Review of The Post (2017) by Al G — 30 Jan 2018

The Post is as dull as its title suggests which from a hard-core Streep and Hanks fan is desperately disappointing. The storytelling lacks polish and there are so many one dimensional characters that are little more than cliches - the publisher's daughter, the in-house lawyer, almost all the reporters.

The handling of the junior reporter whose scoop of the century is literally dumped on his desk sums it up - Hank's character initially refuses to see him, eventually does take a look when it is brought back to him by his number two, says "Where did you get this?" and then without any word of praise or thanks, gives the story to one of his lead writers and consigns the junior reporter to oblivion.

This compares very unfavourably to All the President's Men having less pace, suspense and any real tension. Streep does what Streep does in her sleep and Hanks is uncharacteristically shallow in most of his emotional responses, even in the crux scenes with Kay the publisher and his wife.

It says something when one of the best moments in the film is a shot of Hanks' daughter brandishing a fistful of dollars from selling lemonade to the hard-bitten press crew encamped in his house. It was also great to see old fashioned printing presses being loaded with the old metal plates and the physical processes involved - but not enough to make this film a hit.