In something of a mid-'90s sequel to the even more Byzantine Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-‘80s, MESSENGER follows investigating reporter Gary Webb, working for a mid-sized SoCal paper, to Nicaragua after he’s baited with ‘leaked’ classified reports on a drugs-for-arms scheme that reverberates back to C.I.A. handlers and the crack-cocaine crisis in major American cities. Is the C.I.A. acting as inner-city ‘drug pushers’ to fund anti-government rebels in a foreign country? But Webb’s dangerous assignment, successfully accomplished and notably published to the chagrin of larger papers, turns out to be the easy part. It’s also merely Act One of what morphs into a CIA cover-up/smear campaign to destroy the story and Webb with help from types likely (other government agencies) and unlikely (major-league press guys who should have known better after Iran-Contra). The story, no doubt more complex and grey-filled than the film wants it to be, still Front Page worthy. Yet the film never fully taps its potential. Partly a problem of construction, running Iran-Contra photo-montage under the opening credits seriously confuses the issue right from the start; but mostly it comes down to overly fussy work by lead Jeremy Renner (twenty-six small bits of business when three strong ones would do); director Michael Cuesta (similarly over working material when not putting the camera in the wrong spot); and the way their presentational tics catch on to the rest of the cast & crew. Only Lucas Hedges (Renner’s emotionally bruised teenage son) and a very fine Ray Liotta (alas only for a single scene as a confirming source) manage to avoid contamination. Kill the messenger, indeed.
DOUBLE-BILL: The Washington Post takes it on the chin here. See them fight for the good guys in the ‘mother’ of all investigative journalist pics, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN/’76.
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