Kill the Messenger
Focus Features | Release Date: October 10, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
15
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
VarietyAndrew BarkerSep 26, 2014
The film taps into far deeper, richer veins of material than it has the time to properly mine. It’s nonetheless a flinty, brainy, continually engrossing work that straddles the lines between biopic, political thriller and journalistic cautionary tale, driven by Jeremy Renner’s most complete performance since The Hurt Locker. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniOct 10, 2014
It hobbles its otherwise fascinating premise by descending into hagiography. Webb's story is a tragedy, to be sure, but portraying him as a saint and martyr does little to advance the truth. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyOct 10, 2014
That the filmmakers are able to pursue their theme to the extent that the true story on which the film is based obliges them to somehow has to be credited to Renner. His performance is very good, despite the somewhat stereotypical bro characteristics with which the Webb character is here endowed. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 10, 2014
What hits home is Renner’s performance, which gives full weight both to Webb’s fierce, abiding love for journalism and his despair when his livelihood – his reason for being – is trashed. It’s a tragedy, doubly so since the core of Webb’s allegations remains unchallenged today. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 9, 2014
Jeremy Renner doesn’t put much movie-star mustard on his performance as a newspaper reporter in Kill the Messenger, and that’s one of the reasons the work is so strong. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigOct 9, 2014
As suspenseful as any episode of Showtime's "Homeland," which director Michael Cuesta also executive-produced. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 9, 2014
Kill the Messenger is compelling material but the recognition that the core of the narrative is based on true events gives it additional power. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsOct 9, 2014
While the chronological details and social significance of the story Webb reported get shortchanged, Kill the Messenger is a vital reminder that a free press must be free to press the powerful for answers. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreOct 7, 2014
Renner’s performance — beginning with bluster and descending into twitchy paranoia — sells it and makes us fret for every “messenger” suddenly the target of the spotlight himself. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 9, 2014
Michael Cuesta’s Kill the Messenger made me so angry over the apparent injustice done to its journalist hero, Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner), that I found it hard to remain in my seat. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 9, 2014
The visual choices in the movie, including all the close-ups of Gary’s face as it lightens and darkens, help create the sense that something deeply personal is at stake. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 9, 2014
[Renner's] outstanding as a man passionate about his work. His character is not perfect — just ask his wife and children — but he is certainly a good man trying to do good things. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 9, 2014
This pulpy, energetic film is a fast-moving and entertaining tale. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid DenbyOct 6, 2014
Jeremy Renner is the main reason to see Kill the Messenger. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 26, 2014
Renner appears completely immersed in his role and when the clouds of doubt accumulate and the man becomes a professional pariah, it's a painful thing to see. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernOct 8, 2014
Director Michael Cuesta (Homeland) includes just enough real news footage among the heavily scripted scenes to make you crave a documentary on Webb instead. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 4, 2015
Flaws aside, Kill the Messenger inspires a moral outrage that feels disconcertingly timely. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyOct 9, 2014
A resonant journalistic cautionary tale gets packaged as a hokey thriller in Kill the Messenger, a movie with a message that isn’t nearly as urgent as it needs to be. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoOct 9, 2014
It’s an engrossing portrait not only of government intrigue and crusading after the truth, but of media and their tangled motivations. Engrossing enough, in fact, that Cuesta needn’t try as hard as he occasionally does to heighten the drama and give it added flash. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 9, 2014
Despite the film’s heavy-handed effort at vindication, Renner manages to deliver a performance that is complex and satisfyingly contradictory. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyMar 5, 2015
Jeremy Renner is superb as a reporter ruined by his biggest story, but The Parallax View this isn't. Read full review
60
EmpireWilliam GossMar 2, 2015
Renner’s solid performance anchors a formidable ensemble in the type of well-intentioned docudrama more likely to leave your head shaking than your pulse pounding. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonOct 9, 2014
If the screenplay to Kill the Messenger were a news story, any capable copydesk would have kicked it back to the reporter — not for a shortage of facts, but a lack of dramatic soul. Read full review
60
The DissolveMatt SingerOct 8, 2014
Kill The Messenger isn’t a great movie, but it’s a great vehicle for Renner, and a showcase for the kind of work he should be doing more regularly. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonOct 7, 2014
It doesn't entirely engage, in part because it's so determined to correct the story that it can't let us explore it ourselves. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfOct 7, 2014
Seeing as how Kill the Messenger comes down firmly on the side of Webb’s truth, it’s unfortunate that his discoveries are only confirmed via the end credits. Missing from the action, too, is the merest hint of our hero’s demise by suicide in 2004. These aspects should have been better showcased; as is, it’s not the whole story. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 26, 2014
It’s a great story that lends itself to some striking scenes. Yet the film in total – if I may paraphrase Webb’s critics – has a number of holes. Read full review
58
IndieWireEric KohnOct 9, 2014
Even as it celebrates the spirit of committed journalism that rises above the powerful forces designed to contain it, Kill the Messenger displays the same anesthetized quality that Webb's dedication to his job was meant to counteract. Renner is a different story. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerOct 8, 2014
It’s an interesting approach to a fascinating story — yet it still can’t fully break free of its initial limitations. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 9, 2014
In his performance, Jeremy Renner hints at something dark stirring beneath Webb’s surface, but it never quite comes out, and we’re left with something more on the order of a rough-hewn saint. Kill the Messenger tells an interesting tale, but it’s caught in an odd zone between too-Hollywood and not Hollywood enough. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChris CabinOct 7, 2014
The film devolves quickly into a pedestrian character study that basks in Gary Webb's public shaming and victimization, losing sight of the bravery and probing talent that characterized his writing. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 26, 2014
Kill The Messenger hopes to solemnly lionize and exonerate Webb, but rarely does it reflect anything back to its audience other than reminding us how corrupt and unprincipled our system is. Read full review
48
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeSep 26, 2014
The intent of the film, and its timeliness, are beyond reproach, but that doesn't make Kill the Messenger as stirring or inspiring of indignation as it clearly wants to be. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottOct 10, 2014
The result is a film that is engrossing for stretches, that will raise your hackles -- and maybe the hair on the back of your neck -- especially if you believe in the vital role journalism plays in a free society. At the same time, though, it also feels a bit like a by-the-numbers affair. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovOct 8, 2014
It’s a worthy effort, and Webb’s story is important. Nevertheless, Kill the Messenger feels extremely dated: In these cynical times, it’s too little, too late, which is too bad. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithOct 8, 2014
Kill the Messenger tries to be the “JFK” of crack, but offers only shrill self-righteousness to answer the crazed energy of Oliver Stone’s masterpiece of deceit. Read full review
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