Review of Tolkien (2019) by Ginak — 12 May 2019

An uninspired bio-pic about JRR Tolkein that provides all the facts in pleasant detail without shedding any light on Tolkein’s genius for creating myths that caught the popular imagination and inspired some brilliant films by director Peter Jackson.

So, in this sense, the movie was a total failure. On the other hand, the actors were excellent, especially Nicholas Hytner, who was very likable, if not particularly witty or charming or driven. His Tolkein spent very little time actually writing (consider the hundreds of pages JRRT supposedly generated) or thinking about his characters.

He is shown in the trenches during the First World War, but he seemed to have spent almost the entire time in a quiet corner with Trench Fever. It was hard to believe he wrote anything, especially inspired novels.

For me, the fault was with the script since the cinematography was beautiful, all the actors were excellent, and the direction told the story pleasantly and efficiently. This film should have been a lot more interesting than it was.