Review of Kill the Messenger (2014) by Ginak — 11 Oct 2014

I did not go to see Kill the Messenger for political reasons but because I wanted to see a good film. The film was well-made, but didn’t tell me anything that I didn’t know and the view of journalism was nothing special.

I realize this movie was based on fact, but my overall comment is the facts as presented in the script were pretty dull and not surprising. This film also brought up an interesting topic at lunch – why isn’t Jeremy Renner more successful as an actor? Our conclusion was that he simply is not very charismatic but more workmanlike.

In the right role (and with the right director) like in The Hurt Locker, he does a great job, but he doesn’t seem to be able to rise above the material, like for example, Geoffrey Rush or even Michael Caine can.

The film was well-made and the cast very strong, especially the journalist’s wife, son, and editor, but I cannot recommend it as a particularly interesting two hours. The few minutes of video of the real Gary Webb at the end were more interesting, sad, and provocative than the rest of this workmanlike film.