Kill The Messenger

Let's talk about Jeremy Renner

This guy is in a lot of movies and definitely becoming (if he hasn't already become) a huge movie

star. He's been in a lot of action franchises as well. He's Hawkeye int he Marvel Cinematic Universe, He was the star of one of the Bourne movies, he was the heir to the Mission Impossible franchise until Tom Cruise remembered that he drinks virgin blood, won't grow old and revitalized his action star career. The truth is, the man cannot really get a break and just hasn't gotten his own acton franchise despite the unrelenting attempts over and over again.

However, I don't really feel bad for the guy. You shouldn't either. It may seem like he's gotten shafted a little bit in the action franchise world but not too many people can say that they're in at least three action franchises. Yeah he's not the star of one but that shouldn't matter.

On top of that, the guy can act. And I think people forget that. I think they've tried so hard to get him his own action franchise that people short change him to just someone who is in action movies. He's been the star and the best part of a lot of movies, like The Hurt Locker, American Hustle, The Town, and a lot of other movies.

So you really get two types of movies when Jeremy Renner shows up on screen. Either its an action franchise that is trying to make him a huge action star but ends up probably focusing on other people, or its a drama with an exceptional performance from Renner, but the kind of movie that will be forgotten pretty quickly after the next action franchise attempt.

I initially thought Kill The Messenger was going to be another attempt at an action franchise. Luckily, I was wrong.

Kill the Messenger stars Renner as a reporter named Gary Webb at a small news paper in California. Gary Webb is going about his business living a pretty normal life until he catches wind of a story involving a drug ring in San Fransisco having tied to a Nicaraguan rebel group. As Webb begins to dig more and more, he uncovers the rebel groups involvement with the CIA as well as its income source which happens to be selling crack cocaine to drug rings in Los Angeles, causing the surge of crack cocaine addiction in the area, especially with African Americans.

The story breaks and Gary Webb becomes a house hold name in a matter of days. But with a conspiracy comes the threats, and the danger. And to be honest, I really thought that that was going to be the majority of the movie. Once this conspiracy is uncovered, I thought that it was just going to be him getting chased by the US government or some shady organization. But again, I was wrong.

First off, the investigation part of this movie, while short, is really entertaining.

Andy Garcia makes a pretty cool cameo in the middle of the first act and it just kind of makes the entire first part a lot of fun. He's not a huge part, its just symbolic of the mystery behind all of this.

Everything else kind of falls into place and again, while the investigation is actually a pretty small portion of the movie, its a lot of fun.

But what comes after is actually really interesting. For a little bit, Webb becomes a famous reporter, everyone is on his side, everyone is interested in hearing what he has to say.

And then things go awry. People start poking holes in his story. He can't find his sources, and people begin to call him a fraud. You soon realize that this movie didn't have to be this guy just getting chased by shady organizations and assassins. First off, that's not how it happened, and second off, the interesting stuff comes from Webb being essentially torn down by public opinion.

Before I really get into that, another reason why this movie wouldn't work as an action movie is just the character of Gary Webb himself.

Again, I know Gary Webb was a real person and you can't make an action movie about a real person if their life didn't include that. But if you look at the character himself, without knowing that he's a real person, Gary Webb is not an action hero.

I mean I have to give the movie a little bit of flak for choosing Jeremy Renner because as many glasses and beards you give him, he's still gonna look like a character from a Bourne movie. But Renner actually does a pretty good job at playing this guy as he was, he was a middle aged man who was pretty much past him prime at this point. I don't mean to insult the guy but he wasn't an action hero. And Renner actually does a pretty good job at trying to mask the whole Renner super spy look he always has going on.

But there's a point in the movie where everything shifts. It really is a rags to riches to rags story here and when Webb falls, he falls hard. And its a combination of everything. I don't really know if the US government has their hands in everything, but there's basically a point where he gets brought in to talk to some US officials and they basically say:

And they really do.

This movie really makes me reconsider any of the conspiracy movies I've seen in the past because you realize at a certain point, they don't need to kill him. They can do much worse to him. His reputation gets destroyed. He loses his career. He loses his family. He even loses his motorcycle!

That was a little bit silly but you get the point, this guys life goes from the best thing since sliced bread, to the worst existence ever.

But what actually makes this movie great in the end is the ending. He is set to receive an award in journalism for this report. This award was given to him when he was on top of the world and at a time when he was much more popular.

There's even a moment where he gets up to receive his award and everyone is cheering for him, they're happy that he won this award. He looks happy. Its kinda cheesy but it works. Because then you realize that its all a fantasy and when his name is called, there's barely any applause and people are disappointed that he won. And Renner delivers this speech that is actually really great. That he doesn't regret anything, and all he wanted to do was write the truth. I mean it won't go down as one of cinema's greatest speeches but it really is an entertaining speech and a great way to end the movie.

And like I said, this really is a rags to riches to rags story with a modern twist on it. Especially given that this actually happened.

Now can I say for certain that this movie is totally accurate. I have no idea to be honest. That's always the caveat when you watch movies "Based on a True Story". They can try and be as close to the actual events as they can, but in the end, it is a Hollywood production and it needs to be entertaining.

Luckily this movie is. It does have a few moments where it does feel long and maybe drawn out more than it needs to be. His fall from grace is really actually a plummet because its not gradual at all. In one scene he's on top of the world, really in the next he's losing everything very quickly. And at times, it does get a little bit over the top with the things he loses, like when he loses his motorcycle.

Another thing worth mentioning is that this is really Jeremy Renner's movie. I liked the other performances of the movie, but in the overall scheme of things, this is Jeremy Renner's movie. I think maybe having some more from the other performances would have complimented Renner's performance more, but as it is, its a good representation of Renner and really shows that he is a good actor.

But overall, the movie I think really got overlooked. I don't even remember this movie having much of a theatrical release and its too good of a movie to be straight to VOD. If you can find this movie, I definitely think its worth checking out. It might not be the best biopic from 2014, but I think it was an underrated one.

But those are my thoughts on Kill the Messenger. What did you think when you saw it. And what do you think of Jeremy Renner? Is he better in roles like Hawkeye or should he focus on these more serious roles? Comment and Discuss below.

You can also send me your thoughts on this movie and others on Twitter @cmhaugen24. There you can send me your thoughts and requests for future films. I love discussing film. If you wanna get updates on movie news and reviews, following me is a good way of getting that.

I'll leave you with this. I don't know if I put this on an earlier review, and if I did, sorry for the repeat but it is a funny video. Prior to everybody thinking that Hawkeye was cool after Age of Ultron, he did this video on Fallon and it really speaks for itself. Enjoy!