Movie Breakdown: News Of The World (Noah)
Pre-Screening Stance:
During his heyday, Paul Greengrass was a director I gave Top 5 status too. Those days are gone, but I’m still excited to see him behind the wheel on this Tom Hanks’ Western. Also, my dad claims this book has the “greatest knife fight ever” in it. I’m looking forward to it. I imagine he is, too.
Post-Screening Ramble:
I wanted to love News Of The World. Really, I wanted it to be the Tom Hanks as Tom Hanks Western of my dreams. I wanted Greengrass to direct the shit out of some super shaky, intense action scenes. I wanted to have to wipe the grit from my eyes at the end with a wet wash rag. And though News Of The World is a pretty good, solidly enjoyable film, it never hits the high notes its cast, director and source material seems capable of. Tom Hanks plays Captain Jefferson Kidd, a Civil War veteran who rides from town-to-town reading the news to citizens. He finds a little girl – Johanna (Helena Zengel) – who has recently been freed from captivity with the Kiowa Indians, only to have her rescuers murdered and hung. Hanks, after some plot jostling, is tasked with leading her back to her family. It isn’t an easy trip. The road to Castroville goes through the darkest parts of South Texas and Kidd and Johanna have to run and fight and cajole their way through it. Kidd is a perfect Tom Hanks character – noble, blue-collared, intelligent, charming and very much on the right side of the line – but Hanks never seems to be able to fully inhabit him. Instead, Hanks seems to be just resting of the laurel of his Hanksness, quietly playing up his good nature even as it languishes beneath the sins of his past. And in general, that’s how the movie feels, just slightly buried. The action scenes are good, but muted. The relationship between Kidd and Johanna is endearing but never fully believable. Even Greengrass and his shaky camera seem slightly dampened – as if the relative failures of 22 July and Jason Bourne knocked him down a peg, and this low-key, just about good Western is a step back up the ladder.
One Last Thought:
I couldn’t remember who directed the film for the first forty-five minutes or so until my girlfriend commented, “Wow, they are really showing how shaky this wagon ride is.” A lightbulb appeared over my head and on it was written, Greengrass.
Another Last Thought:
Whatever knife fight might’ve wowed my father in the book has been decidedly removed from the film. Which makes me think one of two things. One, I am entirely wrong about my dad’s statement about the knife fight and I’m sorry for filling your head with lies. Or two, my dad is not going to like this movie.
