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Critics Consensus: Kill the Messenger's potent fury over the tale of its real-life subject overrides its factual inaccuracies and occasional narrative stumbles.
Critic Consensus: Kill the Messenger's potent fury over the tale of its real-life subject overrides its factual inaccuracies and occasional narrative stumbles.
All Critics (127) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (98) | Rotten (29) | DVD (1)
Not since 2003's Shattered Glass has the journalistic pursuit of truth been presented on screen as such a mortally serious matter of honour.
Kill the Messenger does a credible if not dazzling job. In fact, the movie is a lot like the reporting that inspired it: a good introduction to a diabolically tangled tale.
Clichés and obviousness litter the movie.
It's oversold and under-reported. But Kill the Messenger flies high on Jeremy Renner's all-stops-out performance as 1990s-era journalist Gary Webb. Flaws aside, the film inspires a moral outrage that feels disconcertingly timely.
The story of a crusading reporter's determined search for truth, "Kill The Messenger" gains its not-inconsiderable power by not being the kind of movie that particular description might lead you to expect.
A resonant journalistic cautionary tale gets packaged as a hokey thriller in Kill the Messenger, a movie with a message that isn't nearly as urgent as it needs to be.
Kill the Messenger is worth seeing for Renner's work and for the information it provides about its time and its subject.
Kill the Messenger was, in my opinion, one of the more solid dramas in this year's local release schedule.
Grim, taut and smartly paced, Kill The Messenger is undoubtedly one of the best crime-dramas of the year. Watch it.
The acting in Kill The Messenger can't be faulted. I just wish the movie itself was as focused and driven as Renner's performance.
Come for the acting, but not much else.
The movie is full of fine actors doing fine work in so-so roles... Their performances, rather than Michael Cuesta's uncertain direction, give the movie its considerable energy.
Kill The Messenger is an intelligent investigative drama that will have you hooked from the start. Gary Webb, a journalist for a smallish news agency, stumbles upon a story which proves the CIA used cocaine profits from Central American drug smugglers to fund the Contra rebels. Never heard about it? Me neither, and in fact when the full report was published it was pushed aside by a scandal involving Bill Clinton. So, nearly a decade later, it's time to explore this intriguing story and fortunately this film is absolutely compelling. Yes, the film is about the CIA's involvement in Nicaragua, but beneath this is an individual who only desires to report the truth. Investigating a story with this much classification and secrecy results in the possibility of endangering both your career and family. But the biggest detriment, is to yourself. We see Gary Webb slowly degrade as the investigation takes its toll on him, he gradually becomes a broken man so transfixed on this job that he risks losing everything else. I found it to be utterly heartbreaking, yet rather relatable. This drama didn't need to include any thrills or chase sequences (in the fear that it becomes an action film), and yet director Michael Cuesta was bold enough to incorporate these tense pursuits. They worked. I was on edge. Why? Because Gary Webb was a well developed character. I felt for him and wanted him to succeed. This, for me, is Jeremy Renner's best performance. Forget about the supporting cast, this was his for the taking and he owned it. Emotional, physical and charismatic. Should've been nominated for more awards. The first half was a slow burner, but it picked up pace as soon as the story was established. The supporting cast were wasted, Winstead was probably the best out of them all but still underused. But due to a powerful central performance, this film was elevated to an enthralling level of intrigue. Oh, and the final screen texts detailing the aftermath? It crushed me inside. Gutted.
Super Reviewer
After an engaging first half that trusts our ability to put together the details of this whole affair as we follow its character, this strong political drama is sadly weakened by some annoying clichés, including that of him becoming an "obsessed man who moves away from his family."
Could have been far better had they focused more on the investigative journalism than Webb's family life. It sort of distracts when it turns from a taut thriller to a humdrum family drama. Agreed that some footage ought to be given to that part, but it should have been quite limited. Maybe here too, the editor is to be blamed!!
Kill the Messenger is an interesting tale in two parts. The first half recounts Webb's discovering the evidence. The second half depicts the aftermath of that story. What makes this so watchable is Jeremy Renner's portrayal of newspaper reporter Gary Webb. He is really good at getting the audience to like him. We feel the unbearable tension that our hero endures as he is threatened directly and indirectly. The impending sense of doom never seems very far way. We share in his growing fear for his own safety amidst his desire to expose the truth. The best scenes concern him and his family. In particular Rosemarie DeWitt as his wife and Lucas Hedges as his son, provide another facet that gives Gary Webb more depth. They imbue his character with flaws that are somewhat unexpected. After all, we have seen this before. All the President's Men is an example of the crusading journalist railing against the system. The difference however is where Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were celebrated as heroes at the time, Gary Webb was given a much different reception. fastfilmreviews.com
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