Tom Tykwer directs Tom Hanks, Alexander Black and Sarita Choudhury in this Saudi Arabia set tale of a businessman lost at sea amongst modern globalisation.

A messy film that struggles to align its obvious high quality elements into a whole. Tom Hanks is great here yet his central presence and the basic pitch suggest a fish out of water comedy… If you come for that then disappointment is all you’ll find. In fact disappointment purposefully laces itself around the first hour, plus an unexpected heavy dose of effective paranoia,  as Hank’s failing suit genuinely struggles with an alien business landscape and his own past errors. You don’t want to see the most liked movie star in living history be ground down and beaten quite so by modern life just like every middle aged man you know is in reality. Even if the scenery and supporting cast is exotic, that’s not a fun, light night at the flicks. Then suddenly the MacGuffin sales pitch becomes a dealt with item on the list of subplots and A Hologram for the King evolves into something more satisfying and fun. Tykwer swipes every moment, bad and good, with evocative colours. Many frames look like Magritte paintings. Hanks and he should collaborate again, but after this and Cloud Atlas, something with a bit more humour and focus. So far we keep getting these interesting swerve-balls.

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