Brief Story Line
Set in the year 1870 after the civil war of US, Captain Jefferson Kidd (Tom Hanks - Sully, The Circle etc) was working as news reader who went from town to town and earning little money from whoever willing to give him a dime. After finishing a reading, Captain met with a young girl named Johanna (Helena Zengel) who was the only survivor of an attack on her wagon driver.
Despite his reluctance, Captain brought Johanna along to the ultimate location of her only living relatives. Thus the two of them went on a very long journey filled with so much danger and obstacles to reach their destination.
So what would happen to Captain and Johanna? Find them all in this interesting and unique Western drama movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Lately Western movies have not truly been favorite of mine. It was funny as during my childhood years, I loved everything about cowboys and even wanted to become sheriff at one point of time. Later I think I outgrew that period and did not really fancy them anymore. So to be honest, I was a bit doubtful about this film at first, but I wanted to give a try as I thought there was a bit of uniqueness with the premise. An old soldier veteran who travelled with a young girl to a far away location.
And as I watched this movie, it was like what I expected. The journey was wonderful to watch, with lovely interaction between the senior Captain and the young girl who had her life torn apart twice. And what amazed me was it was not entirely focusing on the dramatic relationship but also the ordeal both of them had to face, from a bunch of ex confederate soldiers gone rogue, a small town militia leader and other challenges. It was like they never got any breaks.
Aside from enjoying how the two lead characters endured and persevered against all the obstacles, I also admired the acting of Tom Hanks. It was amazing how he always managed to seamlessly transformed into whatever characters he was playing and very convincing in the roles he played. This time I really believed he was this professional news reader and I was quite captivated by his news reading which felt like awesome story telling. Oh, the newcomer Helena Zengel also performed brilliantly. She was fascinating in her characterization and critics was praising her performance as well, although I personally felt that she was amazing because she managed to do so at such a young age but probably if she was a bit more mature, it would be seen as a standard acting. Btw, she was nominated due to her performance in various awards including Golden Globe.
As a Western drama, it might not be complete without some sort of gunshooting, but it was not the main attraction here as its focus was on the story itself. For almost 2 hours, we were shown the great scenery of the wild west and supported by some wonderful musical score. This movie was directed by Paul Greengrass (Bourne movies, United 93, Green Zone etc). It marked the second time he collaborated with Tom hanks after Captain Phillips where Greengrass received various nomination for best directing. The film itself was based on novel of the same title written by Paulette Jiles.
Overall I quite enjoyed this Western drama movie. It pretty much met my expectations of a good quality acted movie. The ending though quite predictable, was still nice to see. There was sufficient amount of drama but not overly dramatic. However, I just did not feel this movie to be extremely great. Although it did leave a happy feeling after it ended, there just weren't enough attributes that made this a truly memorable movie for me personally. Anyway if you want to see Tom Hanks playing as a cowboy embarked on a long journey in the wild west while protecting a very young girl, with some great acting by the 2 lead cast, then you would enjoy it.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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