Kieran Green 'Avenging Angels' or as it is known as elsewhere ' Messenger of Death' is a modestly entertaining Charles Bronson film which goes to show that the over the hill legend still has what it takes, The superbly photographed eerie opening see's Wifes and children of the Mormon household become victims of a massacre. Bronson is Journalist Smith who is out to investigate the gruesome case and and finds out about economic motives behind the murders. Mrs George C.Scott 'Trish Van Devere' also stars as does western legend Jeff Corey as a seedy Patriarch. John Ireland also co-stars. all in all it is an entertaining and well made 'B' movie from J.Lee Thompson 'The Guns of Naverone' 'Cape Fear'

JoeKarlosi Easily skip-able Charles Bronson movie that starts out strongly but doesn't follow through. He unconvincingly plays a Denver reporter covering a case of a Mormon family living in the Colorado mountains who had nine members massacred, including five children. He then sets out to find the killer by visiting the eccentric community and finds that much of the evidence leads to a family feud between two brothers, along with ties to a water company. Why Chuck's character would feel so personally bent on dealing out vengeance when it's not his own flesh and blood didn't ever strike me as authentic. J. Lee Thompson directs (as usual) and manages to serve up some pretty scenery along with a good cast including John Ireland and Jeff Corey, but this is rather weak tea. ** out of ****

lost-in-limbo After a massacre was committed on a family of Mormons, newspaper reporter Garret Smith decides to dig a little deeper into the story, to only find out that there might just be more to it then just two feuding brothers.Another IMDb reviewer mentioned "Messenger of Death" is somewhat a change of pace for Bronson compared with his other efforts within this period, and definitely they got that right. Here it's a steely eyed Bronson doing a lot investigating and self-advertising his newspaper articles, than handing out much forcible punishment. Get ready for conversations and story development deluxe! Is more so a mystery set-up than action splurge. Actually don't fear, he gets 'some' hands on action. This Cannon presentation can't seem to escape it's cheap, and almost TV movie quality. However this wasn't a huge fault, but the main one was it promised so much to only fizzle out. The opening atmospheric musical piece, established by haunting chants sets the mood and the beginning sequence is brutally eerie and unsparing with director J. Lee Thompson's stylish guidance. After this well-implanted beginning, what we get afterwards is mostly lacklustre and anti-climatic textbook fluff. Too bad it has to go to waste, as Thompson shows scope, ace pacing and strings along the set-pieces with a beautiful Colorado backdrop captured by fluent cinematography, but breaking it down has got to be that the story can get too causal and unintentionally comical. The revelation to what's happening just comes off feeble, and lacking. Thompson does invoke few terse spurts of suspense throughout the rest of the running time with a rather inventive brush, but this notable sequence involving two trucks loses out to the same-old, same-old pattern. Robert O. Ragland's airy, uncanny tremble that features heavily in his persistent instrumental score is really well pulled off. The religious aspect is there, but more so a stepping stool for the story to play out then share any real light on the topic. Even the money hungry and corrupt side of business corporations finds some similarities between the two, where Bronson's character becomes "the avenging angel". At least Charles Bronson makes for an appealing protagonist and he shows some colour in his calculated performance, and the support cast chip in with very solid and somewhat ripe turns. Passable Bronson venture.

Chrieraux The film has Charles Bronson in its favor, and is fairly well-made. It'a a little unbelievable, but fans of the genre or Bronson should enjoy it. Basically, Charles Bronson is an investigative reporter who investigates the slaying of a man's family, originally under the impression that the slaying was due to religious differences. One thing of minor note...it's not really a feud between different Mormon sects. The LDS Church has banned polygamy, in accordance with federal law, and excommunicates members who practice it. I suppose some might say that all the break-off groups(like the RLDS, FLDS and polygamist clans) can be considered part of a Mormon Religious Umbrella....but that would be kind of like saying members of the Russian Orthodox Church are really Catholic.