Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Thomas Francis Murphy, Michael Angelo Covino, Bill Camp, Elizabeth Marvel
My star rating fluctuates between two and a half and three stars with News of the World. It contains moments of raw power and truth, anchored by a subtle, perceptive Tom Hanks performance. If Hanks weren't starring, the movie likely would not have had even a chance to work. On the other hand, News of the World moves slowly and the better moments don't come as frequently as we would like. News of the World looks hauntingly beautiful with a genuine feel for the post-Civil War West and the movie ends with a smile that was a long time coming. However, some of what's in-between is a mixed bag.
Hanks is reunited with his Captain Phillips director Paul Greengrass as former Confederate Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd in 1870 Reconstruction-era Texas. Captain Kidd makes a living traveling from town to town reading news stories from all over the nation to local farmers and denizens who either can't read or are too busy to keep up with the news. He makes a good living, or at least good enough to pay for his long journey home to his native San Antonio. Why Kidd wants to travel home I will leave for you to discover. Captain Kidd is not an anti-Union, racist Confederate, but one who was once a printer and was pressed into military service at the start of the Civil War. He fought because he loved his home state, not necessarily because he believed in the cause. The memories of the war are not pleasant.
Kidd stumbles across an overturned stagecoach in his travels to the next town and finds a Native American man hanging from a tree and a scared young girl named Johanna (Zengel) who was to be transported to her nearest relative. We learn Johanna's parents were killed and she was raised by Native Americans. She speaks a little of her native German, but mostly Kiowa. Kidd and Johanna slowly learn to trust each other and communicate as they encounter problems on their odyssey to their destinations.
The people Kidd and Johanna come across are either monsters like Almay (Covino) who wants to sell Johanna into prostitution, or Mr. Farley (Murphy) a land baron with an iron grip on his county residents who toil to line his pockets. Both Kidd and Johanna are wounded by their past, and find the only way to move forward is to confront their demons. Hanks plays a character similar to his Capt. Miller in Saving Private Ryan (1998), although News of the World takes place roughly seventy-five years before the events of Ryan. Kidd, like Miller, is a quiet man transformed by war who fought because it was his duty. He reads the news because he feels it does some good for others, and he protects Johanna because, like war, it is now his duty. I've said many times that Tom Hanks is one of the few actors we would follow into hell if he led us there. He has in many films, and in News of the World it's like taking a journey with an old friend we trust. It is why Hanks is such a remarkable actor. His presence can elevate sometimes mediocre material.
Even after going over News of the World in my head, I'm teetering between the 2 1/2 and three stars to put on top of the review. There are impressive parts of News of the World coupled with a languid pace and the trope of a man and child having difficulty communicating because the child is mute (like in The Midnight Sky) or in this film where the child can't speak English. I suppose I have to ask myself whether I would see News of the World again. Despite its positives, I honestly would have to say no. So there's the reason for the 2 1/2 stars atop this review.
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