Review: Tom Hanks is doggedly heroic in News of the World
by Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
Posted Dec 22, 2020 5:06 pm EDT
Last Updated Dec 22, 2020 at 5:14 pm EDT
Tom Hanks, left, and Helena Zengel appear in a scene from News of the World. (Bruce W. Talamon/Universal Pictures via AP)
Tom Hanks rides a horse and blasts a six-shooter in his new film, “News of the World.” Some of you might be thinking this must be his first cowboy role. To those, we respond: Have you forgotten about Woody so soon?
All of Hanks not just his voice is employed in this second cowboy role, playing Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd in 1870, a gentle Texan whose quiet and itinerant life is interrupted by the arrival of a girl.
Captain Phillips. And this new project,
News of The World, which releases on Christmas Day, is based on the National Book Award finalist and best-selling novel by Paulette Jiles. With all of these pieces coming together, it just felt like the perfect recipe for a strong film.
News of The World is set five years after the end of the Civil War. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks), a veteran of three wars, now moves from town to town as a non-fiction storyteller, sharing the news of the world – from presidents and queens, glorious feuds, devastating catastrophes, and gripping adventures from the far reaches of the globe. While he’s in Texas, he crosses paths with a young girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel), who was taken in and raised by the Kiowa people six years earlier.
“The only difference between then and now is that you can move faster than a horse can walk,” Hanks says. “The concept of reading the news, we didn’t realize when we were making the movie, is that it would come down under the rubric of ‘Well, who says that’s the news?’”
Hanks says Kidd is picking out the stories that may actually mean something to the listeners and open their eyes to the realities of their town and situation. But as with any news, it isn’t always well-received.
Universal Pictures
(from left) Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) and Johanna Leonberger (Helena Zengel) in News of the World, co-written and directed by Paul Greengrass.
“The only difference between then and now is that you can move faster than a horse can walk,” Hanks says. “The concept of reading the news, we didn’t realize when we were making the movie, is that it would come down under the rubric of ‘Well, who says that’s the news?’”
Hanks says Kidd is picking out the stories that may actually mean something to the listeners and open their eyes to the realities of their town and situation. But as with any news, it isn’t always well-received.
Universal Pictures
(from left) Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) and Johanna Leonberger (Helena Zengel) in News of the World, co-written and directed by Paul Greengrass.
“The only difference between then and now is that you can move faster than a horse can walk,” Hanks says. “The concept of reading the news, we didn’t realize when we were making the movie, is that it would come down under the rubric of ‘Well, who says that’s the news?’”
Hanks says Kidd is picking out the stories that may actually mean something to the listeners and open their eyes to the realities of their town and situation. But as with any news, it isn’t always well-received.
Universal Pictures
(from left) Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) and Johanna Leonberger (Helena Zengel) in News of the World, co-written and directed by Paul Greengrass.