Review: 'News of the World' is Eye-Catching on 4K

Just because a country wins a war, just because the balance of power transfers to the most just side of a bifurcated nation and just because the wicked practice of legal slavery is abolished doesn't mean that the nation has been made right, and just because a man picks up the pieces of his shattered life and continues to move forward doesn't mean he's progressing.

The most profound message of the neo-western drama "News of the World" is that America, even though she may be "beautiful," has never mastered the ideal of "brotherhood from sea to shining sea." With echos to some of the genre's greats, like "True Grit" and "Dances with Wolves," this film aims at a little bit more than it attains.

The film starts with an interesting premise, or rather, an interesting profession. Tom Hanks plays Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a former newspaperman whose career was torn apart by the Civil War. Now he goes around from town to town and reads newspapers to a crowds of tired and illiterate citizens. His audience is a crowd of poor white people who long for a country where they aren't the laboring class.

One day on his way out of town, he runs into an overturned wagon on the road and finds a murdered black soldier and a white girl dressed in Native American clothing. The 10-year-old child, named Johanna (Helena Zengel), speaks no English. Her parents were German immigrants, but she has been raised most of her life by the Kiowa tribe–these are the people and the lifestyle she most closely identifies with. Kidd doesn't want to get involved, but if he doesn't do something, no one else will, and the child will be alone and abandon.

Director Paul Greengrass, known for his historical dramas and the "Jason Bourne" trilogy, excels does best with the action sequences, and these really pick up toward the middle part of the film. With high stakes and taut, suspenseful cross-cutting, these sequences deliver the biggest punch. The scenic design and cinematography are also glorious, and it is these technical elements that have been appreciated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as manifest by the Academy Awards for which the movie has been nominated (Best Production Design, Cinematography, Sound and Original Score).

Fortunately for audiences, this film has come to 4K Blu-ray, where these visual and sound elements can truly shine, and all of the special features have been recorded in 4K resolution as well. They include, deleted scenes, a look at the Kiowa, a featurette on the Hanks & Zengel partnership and one on action in the western.

Own "News of the World" in it's most stunning quality, on 4K Blu-ray March 22.