Directed By Paul Greengrass

Starring – Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Marvel, Helena Zengel

The Plot – Five years after the end of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks), a 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. On the plains of Texas, he crosses paths with Johanna (Zengel), 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.

Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, thematic material and some adult language

News of the World – Official Trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

– Family dynamic. The bond between Jefferson and Johanna is every bit unique as it is beneficial to the meaning of each of their lives, which visibly enhances itself throughout the progression of the film. As expected, these two become a kind of father/daughter dynamic, which gives purpose and meaning to two characters who don’t fit into the harsh and unforgiving rest of the world that surrounds them. Along the way of this journey, they each teach each other the respective languages of their people, as well as interact in a way that vividly shades some of the character exposition that exposes itself in the comfort of their ever-growing friendship. It attains a kind of effectively earned synergy in chemistry for the two leads that doesn’t rely on sappy melodrama or obviously heavy-handed dialogue meant to meander and undermine the levels of authenticity within their characters. It very much conjured up the best and most investing scenes of the movie for me personally, materializing into a kinship that requires very few words between them to properly define.

– Hearty leads. At this point, Hanks can resonate emotion beyond the screen in his sleep. That’s not to say that Hanks snores through his portrayal of Jefferson, just that he has attained a level of professionalism along the way that he brings towards every character, and has a way of connecting with the audience in ways very few actors can anymore. As Jefferson, a wild card of sorts balancing isolated loneliness and romantic emptiness, we comprehend a military veteran with his most notable intentions of everything he attempts. Hanks’ gentle stature and stern earnesty is once again on display, offering the perfect companion to Zengel’s Johanna, a character with her own unique quirks. Considering this girl is a mere 12-years-old in real life, the level of grit and psychological duress on her registry outlines an element of physical pain and abandonment that seems to reside candidly on her muted demeanor, requiring Zengel raw deliveries without the aid of dialogue at her dispense. It brings to life one of the better child performances that I have seen in two years, and cements Zengel as a face to watch in dramatic cinema for many years to come.

– Nuanced setting. I just love when a setting in a western becomes its own character in a movie, outlining a level of world building for 1870’s Texas that brings forth a very lived-in quality to the meticulous storytelling. What’s important is that nothing is ever hitting you over the head with its obviousness, whether it be laughably bad accent portrayals, or dialogue that continuously alludes to the hardships of its territory and its people. Instead, it’s very much told through us visually in our experiences with the characters throughout the film. The vast emptiness in interaction between the townsfolk emits a geographic uneasiness between the racial segregation that is afoot throughout this screenplay, as well as a difficulty for living that is represented frequently throughout the lack of optimism for the townspeople, who hang onto Jefferson’s news stories as a catalyst for change in the disdain that has come to define them. It makes this an inescapably suffocating cloud of moody atmosphere that our protagonists can never outrun, and cements Greengrass as a master storyteller who very much immerses himself in his work to perfect it accordingly.

– Eerily prevalent. In addition to the benefits of hearing about an ever-changing world through the narration, the responsibility of a news reader is evidently documented in Jefferson’s travels to a small village run by an egotistical dictator. This power figure urges Jefferson to only read from his brand of newspaper, an obvious fabrication of reality that paints this man as the godsend figure that he so evidently is not. This brings a demand to not only controlling the way people think by controlling what in particular they read, but also requires an air of journalistic integrity from the narrator that threatens his own life in order to convey factual candidacy in the eyes of the people thirsty for knowledge. It’s obvious what echoing effect this plays on our own contemporary journalistic adversities, especially from a political circumstance, and most especially during an age where more access to more sources isn’t always the best recipe on the search for truth.

– Riveting set piece. Considering most of this film persists as a slowburn storytelling essence with very little urgency or vulnerability documented along the way, there’s a highly satisfying action set piece midway through the film that is a marvel of photographic and audible achievement. After a brief separation, our duo becomes riddled in this immense dust storm that engulfs them in a distorted visual clarity that makes it difficult to make out anything other than the characters in their distinct positions. Its power is felt in scope for how the camera documents it, approaching us with the weight of a herd of cattle with the speed of vengeance, but beyond that it’s the level of immersive sound design quality that echoes and rattles a roaring intensity that only increases the longer the scene persists. It’s simplistic in design, but monumentally effective in ratcheting up the tension of the environmental elements that our characters can’t control, and cements what I feel is easily my favorite and most complex sequence throughout the film.

– Exceptional production. This is seen through some authentic set designs, complex wardrobe variety, and alluring cinematography from Dariusz Wolski, which sacrifices no essence of beauty for the eclipsing skies that document the engaging scenery of the Texas deserts. On the latter of those achievements, Wolski’s movement schemes diversify with each physical challenge that the characters embrace, giving us still frame photography during scenes on on-ground dialogue, shaking camera during scenes in the carriage, and navigating movements throughout scenes of chase between two sides of characters. It puts audiences in the heat of the moment, but beyond that puts them in a particular geographic and timely state of mind that does a huge service in the teleporting quality of the story’s particular setting, preserving a three-dimensional quality for visual intoxication that makes the fantasy of storytelling a humbling reality.

NEGATIVES

– Plodding progression. This is very much a character study, in that it sacrifices big and bold levels of excitement within the screenplay in favor of a slow-burn consistency that didn’t always make for the most exciting of experiences for me particularly. I have no problem with slow-burn cinema if along the way there’s a series of long-term subplots for us to navigate through along the way, but the problem that condemns “News of the World” is that every level of adversity for the characters is only temporary moments of interruption, and never anything that exceeds beyond that area of the screenplay that embraces it. For my money, the first act of the movie is most challenging, because it’s in that section where we’re introduced to these characters, and the level of information isn’t always the most intriguing towards inspiring us to the next section. It does pick up remotely from there, but is never able to offer a smooth and inconsequential experience that sheds every bit of its nearly two hour run time, giving us a test of patience that isn’t always rewarded.

– Predictable. I know that a majority of “News of the World” is about the journey at hand, and not necessarily what evolves along the way, but I can’t escape this obvious direction in story that I made out in the opening ten minutes of the movie. This makes the entirety of the film a bit inconsequential as a whole, especially considering only one thing between the characters really changes along the way, but what really feels costly here is the whole story is void of any urgency that really makes you worry or express concern for where these characters are heading. It’s a bit aimless on the whole without ever truly testing the captivation of its PG-13 rating in material or thematic pulse, and wraps up in a way that I was entirely expecting, an aspect that bothers me in any movie whose first goal should be to break conventions.

– Unnecessary special effects. This is seen through some artificial animal properties that are not only poor and lifeless in design, but also move in a way that breeds distraction each time they appear on screen. To be fair, this is limited in amount to around three times that I could see throughout the film, but it’s such an obvious hiccup along the way to a near perfect production that it only magnifies its distinction, making this one of those many instances when you wish a crew would just spend a little extra to attain live action properties, if only for the seamless integrity of what the scene calls for.

My Grade: 7/10 or B-