Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World” (12.25.20), a cautionary western told via conventional, albeit semi-successful, terms, has Tom Hanks hamming up the screen in the form of another Capra-esque character. Greengrass wrote the screenplay alongside “Lion” scribe Luke Davies, which is based on the National Book Award finalist and best-selling novel by Paulette Jiles. It follows a Texan (Hanks), plying his trade by delivering news to townspeople across the west, who gets caught up in the rescue attempt of a 10-year-old girl (Helena Zengel), orphaned after the killings of the Kiowa tribe members who took her in after they killed her family years earlier. The last time Hanks and Greengrass teamed up for a film was in 2013 for their mostly-excellent “Captain Phillips,” this latest one isn’t as intensely delivered, and plays in more melancholic ways. Eerily dealing with a pandemic (tuberculosis), fake news, and racism, don’t expect Greengrass’ usual kinetic, handheld camera stylings in “News of the World,” this is a thorough departure to unusually tame territory for the UK-born filmmaker of “United 93,” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.” A real shame if you ask me, as this seems to be an attempt to find a new, albeit pedantic, cinematic identity, of sorts, and the result is a film comparable to the Coen’s “True Grit,” albeit lacking the commendable auteur-driven voice of that 2010 feature.
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