The Messenger Guest Review by Michael

#3: The Messenger
Woody Harrelson showed his range this year. From Zombieland to The Messenger. Ben Foster is Sgt Montgomery, a solider with 3 months left and is assigned to Next of Kin notification with Harrelson. By day, Foster is a serious solider who at first approaches his new assignment as he would any other military mission, further, he seems normal by day. But the front doesn't last by night, where he struggles with the emotional trauma of returning to the States by drinking, loud violent music and trashing his apartment and sleeping on the floor like he would in theater. Foster's character finds himself drawn to a widow that he had just notified. But not in a sexual way, rather as he struggles with the physical and emotional healing from both the battle injuries and the recent loose of a long time sweetheart, he seeks the widow out for as an emotional anchor.

Woody's character in initially the alpha personality between the two. but by the end, both lean on each other and Montgomery comes around and starts thinking about the future. this isn't a war film, it's a film about how one person's job changes the lives of others forever in an instant, how to honor both the KIA and the family and the burden of responsibility that these two people struggle with each notification.
4 out of 5.