Synopsis:
As a young student, J.R.R. Tolkien finds love, friendship and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts. These early life experiences soon inspire Tolkien to write the classic fantasy novels “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
If I am being completely transparent, I have never seen The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit trilogies. I know – as a cinephile, I feel like I am committing such a big crime and should call myself a hypocrite. To give myself some credit, I have not been able to devote the time to sit back and watch these super-long movies, though I have heard wonderful things about the films. It is because of those positive reviews that keep me consistently interested in one of the most successful franchises that Hollywood has to offer and why it will always stay relevant on my watchlist.
The same, however, cannot be said for Tolkein.
This upcoming biopic about one of the world’s most popular fantasy novelist was meant to be not only a nod to LOTR fans but also a love letter to the world of literature. It follows along John Ronald Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult) in the middle of World War I. Every now and then, he pauses and takes a moment to remember his childhood and formative years that played a major role in shaping him to be the influential writer that we all know about today. These flashbacks are what the entire movie centers around and allows the audience a glimpse of the obstacles and personal struggles Tolkien had to overcome before marrying the love of his life and reaching any amount of literature success. Thanks to a talented cast, detailed sets, and the warmer tone in the cinematography, it allowed the film to feel very nostalgic as well.
As thoughtful as the effort was, Tolkien still felt uninspired and nothing out of the ordinary. I was disengaged within the first 30 minutes and unfortunately, the painfully slow pacing of the film is to blame. It really doesn’t pick up until the third act and despite that, I still found myself very bored and uninterested. Heck, I even dozed off in the middle of the movie. The younger cast is there to establish the spirit for the rest of the film but to me, I did not 100% buy into their friendship and how it was formed and I wished it could have been more organic. The fantasy imagery that was shown in different parts of the movie was visually pleasing and provided at least some riveting aspect for moviegoers to enjoy.
I will add, as someone who has never seen LOTR, I feel like it would be fair to say that you do not have to rely on the movie series to be able to understand this film. As long as you have a general idea of who Tolkien was as a writer and how influential his novels are to our society, it will give you the foundation you need to be able to follow along with Tolkien’s journey.
I hate to say it but as influential as J. R. R. Tolkien is, this biopic is a disservice to him and fails to capture the magic behind his stories. To quote the LOTR movies, it definitely was not precioussssssss.
My score: ★★½/5
Tolkien will be released in major theaters Friday, May 10
probably at the movies.
