Another dark, gloomy drama about home life during wartime, this film features some seriously great performances and a theme that will resonate powerfully with thoughtful audiences.
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10/08/09
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The Messenger (2009)
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Reviews Counted:59
Fresh:53
Rotten:6
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: A dark but timely subject is handled deftly by writer/directer Owen Moverman and superbly acted by Woody Harrleson and Ben Foster.
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Co-written by Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon, THE MESSENGER is a powerful and tender story about a returned war hero making his first steps toward a normal life. In his first leading role,... [More]
Starring: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone
Director: Oren Moverman
Reviews for The Messenger
So bungled up with fashionable ambivalence about the Iraq War that every single behavioral detail is not just prejudicial but wrong.
11/11/09
A penetrating assessment of post-war readjustment.
10/26/09
Top CriticOren Moverman’s sober and satisfying drama shows how the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a fissure in American society.
11/13/09
Top CriticHarrelson's calm performance anchors the film, and whenever the story drifts back to him and his cautious friendship with Foster, the flick feels true.
11/12/09
Foster leaves you hoping that Will finds his way home.
11/20/09
Top CriticThe Messenger delivers what it has to say without sensationalism or political posturing. That restraint, along with the quality of the performances, makes it all the more powerful.
11/24/09
Messengers with the worst possible message, they nonetheless manage to be human and alive .... In a film that itself bears sad tidings about the costs of war, that is an affirming, even an inspiring, gift.
11/13/09
A stunning debut, an effective, expertly-made and performed drama about the common human ability to deal with tragedy and loss in unique, unpredictable ways.
11/20/09
As the lonely, complex and friendly Stone, Harrelson evokes the experience of The Messenger as sturdily as a freshly pinned medal of valor.
11/12/09
Individually, none of the mini-dramas in The Messenger would be enough to blow you away. But grouped together, they're so beautifully and specifically written that they make for a convincing picture of the first stages of grief.
11/24/09
This is a wholly different look at the fallout of the Iraq War and its effect on soldiers and civilians. It is also a gentle portrait of grief, friendship and solace.
11/24/09
This is a poignant war movie, but it's also a buddy movie with a difference, one that's both funny and bleak.
11/19/09
There is a complexity to the story and characters that I want more insight on and I really believe that the movie might grow on me with a repeat viewing.
11/22/09
This is a fully felt, morally alert, marvellously acted piece of work. Despite the grim subject, it’s a sweet-tempered movie, with moments of explosive humor -- an entertainment.
11/09/09
I’m not sure how Morton made sense of her character’s ebbs and flows, but I never doubted her. She’s a mariner in uncharted seas of emotion.
11/16/09
A story that strays about without finding its center.
11/11/09
A fine bookend to Katheryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, showing another side of how the war at home can be just as rigorous as the one abroad.
11/14/09
A somber drama about intimate wartime tragedies, Oren Moverman's debut feels more respectful than real.
11/13/09
What could have been a grim, depressing Iraq war drama of two men who deliver dreaded news becomes in Moverman's promising debut a human tale of grief and survival, balancing grave issues with humor, underlined by strong acting from Foster and Harrelson
10/24/09
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