News of the World: A Road Trip Western (Amazon Prime, $19.95)

I love Westerns and Tom Hanks, so I was eager to see this film.  It's a simple story, and, if the movie had been 90 minutes instead of 2 hours, I would have liked it better. The film is set in about 1870.  Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) makes his living by travelling to small Texas towns, reading the citizens the relevant news of the day.  Newspapers weren't delivered back then and most of the people couldn't read anyway, so Kidd had found himself a good niche.  He's more of a performer than a newscaster, making the stories entertaining as well as informative. While travelling from one town to another, he comes across a murder scene.  A black man is hanging from a tree, and an about-10-year-old blonde girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel), is hiding in the bushes.  Kidd takes the girl – who speaks only the Native American language, Kiowa – with him to a cavalry outpost.  He is told that he will need to take her to her relatives who live many miles away.  Apparently, when she was very young, her family was slaughtered by Native Americans.  Her life was spared, and she grew up with the tribe. The film is primarily about the trip on a covered wagon with Kidd and Joanna travelling to meet her relatives.  The trip has some exciting, unanticipated obstacles along the way, creating an emotional bond between them. Hanks is great as usual, and Zengel does a fine job too.  The film also has beautiful cinematography. The movie has its moments – especially the final 15 minutes, but the first 75 were way too slow for me. Bottom Line: The film is an OTBR because it has a "covered-wagon pace," but, if you love Tom Hanks, it's probably still worth seeing.