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| Source: Imdb |
This pseudo-Biopic about my
favourite fantasy author, JRR Tolkien, turn out pretty much like I expected:
kind of meh. It wasn’t a bad film by any means, but it lacked a story arch that
I could follow and that would create any kind of tension. The story-telling
appeared rather passive. Instead of guiding the plot, the camera seemed to be
more of an observer, which failed to give the film much of a direction. The
script seemed a bit all over the place, not taking enough time on the
supporting cast and involving unnecessary time jumps that seemed a bit non-sequitur. I
never even learned the names of Tolkien’s three friends. The only one I could
distinguish was that guy from The OA who is an absolutely terrific actor and
totally deserves to be on the big screen. Obviously, I also love Nicholas Hoult
who brought the stature of Tolkien to the film. I was also happy to see Colm
Meaney here.
Visually,
this was a clean period piece, though the images of war were a bit too much.
The incomprehensible cruelty of that time should stay in the past. The
vision-like stuff Tolkien was seeing was easily explained away by his fever
dreams and his extremely active imagination, but it wouldn’t really make much
sense to an audience without any background knowledge of his works. Indeed, this film seemed
to require an awful lot of knowledge about the mythology and life of Tolkien,
and though I enjoyed the little touches and nods, I though it was more fan
service than anything.
Thomas
Newman delivered a moving score to go with it all.
The
verdict: 3/5.
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