Tolkien came out today. I had been eagerly awaiting its release, and it Is here in Austin. My significant other and I saw it this afternoon and while I expected it to be good, it far exceeded what I hoped for. It’s about J.R.R. Tolkien’s early life, his time at Oxford, the outbreak of World War One, his tumultuous experiences there, and the first years after his return from the Battle of the Somme. The Somme, for those unfamiliar with the First World War, was the most horrific of a war filled with horrific battles. The movie is great. You will understand Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and other, lesser known works, better than you could have dreamed after watching this. How his early life experiences influenced his two most famous novels. I first read the Hobbit in the mid-‘60’s, and then sought out the Lord of the Rings not long after. Reading them, I would never have guessed at Tolkien’s background. His Oxford education? What he studied there? It’s obvious in his work, when you think about it. It’s the rest of his early life that surprised me. I can’t imagine Tolkien being better. It is superb. If it is not nominated for Best Picture, and the actor playing Tolkien for Best Actor, I will be astonished. See it when you get a chance, whether you are a fan of his work, or not. 10/10. It deserves something higher, but I guess that’s as far as we go.
this is a great review, honestly. I've seen some bad and iffy reviews so far, which was disappointing to me, I had been looking forward to this as well. glad to hear you liked it so much, I'll probably see it in the theaters which I almost never do. thanks Deck.
I’ll be looking forward to hearing what you think of it, Os. We saw it in a really good theatre, which it deserves, in my opinion. Good sound and projection. Parts of it are beautiful. At times, it’s like you are within Tolkien’s imagination. Thanks for the compliment. I wrote it not long after I got back. I usually don’t start threads, but this film inspired me.
I haven’t heard that and I would be surprised. Two members of the family have very small roles in the film. We sat and watched the credits, and there they were. They had the Tolkien name, but I don’t know the relationship. It’s likely that the Tolkien estate had approval over the script. I’ve read both novels several times over the years, so I freely admit to having an emotional attachment to the author’s work. Jackson’s version of The Hobbit was a deep disappointment. His Lord of the Rings was well done, I thought, but for the life of me, I’ll never understand why he had to put Elves in the battle for Helm’s Deep. He didn’t need to. This film? I’m sure there had to be some license taken with his life story, but it all fit, at least for us. My suggestion would be to put aside preconceptions of the man’s early life and submerge yourself into a truly excellent film. It all rang true. I’ll add that I’m planning to see it again soon with our daughter, who lives in Austin. If she hasn’t seen it first, of course. She’s read the novels and is a fan of fantasy and science fiction. She’ll be 28 later this month. I was lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time with her and our son while they were growing up, and I made sure that they developed a love of reading fiction for pleasure. It stuck with both of them, which pleases me greatly. She’ll love this movie.
I watched this yesterday and really enjoyed it. Great look, pacing, acting and score.The film had no license to portray anything from his books, but there are several terrific allusions to Middle Earth characters scattered about, including a shadowy Morgoth sighting early in the film. Nicholas Hoult, who played Tolkien, said in an interview that the estate preemptively made that statement distancing themselves from the movie—that they hadn’t actually seen it. Im pretty sure they have never been happy with any of the adaptations, so not a surprise if they in fact hate this too.
He and the co-writers were stuck on the idea of making Arwen a warrior princess who fights with her man. Fan outcry convinced the producers that having Arwen fight was stupid and should be cut out, but they'd already done a bunch of filming of Arwen's group fighting at Helm's Deep, so they shot a few scenes of Haldir replacing her as the leader to salvage the footage.
I’m very glad you bumped this. I avoided reviews, etc., before we went to see it, and after some of the reaction from a couple of members to my review (who hadn’t seen the film), I looked into the reviews and the family’s reaction to the movie. I found what you discovered, which was that those who wrote the missive condemning the film hadn’t seen it. Two of Tolkien’s great-grandchildren have small roles in Tolkien. I saw them in the credits while thinking about the end of the flick in the theatre. One was “second soldier,” and I can’t recall what the other relative played. Could have been a walk-on. Apparently they weren’t disturbed by the screenplay. As for the controversy of the Elves at Helm’s Deep, I still think it was completely unnecessary and a distraction. I’m far more disturbed by Jackson’s abomination, his trilogy of The Hobbit, which I’ve read at least half a dozen times. Good lord, what a dark, cocked up mess. It has little resemblance to the novel, and was far too long. The novel was vastly “lighter” in tone, and quite funny at times. I honestly don’t know what Jackson was thinking. I think Samuel L. could have done a better job. ;-)
Yea, well, I still don't like it. Helms Deep holding relied on the strength of men! (and a couple others and whatever Gandalf is )
Well, yeah, I agree. When Tolkien says there was a Last Alliance of Elves and Men, he $#!%ing means it was the Last Alliance. Not "the last alliance except for that one time...". One of the things the filmmakers were sloppy on. I suspect the treatment of Tauriel in the Hobbit movies is what they wanted Arwen to be the first time around.
Agreed. I liked The book the Hobbit more than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I know that I am in a minority. I enjoyed the first Hobbit movie a lot. I disliked the second. I hated the third.
I also enjoy the book Hobbit more than the book LOTR. I truly enjoy the relatively straightforward high fantasy tale involving goblins, dwarves, elves, men, trolls, dragons, wizards, treasure etc... etc. There is just a lot more to the LOTR. Which I still enjoy of course but for me, the Hobbit is just a straightforward, enjoyable high fantasy story. (Meant for children of course, so maybe that's why I like it. It's on my level. ) I'm not that old but I really enjoy 1970's/1980's depictions of fantasy as opposed to the modern depictions. I hated the Hobbit movies with a passion. I'd rather watch the 1970's cartoon version. I thought the LOTR were pretty well done.
This almost completely echoes my opinions. I do enjoy LOTR as well just not as much as the Hobbit. I actually love the 70s cartoon version. I thought ti was pretty well done. Obviously, there are some very dated parts of it, but it is better than the movie version and definitely the last two parts of the movie.
