I mean, it's a nice little story. It's not that dark of a story and there's points in the story that actually feel quite nice. But when there's a much better side of the same story, then what's the point?
News of the World aka The Bad of Us is completely a rip-off of... *drums rollin* The Last of Us, who could've seen that one coming huh? But for real, this story isn't anything more than a rip-off of The Last of Us. I mean, this whole concept of story isn't anything special, but you can tell that the movie was trying to mimic The Last of Us and added a bit of Mandy (1952) just so that they won't get straight called out for plagiarism. And if someone says: "The movie was based on a novel", you know what, you're right kiddo. Except that novel was released in 2016. I'm not against it if you take an concept of rivarly for your movie, but at least try to make it a good movie. Unlike The Last of Us, this one ain't even good, boyo.
Let's start with the acting. Helena Zengel was pretty alright with her role. I don't want to discourage her or anything, but I think she could've done a much better job. I think it might have been more of Paul Greengrass's fault but whatever. Tom Hanks was Tom Hanks and Tom Hanks as Tom Hanks is the same as Steven Seagal as Steven Seagal: uninteresting. Well, to be honest, Steven Seagal is much more interesting than Tom Hanks. I don't hate Tom Hanks, but I haven't seen him acting a character instead of himself since the early 2000s. There could've been a much more better actors for this role, but I think Tom Hanks did his job. When it comes to the other characters, well... Michael Angelo Covino did a pretty good job with his character. The other actors... did not so well with their characters.
Now, the directing. I don't mean to say that Paul Greengrass is an untalented movie director who shouldn't ever try to make anything that involves good acting, good writing and good directing... but I'm saying that. I mean, sure, in Captain Phillips Barkhad Abdi was really good, but I think it's more likely that Barkhad Abdi is just a natural born actor. In Good Time he did a good job, even in Blade Runner 2049 he did a good job, so I believe that's it's more thank to him than Paul Greengrass. Paul Greengrass isn't untalented, I've seen parts of his Bourne movies and they seem actually pretty good movies, but his directing is the same as Steven Spielberg's: money-grubbin'. I don't see that there's any passion or style in the directing, it just feels like Paul Greengrass just wanted that paycheck.
Cinematograpy is good. Only thing that I do like about in all of Paul Greengrass's movies, is how everything is mostly shot handheld. It's obviously a stylistic choice, which I do like, but I think it's more thanks to the cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, who shot The Hurt Locker.
Music is alright. it's just alright. There's not much to say about it, to be honest. It's the most generic Hollywood violin score.
Story, even though I criticized it for ripping off The Last of Us, is not the worst still. Some of the moments and dialogue are pretty well written, but mostly it's the most generic, bland, tasteless, uninteresting, boring story. There's nothing good about that, it makes the movie just more annoying to watch.
Even though I criticized this movie a lot, there's still good things about it. Sadly, there were more good than bad: 4/10.
News of the World aka The Bad of Us is completely a rip-off of... *drums rollin* The Last of Us, who could've seen that one coming huh? But for real, this story isn't anything more than a rip-off of The Last of Us. I mean, this whole concept of story isn't anything special, but you can tell that the movie was trying to mimic The Last of Us and added a bit of Mandy (1952) just so that they won't get straight called out for plagiarism. And if someone says: "The movie was based on a novel", you know what, you're right kiddo. Except that novel was released in 2016. I'm not against it if you take an concept of rivarly for your movie, but at least try to make it a good movie. Unlike The Last of Us, this one ain't even good, boyo.
Let's start with the acting. Helena Zengel was pretty alright with her role. I don't want to discourage her or anything, but I think she could've done a much better job. I think it might have been more of Paul Greengrass's fault but whatever. Tom Hanks was Tom Hanks and Tom Hanks as Tom Hanks is the same as Steven Seagal as Steven Seagal: uninteresting. Well, to be honest, Steven Seagal is much more interesting than Tom Hanks. I don't hate Tom Hanks, but I haven't seen him acting a character instead of himself since the early 2000s. There could've been a much more better actors for this role, but I think Tom Hanks did his job. When it comes to the other characters, well... Michael Angelo Covino did a pretty good job with his character. The other actors... did not so well with their characters.
Now, the directing. I don't mean to say that Paul Greengrass is an untalented movie director who shouldn't ever try to make anything that involves good acting, good writing and good directing... but I'm saying that. I mean, sure, in Captain Phillips Barkhad Abdi was really good, but I think it's more likely that Barkhad Abdi is just a natural born actor. In Good Time he did a good job, even in Blade Runner 2049 he did a good job, so I believe that's it's more thank to him than Paul Greengrass. Paul Greengrass isn't untalented, I've seen parts of his Bourne movies and they seem actually pretty good movies, but his directing is the same as Steven Spielberg's: money-grubbin'. I don't see that there's any passion or style in the directing, it just feels like Paul Greengrass just wanted that paycheck.
Cinematograpy is good. Only thing that I do like about in all of Paul Greengrass's movies, is how everything is mostly shot handheld. It's obviously a stylistic choice, which I do like, but I think it's more thanks to the cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, who shot The Hurt Locker.
Music is alright. it's just alright. There's not much to say about it, to be honest. It's the most generic Hollywood violin score.
Story, even though I criticized it for ripping off The Last of Us, is not the worst still. Some of the moments and dialogue are pretty well written, but mostly it's the most generic, bland, tasteless, uninteresting, boring story. There's nothing good about that, it makes the movie just more annoying to watch.
Even though I criticized this movie a lot, there's still good things about it. Sadly, there were more good than bad: 4/10.