitely a lot of those types of servicemembers in the military. Guys who are disgruntled and don’t give a damn for military decorum. But the unbuttoned shirt was just way too far over the top. That dude would have been absolutely destroyed by the first NCO to cross his path. The worst I ever saw in my days as far as a bad uniform was one that was a little wrinkly and had a couple stains, and even that was shockingly offensive.

I decided to give the show one more episode, and I’m glad I did because the showrunners must have received all the same feedback I’ve just listed here. Things were tightened up, uniform rules were followed better, and soldiers started using ranks and last names. Sure, there were still problems, but it’s a sitcom. It’s not supposed to be too serious.

I’m glad I stuck around because once the show hit its stride, it became really enjoyable! It was at times funny, other times heartwarming, and they even had the guts to delve into sensitive, touchy subjects like PTSD in war veterans or how much harder a female soldier has to work to get the same respect as her male peer.

Unfortunately the series was cancelled after just one season. FOX cited the poor ratings the show got, but in the opinions of many fans, myself included, this was because they gave it a death sentence of a timeslot: Friday night at 9:30. A lot of people are either settling into bed at that point or going out with friends.

But I can’t do anything about that now. All I can do is give it a re-watch on Hulu almost a decade later, and I’m happy to report that it’s just as good as I remembered it to be. The characters are relatable and likeable, especially Keith David as the Command Sergeant Major. There’s a dry sense of wit in the dialogue to go along with the instances of low-brow humor. There’s even an episode where the soldiers have to play a flag-football game against a bunch of Marines, who are depicted as a bunch of jacked up, meathead jocks, and it was beautifully done.

Overall, I can highly recommend this show to civilians and veterans alike. All 13 episodes are available on Hulu, so it’s “binge-able” to use the kids’ lingo. If you watch it, let me know and tell me what you think of it!

Rings of Power: A Spoiler-Free Review

/ Peter Martuneac / 2 Comments

Long-time readers of this blog know that I am a complete nerd for The Lord of the Rings. I’ve read the trilogy numerous times, including The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and many of the histories of Middle-Earth written by Tolkien.

So when it was announced years ago that Amazon would be producing a show based on Tolkien’s world, I was immediately hyped. And last night, I finally got to return to Middle-Earth! It was a long expected return, and definitely worth the wait.

As the title says, you won’t find any spoilers here. This is a show you need to experience for yourself, and fast because I’m sure that by Monday morning it will be impossible to miss spoilers online. All you’ll get here for now are my impressions of the show.

Reports have said that Amazon has spent over $1 billion on this show. Yes, billion with a ‘b’. And so far that money appears to be well spent. I’ve heard complaints online about cheap sets, horrible CGI, and bad costumes, but I didn’t see any of that. The sets looked great, the CGI was barely noticeable, and the costumes? They were amazing, especially the orcs.

Holy cow, the orcs! The last time we saw orcs was in The Hobbit, when many of the creatures were pure CGI. In Rings of Power, the orcs are once again played by actors in costume and make-up, and they are terrifying. Stunning. They look like monsters created in darkness by a power of pure hatred and spite, exactly as they’re supposed to be.

The music was wonderful, just as always in a movie based on Tolkien’s work. Howard Shore, the composer for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit returned again, only for the show’s theme song, but you can absolutely hear his influence on the rest of the soundtrack. Gorgeous, haunting, intense, it’s everything.

Thus far the casting decisions seem to have been done well. I read a review that cast aspersions on the casting of Morfydd Clark as Galadriel and Robert Aramayo as Elrond, calling them ‘miscast’. I don’t get that feeling at all. Clark plays a majestic yet fierce Galadriel, merely a younger, more emotional version of Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel. And Aramayo’s Elrond is thoughtful, wise, and always calculating. Again, a faithful homage to Hugo Weaving’s Elrond but with a younger twist (Rings of Power takes place approximately 7,000 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings after all, a long time even for Elves and they can and do change after the passing of ages).

The fighting scenes were good, not over-the-top or silly as in The Hobbit. The dialogue is fantastic, and changes tonally between the races: when the Harfoots (distant ancestors of hobbits) speak, it’s a very plain, country-bumpkin kind of talking, dwarves speak with a Highland accent, speaking loudly and boastfully, while the Elves speak softly, thoughtfully, using old-fashioned words and sentence structures with a royal British accent when speaking English, though they also speak their native tongue Quenya, as well.

Last night was the premiere of the first two episodes, both an hour long. By the end of the second one, I was not quite as engaged as I had been when I started, and I’ve seen some people say that the first two episodes can get a bit heavy with exposition (I kind of agree), but I owe that more to the fact it was 11:15pm and I’d been awake since 5 that morning.

Either way, I’m looking forward to Episode 3! If you have an Amazon Prime account or someone who will let you borrow it, I highly highly recommend watching Rings of Power, whether you’re a bona fide Tolkien nerd or not! Don’t miss out!