the news of the world movie review

News of the World

There's an old-fashioned aesthetic in "News of the World" that might make it easy to dismiss as a "dad movie," something that plays on TNT in regular rotation for the next decade (which it almost certainly will), but this kind of finely-calibrated genre film is harder to pull off than it looks. There's an attention to detail in every corner of this movie, including not just the period recreation but everything from James Newton Howard 's lovely score to Tom Hanks ' subtle performance. There's something comforting about giving yourself over to an undeniably talented group of artists for two hours and just letting them tell you a story. That's what this will be for many this holiday season. Yes, it's relatively predictable and arguably a little thin in terms of ambition, but it's also refined and nuanced in ways that these films often aren't. Everyone here is at the top of their craft from the character actors who populate the ensemble to the two leads at its center to everyone behind the camera, and you can feel that from first frame to last.

Hanks reunites with his " Captain Phillips " director Paul Greengrass to play a very different kind of Captain in Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a traveler in Texas in 1870, not long after the end of the Civil War . Kidd is a newsreader, someone who travels from town to town and literally gets paid to read the news to the locals. Home delivery wasn't a thing 150 years ago and many people in these small towns couldn't even read, so they relied on people like Kidd to tell them what's going on in the world. The chosen profession has made him something of an isolated wanderer, but it's also imbued a deep humanity in Kidd that has given him the air of an old-fashioned storyteller. He's an entertainer as much as an informer, choosing what to read and how to present it. His travels and encounters also mean he can read people better than most, which will be essential for the next chapter of his life.

That starts when he comes across the scene of a murder. A Black driver has been hanged from a tree and a blonde girl looks at Kidd from the woods nearby. Kidd decides to take the girl he names Johanna (the excellent Helena Zengel ) to safety, even though she speaks no English and appears to have spent much of her young life in the captivity of Native Americans. She comes from German lineage but speaks Kiowa, and she was being taken to the authorities after the tribe who raised her was killed. Kidd realizes he will have to find this orphan a home.

These early scenes may be simple in narrative structure but Greengrass, Hanks, and the team behind the film add so much grace and nuance to them. Hanks has become such a subtle actor over the years, finding the little beats to define Kidd at every turn but never feeling showy. He's so completely in the moment in this film, responding to each situation believably instead of sinking into the bland protagonist that could have hampered this film. It's yet another recent turn of his that feels like it won't get enough attention because he makes it look so easy (see also "Captain Phillips," " Bridge of Spies " and " Sully ," among others).

"News of the World" becomes a road movie of sorts for Kidd and Johanna, with new encounters across the unstable landscape. (After the end of the Civil War , Texas was not exactly the safest place in the country.) Greengrass structures it in an episodic way that kind of detracts from the midsection, where the film sags a bit as it jumps from encounter to encounter. The set-up is so well done that watching the movie settle into a road trip may be a bit disappointing, although Greengrass brings out some of his action movie direction skills when they're needed, such as in a tense shoot-out with some scumbags who try to buy Johanna. However, there's a better version of "News of the World" that has slightly higher stakes. As difficult as the journey is, neither Kidd nor Johanna have a bruise or scar to show, even after jumping from a runaway horse and cart.

Greengrass is also smart enough to imbue his 1870 Western with some 2020 ideas. Kidd finds his way to Erath County, where the atmosphere is one of isolation and, sorry, fake news. The most prominent figure in the area, Mr. Farley ( Thomas Francis Murphy ) insists that Kidd read his propaganda newspaper about pushing out everyone from the area but the white people, and connections to disinformation in the modern age are not hard to make. And the idea of a man trying to bring a fractured nation back together through knowledge and decency has some relevance in 2020 too.

Not all of these themes are fully fleshed out, but "News of the World" stays together and stays entertaining because of its top-notch craft. It may feel like Greengrass' most traditional film but there's an energy to the direction here that's not always apparent in a Western. It helps that it's arguably the director's most aesthetically striking film, with gorgeous vistas captured by Darius Wolski and one of the best scores of the year from James Newton Howard. And it's so great to see so many wonderful faces filling out the cast like Ray McKinnon , Elizabeth Marvel , and Bill Camp . On paper, this simple tale well-told may not seem like it amounts to much, but, at the end of a year in which comfort was hard to find, this movie sometimes feels like a gift.

In theaters on Christmas Day .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

• Tom Hanks as Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd
• Helena Zengel as Johanna Leonberger
• Fred Hechinger as
• Michael Angelo Covino as
• Thomas Francis Murphy as Merritt Farley
• Elizabeth Marvel as Gannett
• Mare Winningham as Jane
• Neil Sandilands as Wilhelm Leonberger
• Chukwudi Iwuji as Charles Edgefield

Cinematographer

• Dariusz Wolski
• James Newton Howard
• Luke Davies
• Paul Greengrass

Writer (based on the novel by)

• Paulette Jiles
• William Goldenberg

Leave a comment

Now playing.

Night Is Not Eternal

All We Imagine as Light

Elton John: Never Too Late

The Creep Tapes

Small Things Like These

Bird (2024)

Meanwhile on Earth

Latest articles.

“Call of Duty: Black Ops 6” is Best Installment in the Franchise in Years

Love Is Political: Payal Kapadia on "All We Imagine as Light"

Tokyo International Film Festival 2024: Daihachi Yoshida on Prize-Winning “Teki Cometh”

“Life is Strange: Double Exposure” Resurrects Beloved Franchise

The best movie reviews, in your inbox.

Advertisement

Supported by

‘News of the World’ Review: Tom Hanks Does the Strong, Silent Type

The star can’t help but bring decency to Paul Greengrass’s lean, efficient western set in 1870s Texas.

• Share full article

By A.O. Scott

Nowadays, if you want a selection of news stories culled from various publications, you can use a cellphone app. But if you lived in Texas in 1870, you could pay a dime to watch Tom Hanks shuffle through a stack of newspapers and read selected articles aloud. It seems like a much better deal.

In “News of the World,” a modest, solid western directed by Paul Greengrass and based on the novel by Paulette Jiles , Hanks plays Captain Jefferson Kidd, a Civil War veteran eking out a post-bellum living as an analog news aggregator. Kidd, who fought on the Confederate side, travels from place to place, peddling a mix of diversion and information. He promises yarns that will distract his audiences from their own troubles, though his choices include reports on a meningitis outbreak, a coal mine fire and a ferry accident.

That all may count as entertainment given the grimness of the local situation. Five years after the end of the war, a state of simmering hostility persists across much of Texas. Union soldiers patrol the towns and roads, incurring resentment from a white population reluctant to rejoin the United States. Kidd stumbles on the aftermath of a lynching and hears frequent reports of violence against Indians and Mexicans. As is customary in westerns, this bloodshed is part of the film’s background rather than its overt subject. The title is a bit deceptive; the story is intimate and specific, and careful to tamp down any political implications that might make viewers uncomfortable.

Kidd is a variation on a familiar western archetype — a wandering soul who has seen and done terrible things and whose wariness around other people can’t disguise his fundamental decency. The first thing we see of the man are the battle scars on his torso, and before we’ve heard much about him we intuit that he has inflicted suffering as well as endured it. We know he’s a good guy, even if we don’t hear much about the Lost Cause he fought for — not an unusual choice in a western, but one which may have outlived its adequacy. Since this is Tom Hanks we’re talking about , kindness is the dominant note, and the drama arises less from the character’s internal ethical struggle than from the external challenges he faces in his quest to do the right thing.

Those challenges include various bad guys, wagon trouble, rough terrain and inclement weather. All that and more assails Kidd on his journey in the company of a young girl named Johanna (Helena Zengel). The child of German farmers, Johanna was kidnapped and raised by the Kiowa tribe, and has now been orphaned twice over. After a flurry of further misfortunes, Kidd takes it upon himself to deliver the girl, who speaks no English, to an aunt and uncle in Castroville, far away in the Hill Country.

In its bones, “News of the World” is a B western, lean and linear, its spare plot ornamented with efficient set pieces. Greengrass, one of the most inventive and rigorous action directors currently working — his chapters in the Jason Bourne franchise remain unsurpassed for velocity and spatial coherence — honors the genre tradition rather than trying to reinvent it. When Kidd and Johanna are chased down by some nasty outlaws along a treacherous ridgeline, the ensuing shootout is a throwback and a master class, as tight and mean and suspenseful as something in an old Budd Boetticher movie.

Other pleasures include a fine supporting cast (Elizabeth Marvel, Ray McKinnon and Bill Camp, among others) and the rapport between Hanks and Zengel, an impressively controlled young actor who refuses every temptation of cuteness. Neither performer overdoes the sympathy that develops between Kidd and Johanna, and the film is tender without descending too far into sentimentality.

But it can also feel a bit soft and puffed up. Too much true grit has been sanded off, too many hard truths of history nodded at and turned away from. The musical score, by James Newton Howard, is obtrusively important, and contributes to a sense that the scale isn’t quite right. This isn’t a bad movie. The problem is that it’s too nice a movie, too careful and compromised, as if its makers didn’t trust the audience to handle the real news of the world.

News of the World Rated PG-13. Discreetly handled violence. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.

A.O. Scott is a critic at large and the co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

A ‘Wicked’ Tearful Talk : Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the stars of the new movie, reflected on their long ride together , getting through Covid and the actors’ strike, and avoiding “playing to the green.”

Ridley Scott Returns to the Arena :   The director of “Gladiator II” speaks his mind  on rejected sequel ideas, Joaquin Phoenix’s plan to quit the original and working with a “fractious” Denzel Washington.

The Clint Squint : When Clint Eastwood narrows his eyes, pay attention. The master of the big screen is using them to convey seduction, intimidation, mystery and more .

Streaming Guides:  If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Watching Newsletter:  Sign up to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows  to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes
• Movie Reviews

Tom Hanks rides to the rescue in unhurried Western News of the World : Review

Nearly everything about News of the World follows the contours of a classic true-grit Western — hardscrabble characters, pioneer vistas, taciturn script. But Paul Greengrass ’s sparse, raw-boned drama (in theaters Dec. 25) also feels like something else beneath the pearl-handled pistols and prairie dust: not so much a war movie as a post-war one, its whole psychology colored by the collective trauma of a young country still torn and battle-sore.

To carry those multitudes, the film has the steady, mournful squint of Tom Hanks as Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, now several years without his troops and traversing Texas as a news reader — a sort of one-man analog CNN, bringing the headlines of the day to any small town or settlement with enough residents to drop a few coins in his collection bowl.

It’s on one of those rounds in 1870 just outside Wichita Falls that he comes across a terrified girl (Helena Zengel) alone in an overturned wagon, her Black chaperone hung by unknown marauders. She only speaks Kiowa and a few snatches of her birth parents’ native German, but the official letter she carries lets Kidd fill in the blanks: Separated from her family in a raid and raised by her Native American captors, then reclaimed again by the government, she’s now effectively twice orphaned and due to be sent to living relatives further down South.

Kidd is not a man looking for a small companion, though the brusque indifference of the local bureaucracy doesn’t leave him much choice. Rather than abandon her to her fate at a way station clearly not designed for unaccompanied minors, he decides to deliver the girl himself. Those good intentions launch the pair on their quixotic journey — possibly a fool’s errand, part endurance test and part obstacle course — across the treacherous plains of 19 th -century Texas.

Greengrass, the British filmmaker who seems to toggle steadily between the broody international action of multiple Bourne movies and starker verité experiments like United 93 and 22 July , has worked with Hanks once before, on 2013’s Captain Phillips . And he frames his star in scene after scene of austere beauty, though his bare screenplay, co-penned with Luke Davies ( Lion ) from the 2016 novel of the same name by Paulette Giles, often isn’t much more than stations of the cross for its two main characters; a series of hurdles and hardships to overcome.

That’s where the requisite Hanks-ian gifts come in, the soul and heft of the 64-year-old actor’s presence imbuing every line and all the long silences in between. Berlin native Zengel, too, is remarkable, her fierce, lucid performance almost entirely contained in non-verbal cues and gestures. As two people stripped of home and human comforts and in some sense of hope, it’s inevitable that the storyline will cement their bond. In that, the movie offers few surprises and even less alacrity; and yet there's a cumulative weight to World that feels, if hardly new, still worth sitting through. Grade: B+

Related content:

• Tom Hanks spreads News of the World in stunning new trailer
• Paul Greengrass on reuniting with Tom Hanks in News of the World
• Tom Hanks questions patriotism of people who refuse to wear masks: 'Are they Americans?'

Related Articles

We sent an email to [email protected]

Didn't you get the email?

By joining, you agree to the Terms and Policies and Privacy Policy and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

User 8 or more characters with a number and a lowercase letter. No spaces.

username@email

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• About Rotten Tomatoes®
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening This Week
• Top Box Office
• Coming Soon to Theaters
• Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most Popular Streaming Movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 91% Wicked Link to Wicked
• 74% Gladiator II Link to Gladiator II
• 81% Blitz Link to Blitz

New TV Tonight

• 72% Dune: Prophecy: Season 1
• 100% Outlander: Season 7
• 82% Interior Chinatown: Season 1
• 76% Landman: Season 1
• 100% Based On A True Story: Season 2
• -- The Sex Lives of College Girls: Season 3
• -- A Man on the Inside: Season 1
• 25% Cruel Intentions: Season 1
• -- Our Oceans: Season 1
• -- Making Manson: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• 100% Arcane: League of Legends: Season 2
• 91% Say Nothing: Season 1
• 95% The Penguin: Season 1
• 84% The Day of the Jackal: Season 1
• 76% Cross: Season 1
• 96% Silo: Season 2
• 100% Lioness: Season 2
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV

Certified fresh pick

• 100% Arcane: League of Legends: Season 2 Link to Arcane: League of Legends: Season 2
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

All Twilight Saga Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

50 Newest Verified Hot Movies

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming.

Awards Tour

The Gladiator II Cast on Working with Ridley Scott

Wicked First Reviews: “Everything a Movie Musical Should Be”

• Trending on RT
• Gladiator II First Reviews
• Holiday Programming
• Verified Hot Movies

News of the World Reviews

At an unnatural time, NEWS OF THE WORLD feels like the perfect communal experience, even when shared at a distance.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 13, 2024

News Of The World doesn't do anything radically different than what we might come to expect from the Western but it is a well-directed, gorgeously shot film that gets the best out of its two stars at polar opposite stages in their careers.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 19, 2023

Shows the ingredients of a country at birth, against the backdrop of a newspaper mural that reports sins that are still happening in the second decade of the twentieth century, and this gives the film a spectacular pertinency. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Oct 11, 2022

News of the World, while mildly entertaining, needed a bit more grit and less preaching.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 9, 2022

News of the World is a leisurely lark that showcases sturdy studio filmmaking, with a pair of powerful performances from Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 1, 2022

“News of the World” simmers with current day relevancy, but it very much looks and feels like a classic Hollywood Western...

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 24, 2022

For the 1870s setting, the film is thoroughly modern.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 12, 2022

News Of The World is a quietly intriguing film, told at a gentle pace.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 1, 2022

News of the World is so straightforward that it could have been made by anyone, which is to say the craft is mostly invisible.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 17, 2022

Helena Zengel is an actress with a great future. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Nov 4, 2021

A frontier picaresque with gorgeous photography, two excellent lead performances, and a not-so-subtle jab at modern media manipulation.

Full Review | Sep 13, 2021

The reteaming once again works to create a satisfying movie that urges audiences to look beyond expected frailties and find reward in possibilities.

Full Review | Jul 16, 2021

News of the World is a triumph, and a reminder that Tom Hanks still has so much greatness left to give us.

Full Review | Jun 29, 2021

"News of the World" is an unconventional western. But regardless of your genre preference, Hanks and Zengel will win you over.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jun 22, 2021

While News of the World undoubtedly fails in some respects, it also succeeds in delivering the cathartic, contradictory pleasures of traditional, old-school Western, albeit with a modern, self-aware spin ...

Full Review | Jun 8, 2021

Coming at the end of a tumultuous 2020, it's never been clearer how dangerously naïve such generic 'hope and change' messaging actually is.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2021

A western drama that, in my opinion, is tepid and somewhat irregular when it presents the journey of a character who follows to the letter the stereotype of the upright and honest cowboy. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | May 12, 2021

It's a classic western, but an anti-western... It's beautifully done.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 10, 2021

Hanks is as watchable as ever and Helena Zengel terrific as the girl. Highly recommended.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 2, 2021

While Hanks is our hero, Helena Zengel steals the spotlight. This thirteen-year-old German actress shines in this role.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2021

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘news of the world’: film review.

Tom Hanks and German discovery Helena Zengel star in 'News of the World,' a Western odyssey from Paul Greengrass about two broken people finding unity, set in Texas soon after the Civil War.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Send an Email
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

The balm of the storyteller is central to the work of Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd, an ex-infantryman who travels from town to town in Texas five years after the Civil War, for a modest fee reading lively accounts of events from both nearby and far afield to people in need of healing. That same spirit informs Paul Greengrass ‘  News of the World , an epic Western with an intimate gaze that recalls The Searchers and True Grit , providing Tom Hanks with one of his best roles since the same director’s Captain Phillips .

In many ways the Universal release is a venture into more conventionally handsome, stately, even old-fashioned prestige-picture territory for a director better known for his propulsive, viscerally charged action. But that doesn’t make the textured canvas of evocative Americana any less affecting. Essentially a two-hander though enlivened by incisive secondary character turns along the way, it’s a drama made with tremendous feeling, an unhurried, contemplative tale peppered with nail-biting set-pieces. Despite its setting 150 years ago, it carries soothing resonance at a time of bitter national divisions, when cultural otherness has been demonized and the value of news reporting under attack.

Release date: Dec 25, 2020

Adapted by Greengrass and Luke Davies ( Lion ) from the 2016 novel by Paulette Jiles, the story is one of strangers finding communion and mutual comfort, two people whose families have been torn apart by conflict, bound together by circumstance and then by a growing trust as their shared sense of loss becomes apparent. It benefits immeasurably from the constantly shifting dynamic between Hanks’ Captain Kidd and Helena Zengel, the young discovery from last year’s System Crasher , as 10-year-old Johanna, a German immigrant raised by the Kiowa people since her parents were killed six years earlier.

One of the news stories read by the captain from his traveling case full of papers concerns the Pacific Railroad’s decision to open a new line from the Kansas border all the way to Galveston, marking the first train to pass through what were then called Indian reservations. The rugged landscape of dusty plains and hill country was shot in New Mexico by Dariusz Wolski in spare, striking widescreen compositions with a painterly eye, in contrast to the gritty hand-held agility of the town scenes. The expansive vistas are a mostly empty space, serene at times, at others exposed to dangers both human and elemental. Those threats are magnified for Captain Kidd when he finds himself in the unaccustomed position of caring for a child.

A somber man in his 60s, the captain is fastidious about his appearance for his live readings, taking his role seriously as a service-provider to hard-working people still struggling to grasp the losses of the war, figure out where they stand in the new America and accept the federal mandate that they do their part in the recovery effort. Kidd is an empathetic voice who tries to soothe their rancor. “We’re all hurting,” he tells the crowd.

Hanks has built a career out of playing thoroughly decent men, so his casting here is entirely to type. But the soulfulness and sorrow, the innate compassion that ripple through his characterization make this an enormously pleasurable performance to watch, with new depths of both kindness and regret that keep revealing themselves.

Riding out from Wichita Falls in 1870, he follows a trail of blood to a tree where a Black man has been lynched, a handbill tacked to the dead man’s shirt reading, “Texas Says No! This is White Man’s Country.” He chases down the terrified Johanna not far from the scene. Retrieving government paperwork from the wrecked wagon on which she was traveling, Kidd learns she is being taken, against her will, to live with her biological aunt and uncle on their farm near San Antonio. Passing lawmen shrug off responsibility for the girl, instructing the captain to take her to the Indian Agency representative at Red River.

Related Stories

Universal unwraps trailer for tom hanks-starring 'news of the world'.

That task begins a lyrical odyssey over hundreds of miles, in which the reluctant newsman and the unpredictable wild child bounce from place to place as one temporary solution after another fails to work out.

Johanna proves too uncontrollable for a shopkeeper couple (Ray McKinnon, Mare Winningham ) who agree to look after her. But Dallas innkeeper Mrs. Gannett ( Elizabeth Marvel , wonderful as always) speaks some Kiowa; she extracts the basics of the girl’s story from her, learning that her Native American family were killed by soldiers. She’s “an orphan twice over” who no longer has a home to go to. The violence embedded in the soil of a country where “settlers are killing Indians for their land and Indians are killing settlers for taking it” gives the movie a brooding undertow.

Greengrass and editor William Goldenberg establish an undulating rhythm that pulls you in, enhanced by James Newton Howard’s boldly flavorful symphonic score, with its rootsy acoustic string elements. The action ambles along in leisurely character observation as the captain and Johanna overcome their mutual incomprehension and wariness in conversations with no common language. Her attachment to the Kiowa culture of her upbringing, elements of which are revealed casually at first and then voluntarily shared with the captain as a gift, provides several poignant interludes as he responds with fascination to her connectedness with the natural world.

The tranquility is intermittently broken by alarming reminders of human depravity. The first of two chilling encounters is with predatory former Confederate soldier Almay (Michael Angelo Covino, making his compulsive jerk in The Climb seem like an angel) and his “associates” (Clay James, Cash Lilley), who offer to buy the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl for their own nefarious purposes. When the captain refuses, a pulse-pounding chase ensues that climaxes in a shootout in the rocky hills, where Kidd’s cool-headed logic and Johanna’s quick-thinking toughness go up against the traffickers’ impulsive cockiness. The expertly choreographed sequence has physical echoes of a face-off in another memorable recent Western, Hell or High Water .

A second menace arises when they travel through a lawless settlement of renegades lorded over by the sinister Farley (Thomas Francis Murphy), who crows that his men have run off Indians, Mexicans and Blacks to take the area. The spiritual dimension of Johanna’s formation is evident as she quietly surveys the slaughtered buffalo lining the camp, singing to herself in hushed, mournful tones. In an amusing parallel to our own era of propagandistic news media, Farley insists that the captain entertain his men with a reading, then gets enraged by Kidd’s refusal to share the skewed accounts of his exploits from his self-published newsletter.

Among the characters whose lives are touched by the captain and Johanna along their journey, Fred Hechinger makes a tender impression as John Calley, a slow-witted but sweet-natured lad whose eyes are opened to Farley’s cruelty. Bill Camp also makes a welcome late appearance as a trusted old attorney friend of the captain’s back in San Antonio, where he goes to “make things right” with his wife, at Mrs. Gannett’s urging.

Matching Hanks beat for beat in a performance at times preternaturally poised, elsewhere feral and volatile, Zengel is riveting — raw and vulnerable but with surprising strength as she revisits the trauma of her past. Kidd’s mission to bring life from the outside world to isolated, suffering people is in part a role of atonement, of judgement “for all I had seen and all I had done” as a veteran of three wars. While he believes in the imperative to keep moving forward, Johanna teaches him that it’s important first to remember.

The touching story of these two refugees of a divided country is entirely different in mood and tempo from anything Greengrass has done up to now. With its painstakingly detailed production and costume design and stirring sense of time and place, this is a lovingly crafted drama that conveys a gentle message about examining the pain of our past to find a place of peace, belonging and even joy in our future.

Production companies: Playtone, Pretty Pictures Distributor: Universal Cast: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Michael Angelo Covino, Ray McKinnon, Mare Winningham, Elizabeth Marvel, Fred Hechinger, Bill Camp, Thomas Francis Murphy, Gabriel Ebert, Benjamin Farley, Winsome Brown, Neil Sandilands, Clay James, Cash Lilley Director: Paul Greengrass Screenwriters: Paul Greengrass, Luke Davies, based on the novel by Paulette Jiles Producers: Gary Goetzman , Gail Mutrux, Gregory Goodman Executive producers: Steven Shareshian, Tore Schmidt Director of photography: Dariusz Wolski Production designer: David Crank Costume designer: Mark Bridges Music: James Newton Howard Editor: Willian Goldenberg Casting: Francine Maisler Rated PG-13, 118 minutes

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Spike lee named jury president of red sea film festival in saudi arabia, ‘scream 7’: isabel may in talks to join neve campbell in latest installment of horror franchise, legendary entertainment and sony pictures ending distribution deal, robert pattinson reteaming with christopher nolan for ‘oppenheimer’ filmmaker’s latest movie, ‘september 5’ director says conversation with film’s subject made him pursue the newsroom thriller, shazad latif joins margot robbie, jacob elordi in emerald fennell’s ‘wuthering heights’.

• United International Pictures (UIP)

Summary 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 presidents and queens, glorious feuds, devastating catastrophes, and gripping adventures from the far reaches of the globe. In the plains of Texas, he ... Read More

Directed By : Paul Greengrass

Written By : Paul Greengrass, Luke Davies, Paulette Jiles

News of the World

Where to watch.

Captain Kidd

Helena zengel, cavalry lieutenant, travis johnson, cavalry rider, andy kastelic, union duty officer, ray mckinnon, simon boudlin, mare winningham, doris boudlin, jeffrey ware, red river heckler, chris bylsma, justin tade, darrin giossi, federal soldier, brenden wedner, young progressive speaker, elizabeth marvel, mrs. gannett, michael angelo covino, almay's man, cash lilley, stafford douglas, dallas federal officer, jared berry, dallas federal soldier, gabriel ebert, benjamin farley, fred hechinger, john calley, critic reviews.

• All Reviews
• Positive Reviews
• Mixed Reviews
• Negative Reviews

User Reviews

Related movies, seven samurai, the wild bunch, north by northwest, crouching tiger, hidden dragon, the lord of the rings: the return of the king, the french connection, the lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring, mad max: fury road, the incredibles, star wars: episode iv - a new hope, house of flying daggers, assault on precinct 13, the hidden fortress, gangs of wasseypur, captain blood, related news.

The 15 Best Ridley Scott Movies

We rank the highest-scoring films directed by Ridley Scott from throughout his entire career.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

Jason dietz.

Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video.

2024-25 Movie Release Calendar

Find a schedule of release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 and 2025, updated daily.

Meet This Year's Best Picture Contenders

Which films will contend for the Oscars' biggest prize in March? We have surveyed the experts to come up with a list of 15 of the likeliest Best Picture nominees among all films released in 2024.

November 2024 Movie Preview

Keith kimbell.

Our editors select the most notable films debuting in November, including Moana and Gladiator sequels, the first film in a two-part Wicked adaptation, and multiple potential Oscar contenders.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

News of the World

A Civil War veteran agrees to deliver a girl taken by the Kiowa people years ago to her aunt and uncle against her will. They travel hundreds of miles and face grave dangers as they search f... Read all A Civil War veteran agrees to deliver a girl taken by the Kiowa people years ago to her aunt and uncle against her will. They travel hundreds of miles and face grave dangers as they search for a place that either can call home. A Civil War veteran agrees to deliver a girl taken by the Kiowa people years ago to her aunt and uncle against her will. They travel hundreds of miles and face grave dangers as they search for a place that either can call home.

• Paul Greengrass
• Luke Davies
• Paulette Jiles
• Helena Zengel
• 715 User reviews
• 248 Critic reviews
• 73 Metascore
• 5 wins & 80 nominations total

Top cast 60

• Captain Kidd

• Cavalry Lieutenant
• Cavalry Rider
• (as John Travis Johnson)

• Union Duty Officer

• Simon Boudlin

• Doris Boudlin
• Red River Heckler

• Federal Soldier

• Young Progressive Speaker
• (as Brenden Wedner)

• Mrs. Gannett

• Almay's Man

• Dallas Federal Officer

• Dallas Federal Soldier
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Paul Greengrass said in an interview in the New York Times on 12/30/2020 how this movie "is the first film I made with a child actor at the heart of it" and he thought that it would be very difficult to cast the role of Johanna but when he saw Helena Zengel 's audition, he said she "was the only person I really had to look at" and that it "was the easiest decision in the film".
• Goofs John Calley calls the Central Texas area "Kiowa country" when he splits from Kidd and Johanna. However, in 1870 that area was unquestionably Comanche territory ("Comanchería"). The Kiowa roamed further north.

Captain Kidd : See all those words printed in a line one after the other? Put 'em all together and you have a story.

• Connections Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Tom Hanks/Jessica Chastain/Emily Blunt/Jamie Dornan/Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall/Nish Kumar/Sophie Ellis-Baxtor (2020)
• Soundtracks Prairie Dog Song Traditional

User reviews 715

Hanks in the saddle.

• Dec 24, 2020
• How long is News of the World? Powered by Alexa
• If you are reluctant to attend a cinema release of this movie, are there any alternatives?
• When Captain Kidd first meets Johanna he also finds an official document that has her background story, including her birth name. Where did that information come from? Even if there was a missing person report filed several years earlier, how could anyone make the connection that the little girl they found with the Kiowa was the little girl who had been taken several years earlier?
• December 25, 2020 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official Instagram
• North American Indian
• Chuyến Đi Định Mệnh
• Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
• Perfect World Pictures
• Pretty Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $38,000,000 (estimated)
• $12,668,325
• Dec 27, 2020
• Runtime 1 hour 58 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Surround 7.1

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.