Review of The Messenger (2009) by Fiona N — 02 Aug 2010

The Messanger is still a war movie, but it's not a "war" war movie. It's a war drama. Now, I haven't seen very many war movies to date, but I think that this is just as good as any war movie that shows the soldiers out doing their thing on the battlefield. It also gives you the strong message to think before you sign up for the Army, to think about what would happen if you were to be killed over seas, and then having two guys go to your family's house and break the news.

Ben Foster plays Sgt. Will Montgomery, a soldier who has been sent back from Iraq after an injury forced him out of action. In the meantime, he has been asigned to Casualty Notification with a guy named Tony (Woody Harrelson.).

As time goes on, Will starts to bond (going on drunken tyrades, getting laid with random women, etc.) with Tony and also break away from his protocol, offering more personal, heartfelt condolences to the NOK (next of kin.) He even starts to fall for one of the widow's he passed on condolences to.

Ben Foster is AWESOME as Sgt. Montgomery! The Academny definetly missed another Best Actor Nominnee with this guy(the first one of course being Sharlto Copley, District 9!) He was exellent as an military man who does what he is told, but still shows human emotion through it.

I also have to mention all the actors who played the family members of those receiving the bad news. We never knew any of them for over five minutes, with the exeption of Olivia Pitterson (played very well by Samantha Morton), but we still felt so bad for them as they showed their greif.

I'll just say that every actor in this movie is great, but the best one of all, the big #1, was definetly Woody Harrelson. I haven't seen Inglorious Basterds, but I still think that Woody definetly should've taken Best Supporting Actor. It's performances like these that are making him fast become one of my favorite actors.

This is a very powerful movie that doesn't get as much credit as it deserves becuase of it's limited release. It is powerful actor-wise, powerful story-wise, and especially powerful emotionally. There were lots of red eyes in the crowd when I left the theater that night.

I compare this to the Hurt Locker on it's greatness level and in a way, subject level. In fact, I actually liked this better than the Hurt Locker. I felt that Hurt Locker kind of slowed down towards the end, this does too, except that I was still there with it the whole time. I wanted to see it nominated for Best Picture as well as Original Picture.

The Messenger may not carry the same characteristics as most war movies, but it still rocks! It doesn't need any gunfights, explosions or any of the normal jazz. It stands on it's own level and takes it all the way.

If you are a fan of war movies, dramas, or just want to watch an awesome movie, then watch The Messenger!