I wouldn't call Tom Hanks an action star but if you consider films like Castaway and Captain Philips, News of the World would fall into this same wheelhouse of action. It's a travel Western about a man, Captain Kidd (Tom Hanks) who travels from town to town reading the news - newspapers and literacy both being scarce at this time in American history. Kidd ends up with a kid, Johanna (Helena Zengel - nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance here) and Kidd has agreed to take the kid across the country to her only living relatives after her parents are killed and Johanna was raised by the Kiowa tribe (indigenous people of the Great Plains). Johanna has forgotten how to speak English or German or whatever language she spoke before. Kidd is going on this road trip, because well, we wouldn't have a movie otherwise and it's Tom Hanks (big old softy). They have many adventures along the way and by the end of the film I found myself rather emotionally invested despite the simplicity of the story. Helena Zengel is bloody great in this. It's one of the better films to come out of 2020 so hitch your wagon to this one and giddy up. Catch it on streaming services.
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