Why you’re wrong about Tom Hanks
There was a time when Tom Hanks was literally in everything. Think about some of the biggest movies of the 1990s – Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Toy Story, The Green Mile, Apollo 13 – he had a leading role in all of them. That’s not even including the massive movies he led before and after the decade, like Big, Catch Me If You Can, The Polar Express, and the other Toy Story instalments.
He has been declared one of America’s most beloved actors, the nation’s sweetheart, and the friendliest guy in cinema – he’s even got an asteroid named after him. I’m not convinced. Sure, Hanks can act, and his face (and voice) have defined many of our childhoods, but is he really as good as he’s made out to be? Is he, dare I say, an overrated actor?
This argument rests on the fact that Hanks has spent much of his career playing the same kind of character – a hero. He has tried his hand at more villainous roles, like in Elvis, but they’re never as memorable; sometimes they’re just plain terrible. Instead, he has often picked the safest and most heroic roles offered to him, like Woody or Forrest Gump. I’m not saying that Hanks is a bad person, but why is he so obsessed with playing the good guy? Many of his best known roles show him playing an ordinary guy who succeeds in life despite the odds stacked against him, and in many ways, Hanks is one of the main actors to have perpetuated the narrative of the American Dream in modern cinema.
His characters show that, despite hardship, if you work hard and you have enough determination within yourself, you can be rewarded. Of course, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all reading of his work, but it can’t be denied that Hanks has never gone for a movie that is remotely experimental or transgressive in its themes. Instead, he typically sticks to status-quo-affirming work in big-budget films made by well-known directors like Robert Zemeckis or Steven Spielberg, never pushing the limits of his creativity very far.
As a result of his lack of bravery to star in anything particularly taboo – in an attempt to keep up the Mr Nice Guy image, no doubt – something artificial arises from his body of work. Roles in films like Forrest Gump, Turner and Hooch, Big, Bachelor Party, Cloud Atlas, and Pinocchio are just corny choices, with it feeling as though Hanks sometimes selects films he knows will appeal to audiences and further assert him as a beloved acting hero, rather than ones that might actually shock or challenge viewers.
In the past decade, it seems like Hanks’ tenure as Hollywood’s most beloved leading star has been reaching its final bow, with the actor racking up several Golden Raspberry Awards and nominations. His roles in movies like Inferno, The Circle, Finch, Elvis, Pinocchio, and most recently, Here, have all been widely criticised – a sharp contrast from the frequent praise he received in the ‘90s and early 2000s. Here uses a digitally de-aged version of the actor in certain scenes, with the film being labelled a genuinely terrible piece of cinema with little to show for itself. He’s a far cry from his days of winning multiple Oscars.
It doesn’t seem as though the actor is heading for retirement anytime soon, but it’s time that people at least stop calling him a Hollywood hero. Rather, he’s an actor with hardly any range who never steps outside of the safe walls of mainstream movie conventions.
