World News Movie Review

Families need to know that World News is a shocking western set in 1870 about a man named Captain Kidd (Tom Hanks), who travels across America reading the news. He is tasked with transporting a young white girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel), who was abducted by the Kiowa a few years earlier, back to her birth family, even though she doesn’t want to go. The film unfolds amidst frequent danger and scenes of violence, including gunshots, deaths, someone being hanged, a field full of dead buffalo, punches, bleeding wounds, an injured horse being slaughtered, a terrifying wagon accident, and much more. Some of the headlines/news stories Kidd reads are potentially disturbing, someone makes a racist comment (it’s presented as negative), and it’s implied that some unsavory men want to buy Johanna. One non-graphic scene suggests that two characters had sex. Sporadic language includes a muttered “f—k,” a “s—t,” “damn,” “hell,” etc., plus “thank God,” and people are seen drinking. Directed by Paul Greengrass, the film is moving and lyrical and, despite some somber sequences, quite enjoyable.