SnoopyStyle
US Army Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) is a hero severely injured in Iraq with only a few months left. He is reassigned as part of the Casualty Notification Team. He has an affair with his ex-girlfriend Kelly (Jena Malone) who is engaged with somebody else. He is teamed up with Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) who treats his work seriously. They go to inform Olivia Pitterson (Samantha Morton) but she seems unconcerned. She intrigues Will who starts getting involved in her and her kid's lives.These are interesting and compelling characters. The performances by Foster and Harrelson are terrific. There are some powerful moments especially some of the notifications. The main plot meanders a bit and feels a bit aimless. It's worthwhile to see the good performances.
Harry Suttle
-Little to no plot. -Unbelievable, let alone irrelevant, love story.-Uses cheap tactics of getting an emotion out of you.-Overly depressing to the point that it starts to get ridiculous. -Unbelievably awkward dialogue (mainly in the romance portion of the movie).-Random camera shaking! I'm getting sick of seeing this in movies. It's not a fake documentary film or a found-footage horror movie so I see no reason.-Woody Harrelson, why did you agree to be in this movie?!!!This could be the worst viewing experience I've ever had! I saw it with one other and he was just as tempted to walk out of the cinema. We didn't, and we regret it to this day.This movie might mean more to me if I was an American, but I'm not and that's not an acceptable excuse. It was released here in Ireland and I'm reviewing it in Ireland.1 star Don't see this movie
Tim Kidner
Though The Messenger shows no actual combat or scenes of fighting, it would seem to be in the vein of some of the anti-Vietnam movies of say, Oliver Stone and such, showing an alternative way how war messes people up.The Messenger is also a largely unlikeable film, being also difficult to watch and now, to review. A messenger in this sense is someone who has to knock on next-of-kin's doors and inform them that their son/daughter has been killed in action. Reactions, unsurprisingly are mixed and unpredictable.Naturally, this requires a special type of person to handle such and in military captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), who's been decorated but also in A.A., we find a flawed and angry man. Taking on a younger new recruit, Staff Sgt Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) there's the obvious clash of experience and outlook and the even more inevitable buddy type of hanging out together.Unfortunately for us, both men seem to like to resort to thrashing out heavy metal and punching the walls as a means of coping with the pent up frustrations that the job's rigid rules around emotion and self control insist upon. This makes it all jarring and unsettling, which may well have been what director Oran Moverman wanted. This is Moverman's first film and is reasonably accomplished.There is some very welcome support from two of the world's finest character actors - Steve Buscemi and Brit Samantha Morton. They play father and wife, respectively of two entirely different men killed in Afghanistan and their characters feature big in the emotions of our two leads. Morton as widow, who Foster helps but fortunately (for both the film and us) does not get too emotionally involved, is probably the easiest role to both like and believe.The Messenger is a well acted, reasonably well directed film but one that is also quite long. As I said, I didn't find it particularly enjoyable and as such, cannot personally readily extend to beyond 7/10.
perkypops
Soldiers die in combat and the toughest job is how you inform the next of kin. "The Messenger" explores the subject in an uncomfortable way perhaps demonstrating why killing or being killed is the easy part. This film can be applauded for taking its time to illustrate the tough nature of the task via real time eaves dropping. Bearing and taking the news of a close family loss is every bit as hard as watching someone die. But we stick with this film as it strangely compels you to do.The character flaws of military life are only a small part of this story as it tentatively explores the many cracks in military discipline and the victims it leaves behind. The acting is almost flawless but I do feel the script and screenplay played host to damage rather too much, when the toughness and resilience of the human soul needed to be demonstrated if only fleetingly so. Perhaps in trying to make one point it missed many other opportunities to engage with the human side of being.My criticism of this film is not of what it portrays but with what it misses out.
AD
