For the literary fans of JRR Tolkien, this film will serve as a very exciting chapter of your fandom; when you get to see a character called Sam you'll be sure to gasp with glee - and let me assure you they really emphasise his name, along with a myriad of other moments just like it. You can’t miss them. They know who this movie is for, because it sure as hell won't be appealing to anyone else.
- Jess Fenton

Read Jess' full article...
https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-tolkien-lord-of-the-rings-and-hobbit-fans-this-ones-for-you

The film was visually pleasing with its beautiful cinematography and costumes, rather a calm and at times moving watch. I am not sure they got all the facts right as it seems to me that Tolkien and Edith were married before he was sent to the front. I liked how their budding relationship was presented, and the scene where they compose a story of the cellar door together was quite memorable, though I am not sure it was based on actual events from Tolkien's life. The film shows the friendship with T.C.B.S. and the other boys are presented as really likeable characters, there is the spirit of companionship and fellowship among others, though Tolkien comes across as the most introspective of them and a bit distanced from their more merry behaviour. The war is presented in an interesting way in that it mixes the realistic depiction of the cruelty and brutality of war with Tolkien's imagination. I only wonder how he survived running through the battlefield with not helmet or weapons to protect him - though it seems that it might have been his fevered dream as Edith told him that he couldn't have seen Geoffrey, who died some time before. The scene when Tolkien discusses the poetry of his late friend with him mum is also quite poignant. I did not know much about the publication of these poems or the fact that Tolkien wrote the foreword to it, so it is definitely something I would like to check out. The final scenes with Tolkien telling his whole family the bare bones of what is to become "The Hobbit" is also a nice touch. The film emphasises not only the T.C.B.S. but the influence of the important women in his life on Tolkien's works. Tolkien's mum Mabel is on the screen for a short time but she shows a very charismatic personality, without her Tolkien wouldn't have been interested in the mythology he loved both as a writer and as a professor. Edith in turn encourages him to write and prompts him to develop his works by asking him creative questions. Without these two women, we would have perhaps never had Middle-Earth at all.

I'll admit I had some interest when I heard that a Tolkien biopic was in the works, but now that I've actually seen it, I'm very unsure about who was supposed to want this movie? It's just an unbearably clichéd biopic that makes sure it ticks all the boxes a biopic for some reason must. I don't understand how this formula gets forced in to the real-life story of every person who has ever lived a time that was put to screenplay. It's so boring, and it's so **done**. Who was crying out for a movie that examined famed author J. R. R. Tolkien when he... went from mildly unpopular at fancy pants school, to mildly popular at fancy pants school? Not when he was writing the most famous fantasy series of all time. Not when he was at war (or at least not more than about a cumulative 6 minutes of flashforwards at war). Not his relationship with C. S. Lewis. Not even about going to codebreaking school. Nope, a young Tolkien whose not very likeable and rather lofty for someone who supposedly comes from such a poor background. It does touch on some references to his future writing, adding a little bit of a fantastical element, but it's **so** afraid of this, its best element, that really only seems to imply that old mate Jirt wouldn't have come up with a single idea for Lord of the Rings unless some sort of external stimulus for it fell in his lap. Another biopic cliché.

_Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product._