Director Michael Cuesta
Starring Jeremy Renner, Robert Patrick, Jena Sims
Rated M
Score 5/6

A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA’s role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California. Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb.

For those of you who are wondering Kill the Messenger is based on two books Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion released in 1998 and written by Gary Webb and Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack-cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb released in 2006 by Nick Schou.
This is one of those movies where you might not know how accurate the events portrayed in the movie actually are because as we all should know by now that filmmakers and Hollywood events are not above compressing timelines or making one particular character an amalgamation of several real life people all so that it is possible to watch a movie comfortably in a single sitting. But a simple act of ‘sacrificing the truth for the sake of story’ on the part of the filmmakers can be overlooked if after watching the movie you feel compelled to do even the most basic research in the life and work of Gary Webb and his work.
If there were more people like Gary Webb keeping the bastards honest I can’t help but think that maybe (hopefully) the world would not be such a bad place to live in.
It was actually kind of cool to see Jeremy Renner in this movie because up until now I have only really seen him as an action star and it is great to know that he has that he has the depth of talent to be able to pull something like that off without it seeming that he is in over his head.