(CNN) The western gets a slightly revisionist spin in "News of the World," a film starring Tom Hanks that's really the same plot as "The Mandalorian," just without the armor. Despite an action-filled trailer, director/co-writer Paul Greengrass' movie is only fitfully eventful, relying heavily on the grudging relationship formed between Hanks' taciturn vagabond and his unlikely young charge. Recognizing that his audience lacks the time or ability, think of him as an early news aggregator, culled from a rich tradition of storytelling. If that sounds a bit uncomfortably like the US as it stands 150 years later, that's no accident. Greengrass (of "United 93" and the Jason Bourne movies, who previously directed Hanks in "Captain Phillips") has a history of slipping social and political commentary into his films.

Source: CNN December 24, 2020 15:11 UTC