Review: A charming little film.
To be honest, I don't know much about J.R.R. Tolkien's life. Still I could tell from watching this movie how it took many story elements from other biopics. However this movie overcomes these clichés very well due to a simple charm that I could not deny. This is definitely a movie that provides a nice deviation from many current blockbusters. This is not a noisy movie or an action packed one. Instead it is a quiet film. The quietness makes it feel like we are really spending time with and getting to know these characters. While all the side characters are not fully fleshed out, our main character and his romantic interest are fantastic. They are completely likable and their relationship is completely believable. As should be true with all movie romances, we enjoy seeing these two together. The chemistry between the two leads is absolutely fantastic and we truly get the feeling that these two were made for each other. Their conversations are also very interesting and well written. I loved their discussion in the restaurant and their argument after she meets his friends is very well written making both seem like real people instead of one being the good guy and one the bad guy. They are also given a beautiful romantic scene told with little dialogue beneath the opera. That scene showed what cinematic storytelling can do better than any other artform. Our title character is also very relatable on his own. Even at his lowest moments we feel and relate to him. There are times when just like us, he is unsure what he wants to or should do. The way this is handled is great making him feel perfectly human.
This may not break any ground cinematically and often falls into clichés of this type of movie but the movie works quite well, because it is simply charming.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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