[Movie Review]: Kill The Messenger

Synopsis: 

Based on the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb.

Webb (Jeremy Renner) stumbles onto a story which leads to the shady origins of the men who started the crack epidemic on the nation’s streets…and further alleges that the CIA was aware of major dealers who were smuggling cocaine into the U.S., and using the profits to arm rebels fighting in Nicaragua. Despite warnings from drug kingpins and CIA operatives to stop his investigation, Webb keeps digging to uncover a conspiracy with explosive implications.

His journey takes him from the prisons of California to the villages of Nicaragua to the highest corridors of power in Washington, D.C. – and draws the kind of attention that threatens not just his career, but his family and his life.

Trailer:

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Review:

Kill the Messenger is a thinking man’s thriller that will keep you at the edge of your seat as you watch a CIA conspiracy unfold before your eyes. What makes it scarier and , perhaps more thrilling, is the fact that this really happened and is not a work of fiction.

Jeremy Renner delivers a commendable performance as Gary Webb, the journalist who holds onto his journalistic ideals tenaciously. I liked how the script humanised Webb who is shown to be an imperfect human who makes mistakes in life, making it believable for people to doubt the authenticity of his breaking story given his hunger to make it to the big time. Flawed as he is, he is a likeable protagonist and Renner’s subtle performance have you rooting for him.

The editor and director also succeeds in  pacing the story well. The conspiracy pretty much unfolds in the first half of the movie while the latter half shows Webb’s determination in unearthing and bringing to light the whole truth even as the rest of the industry turns its back on him and vilifies him.

The movie made me ask myself to what length would I hold on to my ideals? If placed in a similar situation, would I do the same? What drove Webb to carry on? Was it really because he wanted to fulfil his ideals or was it because of a stubbornness on his part to vindicate himself as the industry turned its back on him or was it a mix of both?

While the movie does tell you more about the eventual fate of Webb , it also leaves you wanting to know more about the details of the whole episode. I’m pretty sales of Webb’s book, Dark Alliance and Nick Shou’s Kill the Messenger, the two books this movie was based on, will increase by a fair bit with the release of the movie.  

Kill The Messenger opens in cinemas tomorrow.