You’ll be pleased to hear News of the World does not concern the now discontinued UK tabloid newspaper. Rather, it is a western directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks. And yes, it is yet another film to be added to my sorry list of wish-I’d-seen-in-the-cinema-but-couldn’t-thanks-to-Covid. 

Such whinging aside, I can report that News of the World is a solid watch. Not ground-breaking, but a cut above average, with Tom Hanks as reliable as ever playing Civil War veteran Captain Kidd, a man who travels from town to town in the Old West, reading newspaper clippings to gatherings of the curious, who pay ten cents for the privilege.

During one of his journeys between towns, Kidd comes across a dead black man who has been lynched by a racist Texan mob, and the frightened young girl who accompanied him. Said girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel), was previously abducted by the Kiowa, so has in effect been orphaned twice; once when her parents were killed by the Native American tribe, and once when the whites massacred her Kiowa adopted family. The dead black man had been escorting her to her surviving relatives; a task that ultimately falls to Kidd.

So begins a dangerous journey for Kidd and Johanna, who inevitably form a bond as they travel. What follows isn’t particularly remarkable in terms of plot, but the metaphorical allusions are thoughtful and resonant. Here is a hurting, divided America just as beleaguered by fake news and echo chambers as the one in the present. Kidd fought on the Confederate side, but is now a voice of reconciliation, urging unity. Familiar contemporary sentiments can be heard today, both among Democrats and the more honourable Republicans, urging its time to move on from the Trump cult.

On top of all this, the film is about finding your place again, in the aftermath of trauma and loss. This is obviously applicable to Zengel’s character (named Johanna by her parents, and Cicada by the Kiowa tribe that adopted her), but also to Kidd, who is haunted by his role in the Civil War, and by the death of his wife.

Performances are good, not just from Hanks, but from Zengel, who is convincingly vulnerable and feral. Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski’s landscapes look splendid (again, I wish I could have seen them on a big screen), and James Newton Howard contributes an atmospheric score. Paul Greengrass may be better known for his more frenetic work (Bloody Sunday, United 93, Captain Phillips, and of course the Bourne films), but his direction here, whilst slower more meditative, is no less compelling. No classic then, but a good, thoughtful, satisfyingly topical western.

UK Certificate: 12A

US Certificate PG-13