Ein Hologramm für den König

I am not sure what I was expecting from this movie going in. Now that I have seen it, I am glad that my expectations were tempered. This movie lacked the traditional intensity that a Tom Hanks film usually delivers. I can't put my finger on just what I didn't like about the film. Was it the fact that this movie couldn't decide if it was a love story, or a comedy? Or that the underdevelopment of the characters left me scratching my head. Or that the storytelling seemed rushed in slow moving manner. In any case, I was disappointed in this movie when I walked out of the theater. I was a little surprised that Hanks even took this role after reading the script. This movie was beneath his talent. Anybody could have played the part and done just as well.

It is a movie that you will forget very soon. There is nothing new and it made me fell that I was waiting all the time for something to happen. Also, there is a strange atmosphere in the movie, like everyone is plotting against Tom Hanks.

BUT, once you understand that that is the goal of the movie (lack of plot twist, the strange atmosphere, etc.), it becomes kinda enjoyable (I wish I had understood that sooner to better enjoy the history). And I think the "strange atmosphere" is done due the big different of culture in Saudi Arabia, so that is a big pro. It have a nice photography and good acting, and they show a lot of culture of Saudi Arabia (I think that is one of the best in this movie. It's similar to a documentary, in that aspect).

There is no strong comedy or drama, although they should cut some of the drama there, but, If you don't expect too much and want to watch something unpretentiously you can watch this film.

In terms of bankable movie experiences, you can seldom go wrong with a Tom Hanks movie can you? While there are a few pages in his portfolio he might prefer to forget ("The Bonfire of the Vanities" anyone?) his movies are nearly all eminently watchable. And "A Hologram for the King" puts him into what might be deemed a 'preferred' character role for his acting style – an every-man in a strange land facing trials and tribulations with hearty American bonhomie. But here it doesn't really work, and it's not even Hanks' fault. Hanks plays struggling salesman Alan who is given a do-or-die mission to sell one of his company's holographic videoconferencing systems to the King of Saudi Arabia as a way into winning a big IT supply contract for a new desert city being constructed. Promising his bosses success, he arrives to find a deflated demonstration team struggling to put on a show with the lack of the basic essentials: wi-fi; air-con; food! Alan has to battle with both local custom and obstructive secretaries to try to save the day, helped by his driver Yousef (newcomer Alexander Black). Adding extra pressure to the mix is his marital status - Alan is recently divorced, and needing to financially support his daughter Kit (Tracey Fairaway) through college - and an alarming cyst that has suddenly appeared on his back. The latter requires the tender care of local doctor Zara (Sarita Choudhury, possibly best known as Saul's wife from "Homeland") and an unlikely cross-cultural friendship is struck up. I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, partly because I like Tom Hanks and partly because of the quirky Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime" rendition in the trailer (which actually opens the film, and is great – I loved it). There are also a host of enjoyable episodic plot elements set against spectacular Arabian vistas that are memorable. However, that is all they are – episodes. Unfortunately, the whole film is a jumble of tidbits that never gel into any sort of satisfactory story arc: We have an "infidel in the middle of Mecca" scene, that suddenly ends without event or note; We head off on a wolf hunt that subsides into… well, I have no idea what: perhaps the denouement was supposed to mean something deep and meaningful, but it meant nothing to me; Even the main storyline tends to fizzle out to be replaced with an aquatic-based sub-story of inter-racial love. True that this romance is both touching and well done, but it feels entirely bolted on at the point you expect the film to end - it really doesn't integrate well. Blame for this must rest with writer/director Tom Twyker ("Run Lola Run" and the almost impenetrable Hanks movie "Cloud Atlas", which I must admit I never got to the end of on a plane!) I think Hanks should consider playing the "two strikes and you're out" card with this director. Hanks and Choudrey are fine in their leading roles, and the film really comes alive in the scenes between Hanks and Alexander Black as Yousef - his "driver, guide, hero!". There is really good chemistry between them, and although Black is a little too American- looking to genuinely pass as an Arab, he is effective and is probably the 'find' of the film. Sidse Babett Knudsen (from TV's "Borgen") is also very attractive and personable as the sex-starved Danish contractor Hanne. Also watch out for cameo's from Tom Skeritt and Ben Wishaw. But the acting talent - however hard they try - and the glorious cinematography (by Twyker regular Frank Griebe) can't make up for the erratic screenplay. This is a real shame, since the storyline around battling the adverse conditions of software demonstration abroad is a good one. As someone who used to work for IBM and did many demonstrations of this type in trade shows in far flung places in the Middle East, the Far East, Africa and South America, I have shared their pain, and it is enough to drive you to despair and madness. An opportunity squandered.

I found this movie on Netflix and came to it without any expectations, having read no reviews beforehand. I wondered what Tom Hanks was up to now. Unlike many viewers, I don't see why every TH movie has to be a "hit". I found the Saudi Arabian locale and characters fascinating, wondering how they manage to build such opulent structures in a desert. To continue the holographic metaphor, the projected new-city-in-the-desert was more of a mirage than a reality.

I understand why critics at Rotten Tomatoes give it a 73% fresh rating: it is different and critics like that. Only 55% of the audience at RT enjoyed it because they were expecting something different, and audiences don't like that. As other reviewers have mentioned, the plot meanders and goes in odd directions. But that is part of the quirky attraction for me, at least. While the story ends a bit abruptly (too nicely/neatly?), Tom Hank's character is a sympathetic one that the audience willingly roots for.

29 May 2016 Film of Choice at The Plaza Dorchester Tonight - Hologram for the King. This film was a little surreal, I was never quite sure if the main character was dreaming the whole thing or not, this was not helped by a series of flashbacks that kept appearing throughout. However Tom Hanks was his usual sturdy unflappable self playing Alan a man who had failed in business and was now trying to succeed in a new career by selling an IT invention to an Arab King in Saudi Arabia. Failing in his marriage also and undergoing a bitter divorce, Alan is a bit lost when he arrives in Saudi and assumes the persona of a very beige type of man fighting his way through a very large sandstorm. However sparks of a more assertive person struggle through and we follow him on a journey of discovery. Not a huge raging river of a film, more a gentle stream meandering around and in danger of drying up in the Saudi desert. It doesn't dry up though and I found myself enjoying the tale immensely. Not everyone's cup of tea but worth a watch.