Tolkien

Tolkien: Not quite the romantic warrior professor but certainly all three of the preceding in part. Tolkien had a tough early life, falling into impecunity, his mother had to move with J.R.R. (Harry Gilby as the young Tolkien) and his brother from a rural idyll to the satanic mills and factories of Birmingham, an early model for Mordor no doubt. Then getting excessively MisLit, his mother (Laura Donnelly) dies and he is fostered by an elderly rich lady and along with his brother gets scholarships to an exclusive school. His family's benefactor, always working behind the scenes, is Father Morgan (Colm Meaney), benevelovent but steely in his determination when Tolkien's romance with Edith threatens his chances of getting an Oxford scholarship. Morgan may have been the inspiration for Gandalf.

At school Tolkien founds a Fellowship with other artistically minded students bur the Great War will wreak havoc on that brotherhood. The film cuts between Tolkien's earlier life and the trenches of the Somme. This is literally Hell, a real Mordor. The adult J.R.R .(Nicholas Hoult) is on a (perhaps allegorical) quest to the Front to find one of the Fellowship who is missing in action. He passes through mud holes full of bodies and fever stricken imagines that a german with a flamethrower is a dragon. The film suggests many inspirations for his books, Edith (Lily Collins) as an Elven Princess, his mother's reading tales of dragons when he was a boy, the War, his schooldays. A great influence on him was the philologist Professor Wright (Derek Jacobi) who won him over to the study of Old English and Gothic languages. Directed by Dome Karukoski from a screenplay by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford, Tolkien is an engaging account of the earlier life of the scholar and author. 8/10

Tolkien (3.5 out of 5 stars).

Tolkien is a beautifully done biographical drama film about a famous fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien who went on to write The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series. It touched the base when him and his brother lost their mother to some illness. J.R.R. then went to a school where he met a few other teenagers that he did not get along with. Until, eventually they become close friends. There bond grows stronger over the years and they inspire each other to make a difference. He meets Edith (Lily Collins) who he falls in love with. He gets separated when he is drafted into World War 1.

The plot is pretty decent for a biographical film about J.R.R. Tolkien. The movie was a bit slow in the second act with Tolkien and his fellowship friends talking about stories. It could have been better handled. The plot is inspirational. Tolkien and his friends no matter how often they fight with each other, they will always be brothers. Tolkien and Edith fall deeply in love until they go on different paths. Years later, they come across each other again.

Nicholas Hoult is great as Tolkien. Lily Collins was also good as Edith. The music score by Thomas Newman is beautifully done. The direction delivers the eerie tone during the World War 1 scenes. Tolkien suffering from an illness. And trying to find his friends. When they are attacked. He witnesses most of his man killed in combat. Which he feels like he is isolated and he starts seeing visions of dragons out of flamethrowers. Or the aftermath smoke from the explosions looking like a dark lord Sauron. Which he uses his experience to write a fantasy story. While his one focus theme is the journey that everyone goes too and the experiences they face.

Overall, Tolkien is a pretty fair film. The plot is a bit inspirational and emotional with the journey Tolkien experiences. Sadly, the film suffers from an uneven pace in the second act of the movie. The performances and music score is fantastic.

I am a huge Tolkien fan and after reading some of the critics reviews I was a bit wary of seeing this film. I do not know which film the "critics" have seen but from their conclusions I do not recognise this film. I have literally just left the cinema, I found it so moving that I found myself in floods of tears. Beautifully acted, and set against the backdrop of WW1 the sense of loss and the harrowing reality of what war is came across in such depth. I loved the focus on language and the weight it can carry, It made me feel that words are in their own right living creatures. This is one of the few films that has not just entered my brain but is also in my heart. Please go and see this film whether you are a Tolkien fan or not, it is truly captivating.

A story as romantic as biographical of the first three decades of J.R.R. Tolkien, who is best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion: his childhood and adolescence just before the first world war and his decisive encounters (Edith Bratt who will become his wife, the professor Joseph Wright who will turn his mentor and help him to to enter to the University of Oxford, and his friends with whom he will form a brotherhood, or even a fellowship). The analogies with his novels are obvious: the Ringwraiths a.k.a. the Nazgûl between the German trenches of the Bay of the Somme, or even Sauron on his black horse and his huge sword. The film portrays also the manifold sources of inspiration such as Nordic cultures / languages or operas like Der Ring des Nibelungen composed by Richard Wagner. The photography, the Computer-Generated Imagery and the costumes are excellent. The movie reflects reality more or less closely (the audience shall then dissociate the real from the fantasy) but is globally poetic. 6/7 of 10.

The film is satisfying for the most part - I just wished there was another hour tagged onto the ending which would show us how he created some of his legendarium.

The film mainly focuses on his friendships and romance with Edith in school - very little of the war was shown. Also showed his relationships with a couple of his teachers.

You will easily see in the film how things connected to his books - hidden references as well obvious ones.

Very good movie if you like biographies, romances and/or Tolkien.

8/10