“War! huh-yeahWhat is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh”
Where are you now Edwin Starr? Now that your eloquently put message is the focal point of every single film to arise from the recent ‘War on Terror’. You really should be raking it in, right?
In perhaps a knee-jerk reaction to the popular consensus that the recent conflict in Iraq may actually be nothing more than a strategic Oil mining scam (Who’d of thought it), pretty much every film depicting it has been surprisingly un pro-America. So The Messenger, a tale of two Casualty Notification Officers who, shock-horror, find it difficult to deal with the daily choir of informing families that their loved ones have died in action, should fit perfectly into this modern anti-war climate we’re currently being subjected to.
It’s been a mixed bag of supposedly intellectual treats so far. There’s been; Hurt Locker (enthralling to start with, but ultimately farcical by the end) Fair Game (Bourne without.. .well everything that made Bourne good ) and Lions for Lambs (zzzzzzzzzzzz) to name but a few.
Yet surely Woody Harrelson playing an emotionally scarred officer has to make The Messenger at least mildly entertaining? Well yes it does, but to be honest that’s perhaps the only reason to watch it. The lack of any honest feeling emotion throughout the whole first two, incredibly sterile feeling acts makes the intended evocative finale fall limply to a pitiful death. It’s a shame because Woody Harrelson deserves the best supporting actor Oscar for this role, as he turns in yet another performance where he seamlessly shifts been comical genius to accomplished character actor without even breaking a sweat.
Let’s be honest though, we all know about the futility of war, we’ve seen almost every aspect of the disastrous effects of it over and over again throughout cinematic history, do we really need anymore? The Messenger should be commended for at least trying something different, but ultimately it comes across as about as cold and emotionless as every British period Drama ever made.
Maybe this recent influx of inward looking war films has desensitized me to the emotional hooks present here but If you want a truly emotionally charged film about the true horrors of war (Also featuring Woody Harrelson, so really you’re not missing anything) then watch Terrence Malicks The Thin Red Line, now that’s how you make a film that resonates with true emotion. It truly is a wonderful example of how to capture the desolate beauty of something so utterly ugly.
5/10
