Tolkien

As another example of an artist not as intriguing as his art, Tolkien lacks the imagination and sense of adventure as its subject.

This earnest yet excessively mannered biopic seems designed to capitalize on the name recognition of the acclaimed fantasy writer whose work spawned the mega-successful Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film franchises.

The film opens on a French battlefield during World War I, when John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult) was wounded along the front lines.

From there, much of the story is told in flashbacks, detailing his academic and social life as a precocious orphan in England from a working-class Catholic upbringing under the auspices of a stern priest (Colm Meaney).

As a teenage bookworm, the South Africa-born Tolkien finds, ahem, fellowship with a mischievous circle of artistic intellectuals at an elite private school in Birmingham, and eventually secures a scholarship to the prestigious literature program at Oxford.

Along the way, his linguistic dexterity translates better to the written page than to his real-life relationships, including a romance with Edith (Lily Collins) that deepens after a rocky start. Then comes the war, where tragedy around him forms a bittersweet foundation for his eventual creation of complex worlds and handwritten voyages to Middle Earth.

Tolkien is more worthwhile as a peek into artistic inspiration more than a traditional biopic, if only the emotionally hollow screenplay was more intent on exploring the connections between his life and his work with meaningful depth rather than broad strokes.

Like its protagonist, the film becomes more focused in its second half, thanks in part to Hoult’s engaging performance. But the film’s jumbled chronology feels gimmicky and unnecessary as an artificial method of enhancing suspense.

Finnish director Dome Karukoski (Tom of Finland) adds some stylish visual flourishes, with fluid camera movements that help to enliven some of the period stuffiness.

Tolkien completists will find modest insight but little of genuine consequence that they probably didn’t already know about the author. Energizing some of this material is challenging, to be sure, but the result leaves you yearning for appearances from some fire-breathing dragons, wise wizards, or heroic hobbits to save the day.

Rated PG-13, 112 minutes.