Tolkien is innocuous but uninspiring.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 21, 2019

Fans of Tolkien's writing probably won't discover anything new about the man from this film and the attempts to turn the Somme battlefield into a sort of fiery Middle Earth look painfully contrived. This is a minor biography of a major writer.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 14, 2019

The film looks great, a polished period piece, but the pedigree is ragged... The result is polite, plodding and unconvincing, like most movies about famous writers.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 12, 2019

"Tolkien" doesn't seem all that interested in providing any kind of entertainment.

| Original Score: C | May 14, 2019

Tolkien is on a journey, and while the film may deprive us of an arrival, it does give us a rather exhilarating travel itinerary.

| May 13, 2019

If you're going to tell the story of one of the most imaginative writing minds of the 20th century, why not infuse it with more ... imagination?

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 11, 2019

Why do people keep making films about writers?

| May 10, 2019

For a film that seems to aspire to greatness, "Tolkien" is done in by its lack of vision. That was one quality which Tolkien himself was never accused of lacking.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 10, 2019

Director Dome Karukoski treats Tolkien and his story with reverence, and Hoult plays him with handsome rigidity. But neither the story nor portrayal ever come to life.

| Original Score: C | May 10, 2019

Tolkien casts a delicate spell: it's not difficult to imagine some viewers proving utterly impervious to its peculiar magic. But some others will be enchanted and even transported by its charms.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 10, 2019

Tolkien approaches its subject with maybe a little bit too much reverence, but shows an interest in the development of Tolkien's ideas, his passion for philology (not the most cinematic of subjects), his love of myths and legends.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 10, 2019

What's left is a kaleidoscope of well-staged episodes - Tolkien on the field of battle surrounded by a circle of dead bodies is harrowing - that often seem more like prettified postcards from midcentury Britain than real-life being lived by real people.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 10, 2019

As welcome as second breakfast.

| May 9, 2019

Hoult and Collins made the Ronald/Edith relationship vital and romantic.

| Original Score: B | May 9, 2019

If only the film could live in these relationships a bit more and see something inspiring in them instead of constantly searching these moments for something, anything that inspired Middle Earth.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 9, 2019

It's perhaps understandable that the Tolkien estate isn't interested in being associated with this biopic - and not just because it simplifies and fudges, as biopics do.

| May 9, 2019

Tolkien is to filmmaking what spoon-feeding is to infants.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 9, 2019

Maybe Tolkien had a fascinating life story full of anecdotes that inspired his future work, but it isn't told here.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 9, 2019

The result doesn't rise above the insight of a Wikipedia page.

| May 9, 2019

The performances are wonderful, especially Hoult and Collins, who exude a charming chemistry.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 9, 2019