Tom Hanks has paired up with his Captain Phillips director Paul Greengrass to make his first western with News Of The World. Coupling Hanks’ star power with the historic setting and a Christmas day release has me convinced this film is primed for a lot of awards season attention.
The movie features Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks) as he travels through post-civil war Texas, reading the news of the world to anyone with an interest and a dime. Kidd encounters Johanna (Helena Zengel) at the site of a wrecked wagon and her lynched caretaker. She has been orphaned “twice over,” first when her German immigrant parents were killed during a raid by the Kiowa, then again when the Kiowa who raised her were attacked by soldiers. Kidd agrees to transport Johanna to her aunt and uncle, who live over 400 miles away, facing a variety of dangers along the journey.
Westerns conjure up images of shootouts and saloons, and while guns do make an appearance, they do not comprise the main action of the film. News Of The World plods forward quietly for much of its two-hour runtime, primarily focusing on the relationship between Hanks and Zengel.
The film’s leads both do their best to carry the film along, with young Zengel holding her own while paired up against the venerable Hanks. There’s an almost too good to be true quality to the character of Kidd, and Hanks is probably one of the few actors who could make you believe it. Wild and uncooperative at first, Johanna speaks only in the language of the Kiowa. This requires Zengel to rely on physicality and emotion to communicate as she slowly learns some English. Despite the challenges of such a role, Zengel does more than just sell it. She frequently steals the scene.
Even with an interesting plot and stellar cast, News Of The World suffers from some fairly trudging storytelling. Greengrass typically directs more action-oriented fare, and I tend to think that his style did not quite align with this film. Things seemed to follow the pattern of slow build-up, something bad happens, repeat, repeat, repeat. When I finished watching, my first impression was, “That was way too slow and depressing.”
As is often the case, my opinions did evolve a little the more I thought about the film. News Of The World is not to my tastes, but I am pretty sure it will earn some fans. I still feel the story needed a little more “oomph” to it. There’s a plot in there somewhere about journalism that feels sacrificed to the “created family” storyline. Despite this, when the inevitable awards nominations roll in, I cannot say I will be surprised.
News Of The World enters theaters, where available, on Christmas day.
About News Of The World
PG-13 (Thematic Material|Some Language|Disturbing Images|Violence)
Runtime:1h 58m
Five years after the end of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks), a widower and veteran of three wars, now moves from town to town as a non-fiction storyteller, sharing the news of presidents and queens, glorious feuds, devastating catastrophes, and gripping adventures from the far reaches of the globe.
In the plains of Texas, he crosses paths with Johanna (Helena Zengel, System Crasher), a 10-year-old taken in by the Kiowa people six years earlier and raised as one of their own. Johanna, hostile to a world she’s never experienced, is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will.
Kidd agrees to deliver the child where the law says she belongs. As they travel hundreds of miles into the unforgiving wilderness, the two will face tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces as they search for a place that either can call home.