The premise of this story is made obvious by the title. It follows the making of a big budget movie. Specifically, a superhero movie made for a streaming service. The story starts with the backstory/ source material and concludes with the audience reception of the film. 

Before I rant about the aspects that prevented me from fully enjoying this book, I'll tell you what I did like. 

Tom Hanks is a great narrator. He is a charming man, so it's no surprise that his writing is charming as well. I listened to the audio. It says full cast, but Hanks does most of the narration. I personally could have done without the other narrators. Just Hanks for me please. 

The vibe is cinematic, not just in topic but also in story beats. I could see this being a Tom Hanks movie (he would play the director). Especially if you added something to the ending to make it more satisfying. Cause I found the beginning of the story more interesting than the latter half. The characters really shined at the start but became more surface level by the end. This also made it feel more like a movie. Like these people were caricatures. I typically want more depth out of my literature.

Parts of this book give you the feeling of sharing gossip. I assume Hanks has been witness to many of these situations, the funny and problematic. I liked these tidbits. They were entertaining.

I got the sense that it was fun for Hanks to write this. I imagine this man writing fan fic about his industry and finding it cathartic.

Now on to my rant...

DOT DOT DOT (*rolling eyes*) 

While it heavily explores the personal lives and inspiration of the creaters, the story does not go into the fictional comic universe this movie comes from. The other movies of this frictional franchise are hardly mentioned. That might be a positive in your eyes, and it may seem strange, but this dismissive mentality towards this fictional adaptation grinds my gears. Like many cinimatic adaptations made today, it was made to tell its own story and to make money rather than to adapt a beloved story and character to another medium. If you want to tell your own interpretation of a story, then write it yourself. Be original. This practice of taking an others' work and making billions for a small group of people or investors (who don't even care about these stories) is depressing. This is a reality, but I still don't like it. 

Another reality that got on my nerves was how these hollywood characters viewed the "common" folk around them. It makes me depressed thinking this is how Tom Hanks views the rest of us. We either cause him problems or we solve them for him. Like every other self-proclaimed successful person views the working class around them. There are justifications consistently given for treating an individual's employment and livelihood with a flat flippant disregard. The idea that human beings don't deserve respect if they aren't completing a task to your satisfaction is extremely irritating. Compare that to the respect given and shown the toxic actor on the movie set in this story. If he was the janitor, I dont think you would be dealing with his tantrums in such a professional way. Furthermore, the mentality that people should be made to work 12 or 20 hour days to complete a movie on budget is disgusting. Do you really think you're compensating these people enough to make up for the physical and mental strain you're putting them through. I highly doubt it. Worst of all is the pats on the back they give themselves when they pull a single person out of their dead-end job to work in Hollywood. The deadend jobs most people you meet need to work to live. In my mind, this highlights social inequality and our skewed modern work sensibilities without actually exploring any of these topics. Poor form.

This book does not need a review that is this long. If you like Tom Hanks movies, you'll probably like this book. You might love it if you're really into all the extras you might find on an old school DVD.