A Hologram for the King (2016)
★★★ — A Hologram for the King (2016)
Tom Tykwer, the German director best known for the kinetic, clock-watching urgency of Run Lola Run (1998) and his later co-direction of Cloud Atlas (2012), took a quieter, more interior turn with this adaptation of Dave Eggers' 2012 novel of the same name. Produced through a genuinely international patchwork of companies, including Tom Hanks' own Playtone banner and Tykwer's regular collaborator X Filme Creative Pool, the film was shot largely on location in Morocco (standing in for Saudi Arabia) and in Hamburg. With a $30 million budget against a theatrical return of just over $9 million, it landed firmly in flop territory, a misfire that reflected broader industry uncertainty around mid-budget, character-driven adult dramas during the mid-2010s, a format that was quietly disappearing from multiplexes at the time.
A-Z World Movie Challenge Cayman Islands Alright, let’s unpack this one: A Hologram for the King, a film set in Saudi Arabia but somehow counting for the Cayman Islands. Okay, fine, I’ll play along. If a movie’s registered under Cayman Island tax law, does that make it a financial thriller? Either way, I’m not complaining (it’s got Tom Hanks, and that’s good enough for me.) So here’s the deal: Alan Clay (Hanks) is a middle-aged American salesman clinging to the last shreds of his dignity, peddling hologram tech to a Saudi king who may or may not show up. It’s a movie about frustration, regret, and a cyst on his back that’s so clearly a metaphor for his soul it might as well have a sign saying “LOOK AT ME, I’M HIS PAST MISTAKES.” Tom Hanks, doing Hanks things. He’s reliably understated, balancing melancholy and dry humor. Yusuf, the driver. This guy steals the show. His deadpan rants about Saudi bureaucracy and random detours into desert conspiracies (“Maybe we meet some insurgents … who knows?”) are pure joy. If this were a buddy comedy, he’d be the star. Visually the Saudi desert looks like a beige fever dream, endless highways, sterile hotels, and one suspiciously lush corporate campus that seems to exist in its own climate zone. There was some issues though. The “insurgency” subplot. At one point, Yusuf drags Alan to a desert hideout where they… do nothing? It’s like the scriptwriters thought, “Hey, let’s add some tension!” then forgot about it. Romance? Maybe? Alan’s flirty texts with a Danish lady who puts up with him constantly and awkwardly rejecting her advances. Then his (for KSA standards) completely illegal rendezvous with a Doctor. It feels rushed and unrealistic. This is a movie about disconnection, from purpose, from culture, from your own body (hence the cyst). Alan’s a man adrift, selling a future he doesn’t believe in while haunted by a past he can’t escape. The hologram tech is a metaphor! For globalization! For loneliness! I would recommend it. If you’re into slow-burn character studies with dry humor and existential dread, yes.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2016 | Watched: 2025-06-05
Where to watch (UK)
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Tom Tykwer: Run Lola Run (1998)
More with Tom Hanks: Toy Story 4 (2019) · Inferno (2016) · Angels & Demons (2009) · The Da Vinci Code (2006)
More from Germany: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Cemetery Man (1994) · The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) · Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
