THE MESSENGER Movie Review

The Messenger will be released to theaters on Friday November 13, 2009 and stars Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Eamonn Walker, and directed by Oren Moverman. If you are planning to go see the movie, here are a few reviews from around the web to help you make up your mind.

The Washington Post
In modern warfare, which is more powerful: The IED or the NOK? That's the question posed by "The Messenger," a drama about a young army officer assigned to deliver death notices to soldiers' next of kin ("NOKs" in military parlance) while home recovering from injuries -- both physical and psychological -- that he suffered because of an Iraqi improvised explosive device. Read More.

Screen Crave
This is it, with The Messenger in theaters, the time for possible Oscar films has begun! First time director and co-writer Oren Moverman shows us how to make a movie with his debut film, which is as subtle and beautiful as it is poignant and dramatic. From an amazing script, to beautiful performances he has unknowingly made himself Oscar-bait. Read More.

The Canadian Press
It's an unenviable task, making films about the war on terror for audiences that don't want to sit through dramatizations of the same bad news they get for real out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Less enviable is the task the key characters are charged with in "The Messenger": Providing word to people back home that a loved one has died in action.
After Kathryn Bigelow served up the first great Iraq War film with this year's "The Hurt Locker," Oren Moverman delivers a moderately engaging homefront counterpart on "The Messenger," a story that strays about without finding its centre. Read More.

The Messenger Synopsis: In his most powerful performance to date, Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will’s emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.

You can watch the trailer below

November 12, 2009 by Eric · Print This Article
Category: Movie Reviews