TOM TANGNEY

‘Kill the Messenger’ may be better in print

Oct 10, 2014, 12:11 PM | Updated: 12:42 pm

Tom Tangney says “Kill the Messenger” doesn’t quite do Gary Webb’s story ju...

Tom Tangney says "Kill the Messenger" doesn't quite do Gary Webb's story justice.

“Kill the Messenger” tells the true story of a minor-league investigative journalist who breaks a huge story about corruption at the highest levels of government. But unlike the journalist heroes in “All the King’s Men,” this is not a story of triumph, but of defeat.

Instead of a tale about a government brought down by the truth, “Kill the Messenger” shows how reporting the truth can bring down the journalist. As one informant cautions, “Some stories are just too true to tell.”

In 1996, Gary Webb was a local reporter for the San Jose Mercury News when he cracked open a story with national and international repercussions. He uncovered evidence that the booming 1980s cocaine trade in this country had the tacit approval of the CIA because its profits were bankrolling the Contras in Nicaragua. The first half of this film follows Webb as he tracks down the story, from local drug dealers in San Jose to drug lords in Nicaragua to confidential insiders in Washington D.C.

When the government catches wind of what Webb is up to, he’s summoned back to CIA headquarters.

Webb ignores the CIA’s clumsy threats and, shortly thereafter, the Mercury News publishes a three-part series entitled “Dark Alliance” exposing the CIA’s role. It creates a media sensation, but it also creates a powerful backlash. Not only does the government do what it can to discredit Webb, more surprisingly so do the major media outlets. If this film is to be believed, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and especially the Los Angeles Times went into hyperdrive to discredit Webb’s story, primarily because they couldn’t abide being beaten on the biggest story of the decade. The hatchet job on Webb is successful enough that even his own paper demotes him. It’s an infuriating and dispiriting story that needs to be told.

Unfortunately, “Kill the Messenger” doesn’t quite do the story justice. Jeremy Renner is very good as the intrepid Webb, but the emotional energy of the movie peaks when the news story first goes public – and that’s only the halfway point of the film. The screenplay can’t figure out how to dramatize the downhill slide of Webb’s career. Sure it’s unfair, but that doesn’t make it compelling.

A smarter move may have been to take the focus off Webb the man and put it instead on either the scandal that he exposed or the journalistic infighting that he inspired.

“Kill the Messenger” does a great service in publicizing a story that deserves more attention, but it also inadvertently points out that cinema may be the wrong medium for this kind of story. The book it’s based on is no doubt better.

Tom Tangney

Belfast...

Tom Tangney

Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Belfast’ is a crowd-pleaser that doesn’t quite hit the mark

"Belfast" has plenty to recommend itself but it's not nearly the moving testament to fraught times that Kenneth Branagh thinks it is or wants it to be.

2 years ago

Eternals, Marvel...

Tom Tangney

‘Eternals’ has to do a lot of heavy lifting for a single film

Imagine the daunting task Marvel sets for itself in "Eternals." It has to introduce 10 new superheroes, not to mention an entirely new cosmology.

2 years ago

French Dispatch...

Tom Tangney

‘The French Dispatch’ is unmistakably Andersonian

Wes Anderson is an acquired taste. But luckily, after 10 full-length movies, most critics and many movie-goers have acquired it.

2 years ago

Dune...

Tom Tangney

All set-up and no payoff: ‘Dune’ is world’s longest and most expensive trailer

It's hard to find the right metaphor for the new "Dune" movie. Whatever comparison you choose, it must reflect a sense of incompletion.

2 years ago

Last Duel...

Tom Tangney

Poor Marguerite’s story saves ‘The Last Duel’

Tom Tangney says, ultimately, The Last Duel is a proto-feminist take on the Middle Ages with Marguerite's take that brings the film into focus.

2 years ago

James Bond...

Tom Tangney

Daniel Craig’s final James Bond movie comes full-circle

The 25th installment in the James Bond movie franchise may be titled "No Time to Die," but "Too Much Time to Die" may be more fitting.

2 years ago

‘Kill the Messenger’ may be better in print