News of the World

2020 • 118 minutes

About this movie

Five years after the end of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks), a widower and 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. In the plains of Texas, he crosses with Johanna (Helena Zengel, System Crasher), a 10-year-old taken by the Kiowa tribe 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 either can call home.

Ratings and reviews

I believe Tom Hanks has proven to be a good actor in the past, but this was not one of his better performances. The plot was believable, but If you watch it closely there were also some technical errors, such as a shotgun going off with out pulling the hammers back. This was most definitely not worth the ($20.00) money.

If you live in Texas this movie is sorely disappointing. They're in "Dallas" and there are MOUNTAINS everywhere. The entire movie there are mountains. Anyone in Texas knows only faaaar west/south Texas has mountains and has that deserty look. It takes you straight out of the movie. It's quite obvious they filmed in New Mexico. As to the story, I thought it was a little boring. The fights were meh, anticlimactic and lame. Plenty of hollywood virtue signaling too. Transitions were poor at best.

Pure beauty to watch the masterful performances in a unique tale of two survivors, a man and a child both misfit in a messy changing world. Matched by visual perfection of the beauty on earth in its dawn and stillness, downpour and reflecting waters, vast visual distances contrasted by crowded dangerous tight scenes of people on the verge of fighting. The music wraps every scene in the time period under and over mothering the story. Watch the three act build, gripping the viewer into squirming in seat and surprised by tears and empathy for all mankind, lost in a time gone by. The movie was filling and fulfilling our parched COVID detention and so movie hungry we nearly forgot the screen was not immense. Now tv is un watchable as a glaring parody of a feature film. Expect deep feelings and awe in masterful performances with a new star in her sunrise. Thank you for the soul filled circle of excellence: direction, filmmaking, music, editing, design, and story!