Jeremy Renner, with all his natural acting charisma and graceful persona, has earned his status as a movie star. But his constant attachments to playing leads and second fiddle in action films for Marvel, the Bourne trilogy and Mission: Impossible series and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters seem to rob him of his greatest acting talent: playing down-to-earth, contemplative dramas.
Dramas like The Hurt Locker and The Town are what made his career, but he hasn’t really gotten a lot of time to play those hardheaded, psychologically burdened personas he articulates so well. While his recent guest appearance on the new season of Louie brought this Renner back temporarily, and his supporting performance in American Hustle last year wasn’t too shabby but ultimately was overlooked, Kill the Messenger is finally here to give Renner the dramatic attention he deserves. Of course, he takes the ball and runs with it, even when the movie occasionally stubbles and wobbles to the finish line.
Like all-so-many journalists, San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb (Renner) is looking for the big story— the one to break him away from his humble upbringings and make a name for him. While he has developed a solid drug-trafficking beat, he hasn’t quite covered something groundbreaking yet, the kind of story that would ultimately define him as an investigative reporter and writer. That, of course, will soon change.
During the mid-to-late ‘90s, Webb begins uncovering undisclosed CIA involvement with smuggling large amounts of cocaine into U.S., to be distributed and sold in ghetto communities across the country in an effort to raise money for the Nicaraguan Contras rebel army. Despite being pressed by high officials not to break this story, Webb and the Mercury publish the piece anyway, gaining the mid-level paper its biggest publicity and recognition ever. But that all may come to a big price for Webb and his family, as the government presses them in ways the reporter never envisioned they would.
Kill the Messenger’s incentive for journalism integrity and search for truth, justice plays as its greatest strength and weakness. Its patriotism and good-heartiness comes across a little too cloying and patronizing as the movie progresses into its final act. But through its strongly-drummed integrity, Messenger constant creates a sense of urgency and paranoia. Much like a good journalistic report, Peter Landesman’s script is quick with the exposition and sharp in its retelling, but does leave some room for more in-depth character studying and a bit too cinematic in its dialogue writing.
There’s a sense of overbearing pride in Messenger’s writing that feels a little too simplistic and by-the-books in its narrative approach. There’s a clear sense of inspiration in the movie’s DNA for journalism pictures like All the President’s Men in its blood, but it doesn’t truly distinguish itself enough for its peers to make the greatest impression it could and should make. Regardless of this, however, thanks to grounded, urgent, yet focused, direction from Michael Cuesta and well-executed cinematography from master D.P. Sean Bobbitt, there’s a naturalism, yet well-earned integrity, to Kill the Messenger’s approach that's constantly compelling and engaging. There’s always a sense of motion in the movie, and that is largely thanks to strong and slick editing from Brian A. Kates.
Still, even Cuesta feels more driven to make Messenger have an overwrought sense of emotional integrity as the final reels progress. But Renner, always the relaxed and genuine actor, carries the film through. His Webb is contemplative, smart and sympathetic, but Renner—who also produces—never oversells any emotions. Even when he is forced to go to Webb’s breaking point, he displays an introspective gaze to his surroundings. It’s the kind of dedicated performance only a naturally talented actor could pull off.
While the supporting cast is also strong, especially brief performances from reliable stars like Michael K. Williams, Oliver Platt, Barry Pepper, Rosemarie DeWitt, Andy Garcia and Tim Blake Nelson, none quite get their time to shine quite like Renner. With the possible exception of DeWitt, most feel like characters designed to move the plot along, all the more discouraging when considering that they're all real people. Still, in a film driven more by exposition than character beats, they know how to keep the scripts sizzles popping and its pace moving. They display immediacy in ways that are realistic and sincere, keeping the realism so well versed in Cuesta’s film.
Kill the Messenger is a well-tuned movie, with a strong understanding of story, pace and immediacy. It knows what it wants to accomplish, and mostly succeeds on its middle-ground expectations. While there’s no denying that Cuesta’s film could have reached just a little higher, it maintains enough engaging story beats with thoughtful commentary to keep everything moving effectively, even when the latter gets a little too enunciated.
Image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com