torstensonjohn Since the early 50's war movies have set a precedence of being filled with the war itself, action and brutality. Here we have a war film completely opposite, the war at home of the families left behind when a soldier dies. Oren Moverman has delivered a punch to the gut with the movie that is driven from the notification process to families. A story strongly set up by Ben Foster's character Montgomery, a injured war hero who has only 3 months left on his tenure. He assigned to the Notification detail and has zero experience in how to grieve much less deal. Tremendous performances by Foster, Harrelson and Morton accompany a strong, well written script and musical score. This film will make any person acknowledge the truth and sacrifice of every soldier. Solid, well done film. 7/10

smatysia What an extremely depressing movie, start to finish. Just so you know. Now, having said that, there is nothing really wrong with that. There is definitely a place for sad movies. With all of the (well-deserved) criticism of Hollywood for putting out cookie-cutter films, this is not one of them. It is serious and thoughtful. I've never been much of a fan of Woody Harrelson, what with his weird roles in such things as "Cheers" and "Natural Born Killers", and his loopy politics and hit man father, but he really brought some acting chops into this role. Samantha Morton played her role as an awkward widowed mom very well. And Lisa Joyce was nice in a small part. But I don't know if I can recommend this one.

sddavis63 The beautiful thing about "The Messenger" is that it doesn't come across as a heavy handed message about the Iraq War. The potential for that was there in the plot. Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster play army officers who are assigned to the duty of informing families of the death of loved ones in Iraq. It's emotionally moving to watch the varied reactions of the different families, who respond with anger, with grief, with tears and sometimes with stoic resignation. But for the most part the movie doesn't revolve around that. It revolves around the characters played by Harrelson and Foster.Harrelson is the veteran. His Captain Tony Stone has been doing this for a while, and he has it down to an art form - a little cold perhaps, but very professional, as befits an officer. Stone is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 - the first (and very short) was against Iraq, and you get the sense that he's burdened with guilt about having been in such a relatively bloodless war. Foster on the other hand is the new recruit to this line of work. His Sargeant Will Montgomery is a veteran of the real Iraq War - and he's seen blood, including a friend being blown up in front of him. As he says at one point to Stone in frustration, "I've been in firefights that lasted longer than your whole damn war." Perhaps that experience makes him more compassionate, less willing to do everything by the book, and it leads to him developing a bond with the widow to whom he brought the news of her husband's death.I wouldn't call this a plot-driven movie. The plot takes second place to the real struggles of the characters involved, and Harrelson and Foster do a very fine job of portraying those struggles. (8/10)

Harry Suttle -Little to no plot. -Unbelievable, let alone irrelevant, love story.-Uses cheap tactics of getting an emotion out of you.-Overly depressing to the point that it starts to get ridiculous. -Unbelievably awkward dialogue (mainly in the romance portion of the movie).-Random camera shaking! I'm getting sick of seeing this in movies. It's not a fake documentary film or a found-footage horror movie so I see no reason.-Woody Harrelson, why did you agree to be in this movie?!!!This could be the worst viewing experience I've ever had! I saw it with one other and he was just as tempted to walk out of the cinema. We didn't, and we regret it to this day.This movie might mean more to me if I was an American, but I'm not and that's not an acceptable excuse. It was released here in Ireland and I'm reviewing it in Ireland.1 star Don't see this movie