Author Dave Eggers original story of the same name, gets a big-screen adaptation starring Tom Hanks. In “A Hologram for the King”, director Tom Tywker combines dreamy landscapes with a businessman’s aspirations, with Cultures colliding. When American businessman Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) is sent to Saudi Arabia to close what he hopes will be the deal of a lifetime with Saudi royalty. Baffled by local customs, ancient traditions and stymied by an opaque bureaucracy, he eventually finds his footing with the help of a wise-cracking taxi driver (Alexander Black), named Yousef, who is well educated in American pop culture, as well as a beautiful nameless Saudi doctor (Sarita Choudhury) who has him considering major material changes within his own life. With his new cast of friends influencing his intentions, Alan lives life with his eyes open for the first time, while brokering a deal that plays to the opposites of such a concept. “A Hologram for the King” is rated R for sexuality/nudity, adult language and brief drug use.

After viewing the trailer for “A Hologram for the King”, I felt very confused as to what the central focus of the movie’s main narrative was. Now that I have viewed the 92 minute full length feature, I can clearly say that the lack of cohesive writing with this book and screenplay is still very much there. This movie quite frankly left me feeling jaded, to the sense that I felt like I was watching three different movies, all set in Saudi Arabia, trying to play out together as one unit. The problem is that their opposite tempos tend to do more harm than good in the overall presentation, and the viewer is left wondering what the point of it all was. My hopes going in were that the movie was going to represent the vast cultural differences between America and Saudi Arabia, and while this is the kickstart that we are presented with for the first act of the movie, the second act becomes a foreign thriller, while the third becomes a love story that comes completely out of left field. I will get to the performances a little later, but in terms of this love story, there is no chemistry between the two leads because the movie isn’t interested in building what could be between them. Before the final twenty minutes of the movie, in which this takes its final course of direction, Hanks and Choudhury are in two scenes together. No kind of spark between them is built, and it even looks like Hanks is going to hook up with a Danish girl who he meets upon his introduction to the country. The ending is very abrupt, as nothing is really set up other than the inevitability of Alan and his female love interest, so the movie just kind of ends on a note of anti-climatic for something visually that deserved so much more.

Some of the aspects that I did enjoy about the film came in some experimental film making from “Cloud Atlas” director Tom Twyker. For those who didn’t see that movie, there was a lot of hidden meanings in Twyker’s style that really leaves the audience seeking more in future watchings. This film, while the presentation is a little more transparent, does leave you with some really awe-inspiring editing that has to serve as what little of a character development that the movie simply doesn’t grant us orally. There is a scene in the movie where Alan has a bit of a health scare, and while he has to go under the knife for surgery, the movie’s visuals cut in with everything from the loss of a past job, to spending time with his young-adult daughter. It’s really presented in a way that looks opposite of anything that any other director is doing right now, and I think that deals more with Twyker’s subtle cutting and pasting that seems to hit the right sentimental reaches at just the right moments. There is also a lot of beautiful visuals in the backdrop of this undeveloped land that falls heavy into the substance category. A lot of this movie feels like a vacation opportunity for Hanks, despite what comes of his performance, and that is because “Hologram” feels very much like a love letter to the kinds of Saudi cultures that we are forbidden to.

Hanks isn’t bad or even remotely bland in his performance. It’s in his endearing charisma that the movie leaves the audience hanging on during some of the dull moments creatively. The problem in the building of his character, is there simply isn’t any. During the first ten minutes, so much fast-forwarding is done with Alan’s life, and it all feels like life is but a flash in the ever-changing backdrops and opportunities that present itself in his life. Whether this intentional or not, Hanks makes the most of everything that comes his way. The best of course being the precise comedic timing that Hanks supplies for a first act that has him settling in to his new terms and conditions of life on the other side of the world. Sarita Choudhury has a strong on-screen presence, complete with eyes that could light fires during the coldest nights, but the movie clearly isn’t interested in her story. With very little focus on her motivations, her character just doesn’t fit the mold for the kind of romantic genre notes the movie ends with. To add insult to injury, a swimming scene which involves nudity for Choudhury not only doesn’t make any sense when presented with the very heavily clothed women of this country, but it’s presentation just doesn’t fit the kind of sex-less presentation that the movie had laid out in its rating. It feels like nudity for the sake of nudity, and doesn’t add any kind of passionate touch to the yearning of these two souls who find comfort in one another.

Overall, “A Hologram for the King” is a series of miscalibrations in tone that feels so incohesive in its chopped up presentation. It’s narrative is as dry as the dessert that surrounds our story, and it will leave audiences yearning for anything with substance to hold on to. This is one “Hologram” that lacks depth in everything but its colorful design

4/10