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News of the World Movie Review

News of the World is a 2020 western film directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel. It’s a familiar, but sweet and enjoyable flick.

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“See all those words printed in a line one after the other?

Put ’em all together and you have a story“

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The film follows a Civil War veteran who must return a young girl who was stolen by Native Americans as an infant to her last remaining family. We all know where this is all going – they will depart on a dangerous journey, they will face their obstacles, but eventually the protagonist will start to really care for the girl, so he will wish to adopt her himself.

It is familiar from the first to the last scene, but similar to a movie like ‘Green Book’ for instance, the movie runs smoothly, it is engaging throughout and it’s so well made that I ultimately really liked it, but I still wished for a more original storyline. Even if it lacks originality, the movie, though, has a lot of heart. It is very emotional in its third act and very modern in its approach while also retaining some classic western influences.

That mixture I really appreciated. While being anti-war in its sentiment and being very modern in its dramatic, emotion-heavy approach, the film also features the carriage journey, which is very adventurous, the scenes with the newspapers, which are less interesting but okay, and some action here and there with the standout scene being that extended shootout. That was superbly executed and a whole lot of fun.

News of the World features a terrific Tom Hanks central performance per usual. He isn’t all that believable in his accent, but dramatically and emotionally speaking, he excels as he always does. There is a lot going on with his character and he sold it all. But I also really appreciated the performance from the young Helena Zengel. This is probably the best child actor performance of the year as she is also immensely believable and surprisingly strong.

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The movie is also gorgeously shot, again quite adventurous, very charming and old-fashioned and the dialogue is spare, but good. The direction from Paul Greengrass is solid, if nothing truly special, but the pacing is pretty good as the film was involving from start to finish.

A man has to help an abandoned child by bringing her to her family, but eventually he starts caring for the child and he wishes to adopt her himself. That is the story behind News of the World, a new western Tom Hanks vehicle that has all the plot beats that we have seen before many times, but the movie still worked for me because it’s beautifully shot, wonderfully acted (not just by Hanks, but also be the young and talented Zengel), well paced and particularly strong in its mix of modern and classic western tropes. It’s human and emotional as a drama, but also a lot of fun in its adventurous elements with that one shootout scene being terrific.

My Rating – 4