Why do audiences like to watch Tom Hanks suffer? Cast Away, Philadelphia, hell throw Forrest Gump in there, the man can play optimistic men broken and beaten down by life like no other. It comes as no surprise then that the man affectionately known as “America’s Dad” pulls it off again in Miguel Sapchnik’s Finch; the story of a man, his dog and his robot crossing a post-apocalyptic United States. It is only thanks to Hanks’ affability and some wonderful voice work from Caleb Landry Jones that Finch works as well as it does; an otherwise forgettable sci-fi adventure with more under the hood than meets the eye.
After a deadly solar flare has rendered the surface of Earth inhospitable, lone robotic engineer Finch (Hanks) roams the desert landscape by day – scavenging for what precious few supplies remain – and by night works on Jeff (Landry Jones), a robot designed to care for Finch’s dog Goodyear after he succumbs to the radiation-induced cancer ravaging his body. When an approaching superstorm threatens to wipe out the trio’s underground sanctuary, they set out for the (relative) safety of San Francisco, a cross-country journey that will test all of Finch’s will, patience and determination.
Apple TV+, 2021
Finch’s odd-couple road trip story is nothing we haven’t seen before, but Hanks’ presence goes a long way toward helping you look past the familiar and care for Finch and the outcome of his journey. Unlike those other roles, we find Hanks’ character post-trauma; a shell of a man whose only joy in this hellscape America comes from the companionship he feels for Goodyear. Jeff’s arrival signals a change in the status quo and the start of Finch having to come to terms with saying goodbye to his canine pal. As such there is a constant undercurrent of sadness that is balanced out by the ridiculous antics and childlike excitement of Jeff who – unlike other famous film robots – has quite the personality; approaching every new teaching and location with a sense of childlike wonder (think C3-P0 before R2-D2 made him a cynical asshole).
Landry Jones brings that personality to life wonderfully through lively, deeply emotive voice work that perfectly encapsulates the giddy highs of a child learning something new before the adult (Finch) scolds them for it. The effects help a great deal here; clearly Apple has spent a small fortune on ensuring that Jeff feels realistic and reacts to the world around him – slumping his shoulders in sadness and cocking his head in interest – in a way that feels both foreign and familiar; you are able to look past Jeff’s looks and see the touching father/son relationship at the film’s core. Finch might seem like quite the cruisy, conflict-less film but Sapochnik does a great job creating tension out of very little, crafting a wonderfully tense moment wrought from little more than a car driving behind Finch; normally fine, but potentially doom-bringing in this apocalypse.
Apple TV+, 2021
Finch accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do; presenting a touching story of a man, his robot and his dog bonding and learning some hard lessons about themselves and one another as they traverse an apocalyptic America. Sapochnik wisely never bites off more than he can chew (apart from a slightly bloated runtime), keeping the action contained and the stakes intimately low; one man gone in the apocalypse doesn’t mean much in the larger scheme of things but to Goodyear it means everything. Well played Hanks, you’ve done it again.
Apple TV+, 2021
Finch stars Tom Hanks & Caleb Landry Jones – Streaming on Apple TV+ now.
Of his numerous on-screen credits there is one that America’s dad Tom Hanks has yet to venture into, and with his latest film News of the World, he takes the leap into the most dad-ish of genres: the Western. Re-teaming with Captain Phillips director Paul Greengrass, the duo manage to create a classically structured Western that feels perfectly placed within the genre, whilst also packing in the action and an emotionally aware lead that eluded many Western’s of old. As with all Greengrass films, the social commentary is ever-present and hits hard when it needs to, with real-life parallels almost too easy to draw after a certain President’s recently (and thankfully) ended term. The odd-couple dynamic between Hanks and newcomer Helena Zengel anchors the well paced story and brings an optimistic outlook to an otherwise desolate, divided America, with a surprising amount of emotion and tension drawn from Hanks’ commitment to his journey and the dangers of the wild west.
In what is a role fitting of his über nice guy reputation, Hanks plays Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a reformed member of the Confederate army who travels the country delivering news to the local townspeople from newspapers spanning the local area to international crises. Think a kind of old-school personal Twitter, complete with outrageous reactions from the crowds albeit with less racist tirades from a certain leader of the country. When he happens upon a destroyed wagon on the way to his next stop, Kidd discovers Johanna (Zengel), a young German girl raised by the Native Americans of the Kiowa tribe after a terrible tragedy befell her parents. After his attempts to offload the girl to local authorities prove futile, Kidd takes it upon himself to transport Johanna to her last remaining relatives – an aunt and uncle living hundreds of miles away. As he and Johanna travel the country, spreading the news and bonding as he attempts to teach her English, they are confronted by multiple dangers; from giant sandstorms to radicalised towns of soldiers that wish the pair ill fortune.
Universal Pictures, 2020
What differentiates News of the World from other films of its ilk is just how fleshed out and multi-layered Hanks’ Captain Kidd is. This is not your typical lone gunman journeying across the wild west on a quest for revenge, but rather a deeply damaged man whose vocation and journey are borne from personal tragedy and the sins of his past. Unlike a John Wayne character, Kidd feels remorse for his actions, using violence as a last resort in his mission to transport Johanna to her family and mulling over his decisions for days after the encounters. It isn’t a particular stretch for Hanks to hit these high emotional notes. We’ve seen it before in the devastating finales of Captain Phillips and Philadelphia, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive to watch one of the greatest actor’s of all time do his thing. A more subdued role this go around maybe – in a time where men shared their feelings privately and not often – but Hanks manages to maintain that gruff, weathered exterior while still breaking the audience’s heart and forcing the tissues to come out.
His performance wouldn’t be as effective if it weren’t for the other half of this odd couple pairing: Helena Zengel. As the Kiowa-raised, non-English speaking Johanna, she is forced to communicate mainly through facial expressions and exasperated tantrums, a character trait that might start out as mildly annoying but becomes increasingly understandable as you learn more about the young girl’s tragic past. For any actor to hold their own with such a formidable talent as Hanks is impressive in its own right, but for a child with the experience that Zengel possesses is revelatory, a true talent whose star shines bright; comparable to Hailee Steinfeld’s breakout role in the Coen Brothers’ True Grit. While News of the World doesn’t attempt to follow the violent storyline of that particular remake, it does pack its fair (and admittedly surprising) share of action. Audiences who don’t consider themselves fans of the sometimes slow pacing of classic Westerns will likely be surprised here by the tumultuous journey Kidd and Johanna endure; barrelling between battles with bandits in tense shootouts to the aforementioned sandstorm as well as some lighter moments. The effects might fall short of the standards audiences have become used to in 202, but the heart of the film remains: Kidd lives his life spreading the news to others, but in committing himself to Johanna’s fate learns more about the world and himself than he ever could from newspapers.
Universal Pictures, 2020
News of the World is a departure from the norm for both Tom Hanks and Paul Greengrass and the journey into the different proves fruitful for everyone involved, especially the audience. Full of heart with a genuinely enthralling relationship between Hanks’ Captain Kidd and Helena Zengel’s fierce Johanna this is a Western that bucks the trends of the genre to deliver action, social commentary and emotion in spades, all the way to its heartstring-pulling conclusion. If you need a break from the constant barrage of terrible news in the real world at the moment, why not invest in News of the World?
Universal Pictures, 2020
News of the World stars Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Ray McKinnon & Bill Camp – Streaming on Netflix now.
Tom Hanks is one of, if not the finest living actors today. The veteran actor, star of classics such as Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan, is also a huge box-office draw, headlining some of the most successful films of all time. As such, it will come as no surprise to anyone that Apple payed a pretty penny to get their hands on Hanks’ latest film Greyhound, a naval war film taking place during WWII that he both stars in and co-wrote. So did Apple’s investment pay off in terms of the quality of the film? It’s not as straightforward a question as it might seem. Greyhound is an engaging battle film with a typically excellent performance from Hanks which does a great job of building an atmosphere of tension and dread. It does however suffer from a distinct lack of characterisation of anyone other than Hanks and a story that is essentially several battle scenes stitched together over the course of one very long voyage between Britain and America. It is not a bad film by any stretch and I was fully engaged the whole time, but it isn’t the next huge classic war film that Apple was hoping for, and definitely is not the content that will draw large amounts of people to the service.
Greyhound follows U.S. Navy Captain Krause (Hanks) on his maiden voyage as commanding officer of the Greyhound destroyer, travelling across the North Atlantic in 1942 as an escort to merchant ships carrying troops and supplies for the war effort on the Front. Once the convoy enters the area of the Atlantic known as “The Black Pit”, their Air Force escort is forced to turn back and the Greyhound is thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a number of German U-Boats stalking the depths. With 72 hours before they enter another patrolled stretch of sea, Commander Krause must rally the other naval ships and ensure as many merchant ships get through to the other side in one piece. It’s a barebones plot, to put it mildly, but director Aaron Schneider gets a surprising amount out of it, steadily building the tension as you anticipate the unseen U-Boat’s first strike, and never letting that go until the 72 hours are through once things kick off. It’s just the right length too, clocking in at a breezy 90 minutes without feeling rushed, letting you sit with the situation and feel the increasingly mounting pressure on the Captain for the full ride, only realising you were holding your breath once the credits roll.
Apple TV+, 2020
Hanks’ last few projects (The Post, Sully, Bridge of Spies) have seen him lean into his age in films I like to call “Dad movies”. You know the type: true stories that feature an older man in a position of great importance and leadership who use a lot of job specific words and make incredibly difficult, stressful decisions in order to save people or deliver an important message. Greyhound is the latest in this trend and its war-time setting thrusts it even deeper into that “Dad movie” category than those other titles I mentioned. Hanks clearly has a fondness for this time period and the script demonstrates his level of knowledge and understanding of the era, with a heavy use of military jargon and naval vernacular that can be a bit daunting for the casual viewer to grasp when you start. However it does an excellent job of really grounding you in the time period and immersing you in the situation, as the reliance on this technical vocabulary from the outset makes it even more noticeable when the situation becomes increasingly dire and people start slipping up and speaking out of turn and without the proper levels of hierarchy. It’s just another way that Hanks and Schneider build tension and make the film feel almost like horror along with Blake Neely’s great score and the terrifying threat of the constantly lurking enemy.
The issues start to show in Hanks’ script when you take a look at the characters in Greyhound. There’s really only one and that’s Hank’s Captain Krause. Again, he’s great in the role and really sells this man who trusts in his principles, God and his training to get the job done and is tested at every turn. There’s lots of subtle movements and facial expressions that convey the tiredness and the impact the lack of sleep is having on the Captain’s decisions and he is acutely aware that his every decision is taken with a grain of salt as he starts to become more erratic to combat the enemy. The problem is, Hanks is the only person that gets a story arc. Literally nobody else is given anything close to a normal supporting role except for Stephen Graham’s Lieutenant Cole, Krause’s right hand man and the only other actor who gets more than a few lines. Although his performance is solid, even Hanks’ character is severely underwritten as we only ever learn the basics about him. I’m not sure if that was Hanks’ intention, to have you learn what type of man this Commander is through his actions, but there just isn’t anything to him and the audience ends up rooting for him simply because he is Tom Hanks. There is an attempt to give the Commander something of a backstory with one flashback scene introducing his sweetheart back in America – played by the woefully underused Elisabeth Shue – but again, this doesn’t go anywhere and is just a bare minimum device to get you to care for this man, without success.
Apple TV+, 2020
Ultimately the lack of characterisation stops Greyhound from becoming anything more than a competently executed and well researched representation of one of the lesser known battles of World War II. It is certainly an engaging watch and the devices Schneider and Hanks employ keep you at a heightened level of stress only add to the experience, but at the end of the day when you don’t really care for the characters it’s hard for the film to have much emotional impact. Despite this, any time watching Tom Hanks on-screen is going to be a good time and I can confidently recommend Greyhound as a fun nautical action film. Just don’t expect to be blown away by the next great war picture – 1917 this is not.
Apple TV+, 2020
Grehound stars Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham & Elizabeth Shue – Available to stream on Apple TV+ now.
The Toy Story franchise is one close to many children’s (and adult’s) hearts; the studio defining 1995 hit was a watershed moment for computer generated animation which combined advanced technology with a story full of heart and lovable characters. The sequels that followed were equally as good, if not better – inspiring and entertaining children around the globe and sparking a child-like joy in the adults that watched them. Fears arose in fans when a third film was announced 11 years after its predecessor – some believing that Pixar was simply cashing in on the franchise. These fears were quickly put to rest as the film was a smash hit and a critical darling, showing that whilst Pixar may have had some missteps, it was still very much in control of the Tory Story series. Despite this, the announcement of a fourth film stirred up that same fear in fans, somewhat understandably as Toy Story 3 seemed like the perfect bookend to the franchise. Yet again these fears were proven wrong however, as Toy Story 4 is another stellar entry filled to the brim with plenty of heart, laughs, life lessons and incredible characters that is sure to put a smile on everyone’s faces.
The toys’ fourth outing centres around Woody (Tom Hanks) coming to terms with his role as a toy for new owner Bonnie. Having been the apple of previous owner Andy’s eye, Woody isn’t accustomed to not being the favourite and finds himself being passed over when playtime rolls around. When Bonnie brings home new “toy” Forky (Tony Hale) – a creation made out of a plastic spork, googly eyes and popsicle sticks – Woody is understandably a little miffed, but he also recognises the importance of the self-made toy in helping Bonnie cope with school. Forky is suffering from his own existential crisis, believing his purpose is to be used once and thrown in the trash, and Woody takes it upon himself to help Forky realise just how important he is to Bonnie and what it truly means to be a toy. When Woody and Forky are separated from the rest of the group, it is up to them – as well as a host of characters both new and old such as Buzz (Tim Allen), Jesse (Joan Cusack), Bo Peep (Annie Potts), Ducky (Keegan-Michael Key), Bunny (Jordan Peele) and Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves) – to work together to get Forky back to Bonnie.
Disney/Pixar, 2019
As with all of Pixar’s greatest films, Toy Story 4 is anchored by a central theme: finding one’s place in the world. For Woody, his purpose has always been making Andy happy and he has thrived off seeing Andy grow into his own fully fledged person. Naturally Woody assumes that things will go much the same with new owner Bonnie, but life has other plans. The emotional core of the film centres around Woody coming to terms that he is not Bonnie’s favourite toy like he was Andy’s, yet still having that instinct at his core to see Bonnie happy and fulfilled. He is willing to sacrifice his own happiness if it means that other toys can go on and make Bonnie happy, and this compromise really weighs on Woody as he also yearns for his own personal happiness. Enter Forky, who acts as a physical representation of the opposite view to Woody: where Woody believes his purpose is to help ensure Bonnie’s happiness, Forky believes he is destined for the trash and goes to great lengths to achieve this and ensure his own happiness. The companionship between these two toys allows for a real exploration of the concept of purpose, as both characters come to understand each other’s point of view. It’s a complex concept sold in a visually stunning, funny and endearing way that really appeals to kids and teaches as well as entertains.
Whilst the animation and laughs are always top notch, audiences flock to the Toy Story films for the characters. Children from the 1990’s have grown up with these characters and their adventures and understandably have a special place in their hearts for Woody, Buzz, Jesse and the gang. It might come as a blow to some viewers, therefore, that the film chooses to narrow its focus on Woody and his internal crisis. He is undoubtedly the lead and whilst we get plenty of screen-time from other characters (mostly new), don’t go into it expecting to see much of your favourite supporting characters like Slinky or Rex. This laser focus on Woody and his immediate surroundings works for the story being told and helps the audience understand his mindset; we’re along for the ride with Woody and are experiencing this wider world of toys as he does. Speaking of which, Toy Story 4 branches into unmarked territory for the series as this is undoubtedly the scariest film in the franchise and I was shocked at the horror elements on display and how unsettled I was by certain scenes. On the flip side of this, it’s also the funniest film in the series by far with the addition of comedy sketch duo Key and Peele a stroke of genius. The pair play stuffed animal carnival prize toys who have clearly been strapped to the prize wall for too long given their imaginative and warped views on what is happening around them. Key and Peele obviously have great chemistry and the incessant banter that bleeds from their scenes at the forefront into the background is so good and consistently funny – I could happily listen to the hours of recorded dialogue that was ultimately scrapped.
Disney/Pixar, 2019
With the film anchored by Woody, it’s no surprise here that Tom Hanks gives a stellar performance. The character is second nature to Hanks at this point and the way he uses his voice to convey Woody’s emotional state is spectacular. Combine that with Pixar’s best animation to date and the end result is a completely immersive film that really sucks you into the story. Tim Allen reprises his role as Buzz and is quite frankly a little shortchanged here as the character’s involvement in the story seems like more of an afterthought. Allen works well with what he’s given and at this point it’s just reassuring to have Buzz along for the ride, in whatever capacity that may be. Where the voice acting really gets interesting is in the new additions to the cast, mainly Tony Hale as Forky and Keanu Reeves as Duke Caboom. Tony Hale has made a career out of playing excellent side characters on shows such as Veep and Arrested Development, but he really gets a chance to shine here as the voice of the googly-eyed spork, transferring that excellent comedic timing over to the big screen. Forky gets a chance to play off just about every major character and its almost a guaranteed laugh every time as Hale utilises a range of vocal techniques and grunts to hilarious effect. It’s no secret that 2019 belongs to Keanu Reeves and the role of Duke Caboom only adds to his impressive list of credits this year. Reeves’ voice is instantly recognisable at this point and half the fun of having him in this role is hearing John Wick himself voice the Canadian motorbike stunt rider with PTSD from his previous owner. It’s a charming character and the little French-Canadian touches Reeves provides really add to the performance. Last but certainly not least is returning side character Bo Peep, played by Annie Potts, who has been promoted to co-lead this time around. It’s a complete change for the character who has gone from little more than a bit part to a fierce, independent adventurer intent on discovering all the world has to offer without the constraints of belonging to one child. Potts plays this strong aspect of the character perfectly but really shines in showcasing Peep’s vulnerability. She misses the companionship of Woody and despite enjoying her life of freedom longs for that connection.
Toy Story 4 is another rousing triumph for Pixar. A film that not only justifies its existence but which furthers the franchise in every conceivable way: characters, emotional depth and comedy just to name a few. The new additions to the cast are incredible and each new character brings a different flavour to the narrative; be it Bo’s emotional connection with Woody or Forky’s waxing philosophical about trash. Pixar once again proves that they are the industry gold standard in animation and audiences should rush to see this film in the theatre, where it will surely break box office records. If you had any doubts about a fourth film in the franchise, then they will almost certainly be put to bed, and if Pixar decides to continue with the series at this standard, well they can go to infinity and beyond.
Disney/Pixar, 2019
Toy Story 4 stars Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keanu Reeves, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele & Christina Hendricks and is in cinemas now.
