*** (out of four)
The real-life-based investigative journalism tale “Kill the Messenger” is no “All the President’s Men,” but it’s got quite a story: In the late ’90s, San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb (a well-cast Jeremy Renner) uncovered a shocking link between drug dealers in America, the CIA and war in Nicaragua in the ’80s. His story blows the minds of his editor (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and her boss (Oliver Platt) and earns him national attention. That includes resentment from papers like the Los Angeles Times that were scooped.
But there’s a lot more to it. Helmed by Michael Cuesta (who also directed the great, little-seen “12 and Holding,” also starring Renner) and adapted by Peter Landesman from Nick Shou’s book of the same name and Webb’s “Dark Alliance,” “Kill the Messenger” is about how easily a big story can break a journalist and turn a reporter into the news. Suddenly Webb goes from hero to target as sources change their story and he’s transferred to a rinky-dink operation where he reports on a constipated police horse. To an extent, the movie seems to cloud the issue that Webb’s story, at least as depicted here, does seem to have been compiled largely from claims by people in jail without corroborating evidence to cross the necessary Ts. (He tries to get a CIA source, but isn’t surprised that he can’t.)
Or maybe it allows this engrossing drama to show how pulling a string can unravel the world. No journalist would say that it’s legitimate to print an incomplete investigation, poking a giant and hoping it falls down. But “Kill the Messenger” demonstrates how misinformation and limited public memory impact the news cycle no matter the facts.
Frequently typecast as a drug dealer, Michael K. Williams (“The Wire”) gets a laugh when he tells Webb, “I gave him $6 million a week … allegedly,” and, as a California prosecutor, Barry Pepper makes a good sleaze. The movie accurately depicts daily paper operations, talking about the work in a non-glamorous way. Fully reported or not, Webb’s story reflects a willingness to sniff a fresh trail and stay with it.
With so many people’s instinct to run when things get hard—this also appears in Webb’s personal life, regarding he and his wife’s (Rosemarie DeWitt) decision to move from Ohio to California—having the guts to walk into the storm has to count for something.
Watch Matt review the week’s big new movies Fridays at 11:30 a.m. on NBC.
mpais@tribune.com
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