The Messenger

July. 16,2015      
Rating:
5.2
Trailer Synopsis Cast

The Messenger is the story of Jack’s last melt down: a story of frustration and guilt, love and betrayal, family and blame. Unwillingly becoming embroiled in the unfinished business of Mark, a journalist brutally murdered in the local park and his television presenter wife, Sarah, to whom he’s desperate to say one last goodbye, Jack finds himself getting closer to Sarah, obsessed with passing on Mark’s message. Discovering hidden secrets and lies finally pushes the fragile Jack over the edge but there is hope when his estranged sister, Emma, gets in touch. Jack starts to remember the past they shared together and as the memories come flooding back, he confronts the truth about the death of his father.

Robert Sheehan as  Jack
Lily Cole as  Emma
Joely Richardson as  Psychiatrist
David O'Hara as  DCI Keane
Tamzin Merchant as  Emma
Andrew Tiernan as  Father
Alex Wyndham as  Martin
Deirdre O'Kane as  Mum
Rhys Connah as  Young Jack

Reviews

Actuakers
2015/07/16

One of my all time favorites.

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Stellead
2015/07/17

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

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Pacionsbo
2015/07/18

Absolutely Fantastic

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filippaberry84
2015/07/19

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

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The Couchpotatoes
2015/07/20

I watched The Messenger because I saw on IMDb that it was categorized in the thriller and horror section. That was the only reason I was interested in this movie. And again the movie is categorized in the wrong section. It has absolutely nothing to do with a horror movie nor a thriller. IMDb should check movies out for themselves before categorizing them. It's very annoying. The Messenger is just a drama, and not even a good one. It's one of those movies were the story has been done before and way better. The "I see dead people" is a nice idea for a story but unless you bring something new and better then seen before it is of no point making it. The Messenger is way too slow to be entertaining and the slow violin and piano music throughout the movie doesn't help a bit. The cast is okay but also nothing that you will remember about.

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fredschepers
2015/07/21

Have to say that the acting in general was good. Unfortunately, even for a drama, it was too long winded. Some dialogs were ridiculously unreal. Even someone with a twisted mind wouldn't act like that. Too much attention seeking from someone with basically a burden. Too much drama will kill a film. Again, I have to say its a British film. Like most British films they are produced for a market. The British market. Story's where the viewer is expected to go deep is actually a Spanish or South American specialty. Or even better, Asian country's.The story itself is good. It doesn't matter if it is a "I see Dead People" film. There are thousands of films in all genres that have something from another film, or even the first in that genre. Its just not my thing. As far as I am concerned you should leave these kind of films to Hollywood, or other specialists in drama.How ever, if you like British drama's, just have a look at this one. For every genre there is a market.I just happen to be on the wrong market with The Messenger.

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FlashCallahan
2015/07/22

Jack is a troubled adult, who's had a troubled life. In fact, everything about him is troubled, and trouble.After a major life event affected him as a child, he has since had the ability to be pestered by troubled souls, dead people, and because of this he is stamped as a mental health problem (but talking to souls in a pub looking very dishevelled and unkempt doesn't help).After a journalist is found dead, and it looking like suicide, Jack is hounded by the soul, because something wasn't quite right about his death, and he's trying to get a message to his loved one......hence the title.....If you take Randall & Hopkirk (deceased), then add elements of The Sixth Sense and Ghost, you get this quite gritty, suburban Gothic horror.Sheehan excels as our protagonist, not doing his character any favours by playing Jack as a very dis-likable person, but because of his back-story, you can forgive his shortcomings, as the narrative depicts his childhood to be less than pleasurable.The film focuses on grieving, forgiveness and guilt, as the immediate characters to Jack perceive his 'gift' as a result of his fathers death, and how the family unit changed when he and his sister became fatherless.It's a shame that the gift stemmed from sudden loss, because this just seems like a cheap excuse from the makers to make him seem like a 'weirdo' to others, and the on,y one who believes him is involved in a minor sub-plot that becomes a major twist come the end.It's not a bad film by any means, it's just disjointed and doesn't know what to do with all the sub-plots going on, and in turn, it never really wraps itself up for a satisfactory conclusion.But the cast are great, the cinematography is wonderfully bleak and cold, but I fear many will miss the grieving/loss/guilt element of the narrative and see it as a straight up horror.Worth watching though.

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drifter-123
2015/07/23

Jack, played by Robert Sheehan, is a medium, of a scruffy, unkempt, variety. Jack's abilities have not made him rich or famous. Instead, Jack is marginalized by society and in an real sense, condemned by his talent. Jack leads a life of dispossession and isolation. This film, in large part, takes place inside Jacks head. The plot builds ever so subtly and there are segues that make you question what exactly is taking place. The question of who and what Jack is, is as much a mystery as the unfolding story of a murdered journalist. Is Jack in fact in possession of supernatural abilities that let him talk to the murdered reporter or is he, more plausibly, mentally ill?

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