‘I read the news for anyone with 10 cents in his time to hear it...’
I don’t like westerns. As previously discussed over and over. Christ, I’m getting repetitive in my old age. I’m jealous of stopped clocks by this point. It’s been a while since I’ve been right about something twice in one day. I also don’t particularly care for the work of British director Paul Greengrass. The Bourne films are ok. But Green Zone? United 93? Those are boring movies. So… News of the World is a western. Directed by Paul Greengrass. What are we doing here? What has drawn in my tiny mind this time? It’s Tom Hanks isn’t it. Tom bloody Hanks…
Newsreader and civil war veteran Captain Kidd (Hanks) reluctantly agrees to transport an almost mute little girl (Helena Zengel) across a country torn apart by war and prejudice. Luckily, he’s Tom fucking Hanks so everything runs pretty smoothly aside from a few choice encounters with some terrible, terrible men.
Hanks can play all sorts of characters but he often does his best work as a Captain. Captain Phillips. Captain Miller in Saving Private Ryan. Captain Sullenberger in Sully. Was Woody a captain in Toy Story? He damn well ought to have been. And in Captain Kidd, Hanks has another moral, worthy character to sink his teeth into. And as always, he gives his all and creates a human being out of a bunch of words on a page.
Elsewhere, relative newcomer Zengel does an excellent job in a role that is essentially screaming and glowering and the rest of the cast are grubby enough and vile enough to really sell the Wild West aesthetic. Greengrass wisely allows the story to tell itself without gimmicks or trickery and his screenplay (on which he shares writing duties with Luke Davies) is economical whilst still being compelling. A winning combination.
News of the World is a quiet, contemplative film that perhaps outstays its welcome in some scenes, but on the whole, Hanks second collaboration with this director must go down as a success.