Kill The Messenger Feels Like Another Unfortunate Misstep For Renner

Jeremy Renner has been billed as Hollywood's newest leading man for the last six years. But every chance he's gotten to prove he can carry a movie, it's gone bust. Kill the Messenger is just the next example of this very explainable anomaly.

SPOILERS I GUESS

Kill the Messenger is a true story about a small-time reporter catching a metaphorical tiger by the tail. Unfortunately for him, this tiger really does have teeth, and while he's completely new to this level of reporting, the CIA (or the tiger) is not. When it becomes apparent that the reporter isn't going to give up, the CIA ruins his life.

Not to give anything away, but that's literally the entire movie. And that's really the problem. Yes, the point exists in there... the messenger does get destroyed and those receiving the message don't really... can't really do anything with the information other than know that it happened. But the movie itself does not have enough content to warrant a full feature. Yes, the story is tragic, and people should know about it. But there needed to be another act in order for a feature to exist. And while the point probably lies somewhere within that fact, it doesn't excuse this final product's lack of content.

END SPOILERS I THINK

But let's get back to the first thought I had. Jeremy Renner has been surrounded by all sorts of quality here and in other flicks... and unfortunately, the more quality that's brought in to support him, the more it becomes obvious he's the weakest link. A movie starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Platt, Tim Blake Nelson, Michael Sheen, Richard Schiff, and Ray Liotta should not be boring. But because none of those actors is afforded adequate screen time or any kind of particularly interesting role... thanks to Renner's down-your-throat, screen-hogging Gary Webb (no offense to the real man), boring is exactly what this movie becomes.

Don't get me wrong. I actually think Jeremy Renner is a very talented individual... when given a minor role like we saw last season in Louie. His drug dealer performance in just a couple episodes of that show may actually be the best thing he's ever done... because he didn't have to carry the whole story by himself. When he is asked to be the next Jason Bourne, it fails because the movie requires too much of him. So ultimately I've come to the conclusion that Jeremy Renner is the most overhyped leading man who should actually be handling supporting roles. I think if studio execs and the creative community took a step back and recognized this, everyone would be better off. Renner movies wouldn't have to be just Renner movies, and audiences wouldn't have to suffer through them as they've been asked to do so many times of late.

So... this technically still being a Kill the Messenger review, I'm gonna end with this thought... Kill the Messenger misses the mark. It's still a story everyone should be aware of, but I would not recommend going to see the actual film. If you get a chance to read Gary Webb's original article (book), Dark Alliance, that's probably the way to go.

David O. Russell Makes A Better Movie Than I Expected In American Hustle

It's true.

Unlike most people, I did not enjoy his previous film, Silver Linings Playbook.

It simply fell flat for me. And at no point did I find the concept worthy of a full-length feature. So when the trailers came out for American Hustle I was seriously nervous. Mostly I found myself mourning his earlier works, Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees and The Fighter. But then I saw the movie.

American Hustle is gripping. It does just enough at every turn to keep you paying attention. And it is very very well cast.

Christian Bale does an excellent job. He seems to work well with everybody. Amy Adams is a treat. It nice to see her getting an opportunity to show a few sides of herself she really doesn't get to express that often. Bradley Cooper is very serviceable and has some hilarious sequences with Louis C. K. (so glad he's in this one by the way). And Jennifer Lawrence, in tandem with Christian Bale, has legitimately the best scene in the entire film. That really only leaves Jeremy Renner. If I were to rate his performance scene by scene he would get an A for Acting nine times out of ten. But that final scene was so completely discombobulated that it leaves a bad mark on the rest of his work. It's really too bad too. I don't even think it was his fault to be honest. It feels as though in post, the scene got torn up and left in pieces on the cutting room floor. Perhaps those additional pieces just didn't fit the rest of the film. Oh well. Too bad so sad.

David O. Russell doesn't really strike me as a sentimentalist anyway.

But American Hustle as a whole is a very solid movie. The twists are actually twists and the concept is fun and always interesting. After a massive success with what I see as a completely overrated film, David O. Russell came back and made a movie actually worth watching. Kudos to that.