Tolkien was a genius. That's all you need to know. Not having the best start in life and having to cope with the horrors of life in the trenches it is even more incredible that he survived to become one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. That is Tolkien. The film however is a different beast and whilst an entirely watchable and credible movie, we'll acted and well written, it's just not that interesting. Not to say Tolkien's life was boring, far from it. You just have this overwhelming desire to be watching the fantasies inside his head that pepper the movie more than the biopic that is this film. It does however paint a picture of privileged classes and their education in the early 1900s that our American friends will find most quaint. In summary a reasonable film and a story that needed to be told, but it never really gets going. A remarkable brain inside a less than remarkable film.
Review of Tolkien
