Review: The Messenger

Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), a recently injured soldier with 3 months left of active duty, is given a new assignment notifying the next of kin that their soldier relative has died. Learning the ropes from the boisterous Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), Will finds himself involved with a widow of a fallen "brother," played by Samantha Morton.

A slowing movie drama, the three actors are given plenty of time and material to show off their more than substantial abilities. Both Ben Foster and Samantha Morton glide through the story with weary eyes hiding a sickening anger that explodes in ill-timed tantrums throughout. Woody Harrelson balances Foster and Morton's timebomb mania with his own brand of in-your-face denial. A sometime alcoholic, by-the-book everyman just trying to get by. His own emotional scars lie much deeper and only come out when you least expect. The plot rests on the shoulder of their screen chemistry. This is fortunate for the Will-Tony relationship. Their camaraderie has well-paced growth, starting with generic banter over beers to bearing their souls to each other after an alcohol fueled night. They are easily the most relatable, but the fly-by-night romance between Will and Morton's character, Olivia, is awkward and clumsy. Will follows her like an obsessed stalker. Besides obviously being smitten, he also stares coldly at her to an almost scary degree. Will seems sexually aroused by Olivia's loss of hope and poor anger management.

Ultimately, the characters dramatic journey ends with them dealing with their emotional problems, no longer suppressing all the horrible things they are feeling, and show hope of living a happy life again. This is an extension of the script's meaning. Even though the war is overseas, seemingly a million miles away, its repercussions are still felt on the homeland. It is not only soldiers getting hurt reinforcing the "war is hell" mentality so many people already adhere too. Despite the negative viewpoint on war, the movie stays fairly neutral on the Iraq situation, much like The Hurt Locker. It recognizes its existence, but makes no arguments for or against it.

The Messenger is slow moving, but extremely emotional. The actors do a more than fine job. Ben Foster and Samantha Morton continue a stable career of fantastic performances, but Woody Harrelson has possibly found his best performance yet.

7/10