The Messenger Reviews

As a rule, I’m generally pretty wary of films that tackle pressing issues that are currently major headlines in the news. The subject matter is often so fresh, so exhaustively covered, that I find it sometimes hard for film-makers to bring a new perspective to it. Or the films can feel well-intentioned but reductive. This is why it took me so long to get around to watching The Messenger.

Well, shame on me for waiting. While not a perfect movie, The Messenger is an incredibly well-made character study of two men who have the awful job of telling the loved ones of fallen soldiers the bad news. No one wants that job, and the film does a pretty solid job of exploring the various reactions that bereaved loved ones are capable of having. Steve Buscemi has a minor role as the father of a dead solider, and his anger and grief are palpable, only growing in strength and intensity as he follows them back to their car. Others break down, and Samantha Morton’s widow has the most curious reaction, which we will come back to later on.

After being injured in combat, a young soldier (Ben Foster) is reassigned to Casualty Notification Division where he meets an older officer who has been doing the job for a long time (Woody Harrelson). The Messenger mostly follows their dynamic as Foster tries to help and readjust to civilian life. While informing Morton that her husband has died in combat, she thanks them, appears to not react, and is extremely polite. Foster is fascinated by this woman, and their strange semi-romance takes on a major part of the rest of the film.

I appreciated that the film decided to eschew politics of war in favor of examining people, but the romance aspect of The Messenger was troublesome to me. While everything else in the film feels authentic, the romance feels underdeveloped, like a few scenes bridging the transition from Foster trying to figure out why Morton’s character initially appeared resigned to the news to becoming a new possible romantic partner are missing. But Morton and Foster work well together, generating a real life chemistry. Slightly awkward, frightened to reach out to someone else and try to forge a connection, they feel like two real, damaged people trying to regain their emotional footing during a transitional period of time.

While this piece of the story, which takes over a good portion of the second half, feels a little strained, the rest works beautifully. And much of that credit needs to go to the three main actors. Foster, an underrated talent, gives a quiet but powerful performance. The role could have easily offered him a chance to showboat, but Foster sidesteps that obvious choice. Harrelson deservedly got a second career Oscar nomination, and his interplay with Foster creates a unique spin on the mentor-student relationship. Harrelson gets plenty of moments to rage, but it’s the humor that he uses to deal with the tragedy surrounding his life resonates strongly. And Morton, another undervalued performer, is quietly heartbreaking and poetic. The Messenger is a film about the Iraq war that prefers to look at the people back home, and this choices makes for an intense and rewarding experience. It’s a moment of human connection, and we could all use more of that.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I heard some good things about it, I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, it was an interesting and pretty deep drama about one of the most thankless jobs in the world. So, I did like it but, somehow, it didn't really grab me. I'm not so sure why but maybe it had to with the fact that there was no real storyline but just some episodes randomly put together. Furthermore, I wasn't sure what to make of the two romances involving Ben Foster, especially the one involving Jena Malone. Basically, there were many little stories but none of them was really fully developed. Still, it remains a strong drama, no doubt about it, with some tremendous acting by the whole cast (Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone). It was especially nice to see Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson finally in the spotlights for once. Those guys are among the most underrated actors nowadays and they gave some of their best performances here. To conclude, it is a pretty solid drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in the actors involved.

It seems like a simple and unremarkable title until we discover the type of message that the title character has to deliver in this film. The first half of THE MESSENGER focuses largely on the visits made by Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) and Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to the houses of the families of fallen soldiers. The purpose of these visits is to give the tragic news of the death of a son, husband, etc. On plenty of occasions, we've seen in movies and TV shows that scene in which two soldiers get out of a car and start walking towards a front porch, and the audience already knows what's going to happen. It's surprising that it wasn't until now that a movie was finally made about something with so much potential for dramatic intensity.

If one reads that THE MESSENGER is all about these two soldiers going to houses of dead soldiers, one might think that the movie will not only be depressing but that it may also become frustratingly repetitive. Fortunately, that's not the case with THE MESSENGER because, surprising as it may seem, each visit to a family member's house is totally different. Each situation and each emotional response is at least a little different from the one that preceded it. What I appreciated about this is not just the fact that it makes the film effective in its depiction of emotional pain, but in that it portrays the diversity of America and the way in which war affects EVERYONE regardless of who they are.

Curiously, during its last act, THE MESSENGER veers off from its titular enterprise and starts focusing more on the reflections made by these two soldiers on their experiences when they were in the war zone. You would think that this segment of the film would be even better, but truth be told, it's not nearly as dramatically effective as the scenes that involved them visiting the particular houses. There's a moment in which they're both sitting on a couch, and Will opens up to Tony about how he truly feels about people seeing him as a "hero," but the moment carries far less emotional heft than it should. The problem is more due to the script than to the performances, though. Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson are both in top form. This is a much less showy role for Foster than the three he had in 2007 with 3:10 TO YUMA, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT and ALPHA DOG, but he's every bit as good at being subdued as he is at being over-the-top. Harrelson's performance here, combined with his unforgettably funny work in ZOMBIELAND, leaves no doubt in one's mind that the guy has had a great year.

While its final scenes don't work nearly as well as what came before them, the scenes in which the "messages" are delivered are certainly more than good enough to make this recommendable, particularly because two of the "recipients" are played by Steve Buscemi and Samantha Morton. The concept of having to cope with death is one we see extremely often in film, but the fact that it's given to us here in the context of a REAL, modern situation that we're all well aware of makes it have far more emotional potency, and for having these scenes be so believable and expertly rendered, the film deserves a lot of credit.