Kill the Messenger [2 Discs] [Includes Digital Copy] [UltraViolet] [Blu-ray/DVD] [2014]

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• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Solid Political Thriller. Great Ensemble Cast.

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  Kill the Messenger is a true tragedy. A discussion and a meditation on the human life and the countless directions it could go according to the mind that is guiding it. It is a story that takes on the model of what its main character goes through reinforcing the difficulty with which he experiences in trying to follow the guiding light he caught a glimpse of as a child. Despite what else might go on in his life Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner) is an idealistic journalist who believes in the power of his profession. He is a man held to the virtues of his responsibilities to the American public and, as he should, takes that responsibility seriously. He is as ambitious as he needs to be in wanting to crack the one big story that might break his career wide open and send him from the bowels of the San Jose Mercury News to the big leagues of the The Los Angeles Times or Washington Post though these ambitions never feel as important as his need to produce quality. What the film tells of more than it does necessarily follow the plot of the story Webb is investigating is the role of man in our society when he plays with the powers that be. What is wrong with our government if we are not allowed to question them without repercussion? In this case the repercussion is that of Webb becoming the story, his credibility called into question, rather than what he'd actually investigated and reported on being the story or point of focus. It is as much a commentary on the integrity of investigative journalism and how it has devolved into what we have today (the 24-hour news cycle on roids) as it is an interesting take on the state of our country which promises and promotes freedom, but will devour you if you take those liberties to a certain extent. Kill the Messenger is an engaging film, one reminiscent of those 1970's Robert Redford films (namely All the President's Men) taking the paranoid political thriller and transcending even that genre classification because of the real life weight the story holds.

  Posted 10 years ago by VandyPrice

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Gary Webb, an American hero

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  Kudos to Jeremy Renner for producing and starring in this riveting adaptatoin of Nick Schou's _Kill_the_Messenger_ and Gary Webb's _Dark_Alliance_. It's a story about a hero's quest to tell a truth to the people, too truthful to be told, and the professonal and personal tolls that were taken as a result. This film is an entertainment, not a documentary, but it hews close enough to the essential truths about Webb, the man, and his reportage on the links between the CIA, Nicaraguan "contras" and the importation of drugs and weapons into the US from Latin America. That said, don't watch any film and pretend to learn history. Study history, for its own sake, and then allow that knowledge to inform your enjoyment of said film. That's where I'm coming from with my high praise for this film, based on a true story. We all know, today, with 20-20 hindsight and subsequent, eventual corroborations that what Webb wrote about money for drugs to fund the contras, with CIA cover, if not complicity, was true. It was an ugly and inconvenient truth that put the San Jose Mercury News on the map as a newspaper of national and international standing. A truth that was then viciously spun by government and warped by rival corporate media into a weapon that ultimately destroyed Webb's career as a journalist and, finally, his life. For me, the film passes the smell test to claim to be based on a true story. One thing that I remember from then is how the SJ Mercury News luridly over-hyped Webb's story on its pages and then later threw Webb under the bus, caving into the official-sources-fueled professional retaliation by the LA Times, Washington Post and NY Times, who were all, embarassingly, scooped by Webb. Webb, in fact, was following in the footsteps of an earlier "messenger," Robert Perry, who was eventually forced out of the Associated Press for attampting to cover the same story. The film sports a who's-who of co-stars and is tastefully directed by Michael Cuesta. The extras on disc are worthwhile. Not enough people got to see this film during its theatrical run. I sure didn't, but now I have remedied that.

  Posted 10 years ago by WhiskeyTangoActual

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Mostly thrilling

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  I didn't know much about this when I bought it let alone it was based on true events! I don't want to give much away but the way I watched this movie (without any knowledge of previous events or even the true story it was based on) was refusing to read reviews or research before I watched it. It has some surprises and it does offer some realism. This movie made me want to review the actual events and found them to be quite interesting and I am surprised I didn't really know about it before hand.

  Posted 9 years ago by Danyael