- Tom Hanks, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Dockery, Paul Bettany
- January 17th 2025
- 104
- Robert Zemeckis
Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Robert Zemeckis reunite 30 years after making the 1994 classic Forrest Gump.
Thirty years after starring in Forrest Gump, co-stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright have reunited for the drama Here.
The movie, helmed by their Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis, tells the story of a ordinary suburban house and all the generations of people who have lived in it over the years.
While it hops back and forth between the generations, the story focuses on the Youngs; Al (Paul Bettany), Rose (Kelly Reilly), and their three children.
Their eldest son Richard (Hanks) moves his girlfriend Margaret (Wright) into the home when she falls pregnant and they end up living there for many more years than expected.
Here, which is based on the graphic novel by Richard McGuire, has good intentions and tells a universal domestic story that everyone can relate to in one way or another.
However, the way it is filmed holds it back. The camera stays in one place in the corner of a living room and simply observes what is happening there.
Because of this setup, the action feels like a play, with the actors walking in and out of frame like it’s a stage. It feels theatrical, unnatural and false, and this isn’t helped by the lacklustre script.
Zemeckis employed innovative AI technology to de-age the actors in real time on set instead of resorting to visual effects in post-production.
De-ageing technology has improved in recent years but it only goes so far; it cannot make Hanks, 68, look like an 18-year-old boy. It can certainly try – as the film does – but it is not remotely believable.
Hanks does well to inhabit the physicality of a teenager but he doesn’t have the voice or the size of an 18-year-old. The faces are unrealistically smooth and the mouths don’t look quite right, but you’ll only notice in a close-up and there aren’t many of those. Perhaps this would have worked better with younger or lesser known actors.
Like the graphic novel, the story jumps around between the home’s residents and occasionally incorporates multiple timelines at once using inset panels within the same frame.
Although some of the other stories were interesting, the film didn’t need sections about what happened on the land before the house was built.
While the Young family’s story is compelling enough, the OTT acting, camera position and AI technology stops it from being emotionally resonant.
In cinemas from Friday 17th January.
By Hannah Wales.
© Cover Media