Director
Steven Spielberg
(THE BFG, LINCOLN, JURASSIC PARK)

Stars
Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Matthew Rhys and Bruce Greenwood

If the engrossing biographical story being chronicled in Steven Spielberg’s THE POST isn’t enough to warrant your purchase of a ticket to this film, then the pairing of Hollywood greats Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, together for the first time in a feature film, is guaranteed to broaden its appeal should it be needed. They certainly do not let down.

Written for the screen by SPOTLIGHT writer Josh Singer, this political drama is a true account of the race against time faced by The Washington Post to expose a governmental cover-up that lasted for three decades and spanned four U.S. Presidents. As the newspaper’s first female publisher, Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) is thrust into a compromising position when secret documents pertaining to the cover-up are handed into her office. With rapid competition coming from The New York Times, Kay and her hard-working editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) must make several agonising decisions that place the careers of its employees on the line and will ultimately make or break Kay’s newspaper business.

Before THE POST begins its examination of the pages that reveal the shocking government secrets, there is plenty of background the script wishes to cover that details the current position of the newspaper and its main shot-callers. Though it is necessary to have this understanding prior to the big news story being outed, the narrative is overloaded with dialogue (and not all of it is of a need-to-know basis) and results in the film becoming quite weighty and tougher to fully absorb. Appreciation for the film is not lost throughout this first half and once the central plot, along with the lead performances from Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks become the focus herein, THE POST is immediately more engrossing to watch.

This is Steven Spielberg’s fifth feature film with Tom Hanks and first with Meryl Streep. Personally, I had hoped for more from this promising film collaboration and storyline. The experienced director isn’t able to iron out some of the clunky creases in the film’s script. Nonetheless, THE POST is not to be missed by ardent fans of the genre and/or by those who possess a strong interest in this topic.

3 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion
M (Coarse language)

Trailer
THE POST

Moviedoc thanks entertainment One for the invite to the screening of this film.

Review by Moviedoc / “LIKE” on Facebook – Moviedoc

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