Tom Hanks had a pretty good 2019, lending his vocal talents to billion-dollar hit sequel Toy Story 4 and picking up his first Academy Award nomination in almost 20 years for fully embracing his reputation as ‘America’s Dad’ and playing Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
2020 hasn’t been so great for the beloved actor though, with Hanks and wife Rita Wilson becoming two of the first high-profile names to suffer from the Coronavirus, while his latest passion project was recently pulled from the theatrical schedule and sent straight to digital after Apple purchased the rights to World War II drama Greyhound from Sony, something the 63 year-old freely admits he isn’t too happy about.
Expectations are high for Greyhound due to the fact that it marks Hanks’ first appearance in a WWII-set movie since Saving Private Ryan, and the material is also very close to his heart with him having written the script, which marks his first writing credit since he co-wrote the screenplay to 2011’s Larry Crowne, and his first solo credit since 1996’s That Thing You Do!
Based on the footage we’ve seen so far, the naval-set Greyhound looks set to take a different approach to the countless World War II movies we’ve seen over the years that largely take place on the battlefield, and with the movie arriving on Apple TV+ on Friday, reviews have started to make their way online, and the vast majority of them seem to be impressed with Hanks’ latest effort.
Greyhound currently holds a strong Rotten Tomatoes score of 75% and a solid 61 on the less-forgiving Metacritic, with Hanks said to deliver another reliably strong lead performance in a lean, efficient and economical thriller, one which looks to be the kind of enjoyably old-fashioned movie that Hollywood doesn’t really seem to be interested in making anymore.
The Rotten Tomatoes summary currently reads as so:
Greyhound’s characters aren’t as robust as its action sequences, but this fast-paced World War II thriller benefits from its efficiently economical approach.
Tell us, though, will you be checking out the film when it arrives? Let us know down below.