A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA's role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California. Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb.
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Reviews
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
The entire film is a limited hangout.The butler didn't do it.It wasn't Colonel Mustard with the candlestick in the conservatory.The Communist Revolution was merely one act in the ongoing play called "official history".You're still in the matrix Neo.This SOCIETY has too many people who consistently make OF THEmselves a SPECTACLE.
I saw this movie with great expectations and sure enough it started quite intriguingly, the plot seemed politically driven and interesting enough so was the presentation but as the movie crossed the first half all the build up sort of went down the drain and you could easily qualify the second half as banal, insipid, too bland and uneventful. Now I know this movie was based on real life events but even so there should be enough story to pull the movie full length. The director seemed to be struggling with and confused about/between the boundaries of realism and theatrics-this could've been a great commercial movie if handled appropriately or even a great biography if done sensitively enough yet the end product here came across as half-baked neither real nor commercial. The ending is so pointless that you almost feel why was the story even selected to be told and if it was then why was it the screen writing/script climax so mundane at the end. Watch it for the first half though.
"Kill the Messenger" is a pretty well done film that's provocative and soul searching that uncovers hidden lies as the federal government has a dirty little game a drug for guns profit! Most remember the headlines and the scandal from the 1980's and 1990's when it was revealed that the CIA was arming rebels in Nicaragua to help fight other countries and foreign agencies all while turning the other way and letting them profit by importing and selling cocaine in the United States. Thru it all as each detail is uncovered with anger this political drama is carried by the performance of Jeremy Renner as Gary Webb a hard charging investigative reporter from California as he tries to prove that the CIA used cocaine profits to fund Contra rebels this tale explodes with suspense and personal drama really it's an eye opening political thriller.
One of those true life stories that is sadly more intriguing than it's big screen treatment, Kill the Messenger is a middle of the road drama/thriller that for any number of reasons can't break free from its shackles to become anything more than a mildly interesting cautionary tale, despite a decent turn by the in need of a hit Jeremy Renner and a subject matter that is ripe for political commentary.At one time or another positioned for a run in the awards season, Michael Cuesta's film found itself on the end of a low key world wide release that would've completely bypassed some people's memories. Watching the film now it's not hard to see why the film failed to make a splash. From the sombre tone, the uninspired yet workmanlike direction, a wasting of quality supports that range from Michael Sheen through to Michael Kenneth (Chalky White, Omar Little) Williams and a curiously lacking look into the nasty business the CIA was involved in in regard to the South American drug trade, Messenger just doesn't do enough with its real life potent material to come fully to life.I for one must be the first to admit to a lack of knowledge regarding what Messenger deals with and it's in this fact that the most amount of good will stems from, as there's a number of people that want to know more about the shady operations that America gets involved in. Renner's dogged journalist Gary Webb unearths wide ranging and politically juicy facts about drugs being sold to fund various programs and wars and the film comes alive when both Gary and the audience get thrown into situations involving those that were privy to the clandestine operations. It does feel like there was more to unearth in this real life investigation but what is bought forward is enough to drive this film and the viewer's interest without ever becoming truly invested as other films of the same ilk have done in the past.By no means a badly made film, this is a film that will frustrate due to its undeniable potential that remains unreached, Kill the Messenger portrays some incredibly interesting events in a sadly non-incredible way. With another solid if unspectacular lead turn by the worryingly out of sorts Jeremy Renner, Messenger never gets out of first gear and succeeds to the level it does thanks to its real life events it depicts.3 unlucky car windows out of 5