The Messenger

They could have gone down the Ricky Gervais 'Ghost Town' route of clairvoyance with comedy or they could have done the 'Ghost' route of a romantic thriller. Instead they go down the route of a slow burn, melancholic, mental illness movie that is not driven by the plot. Brave, if a little misguided.

Written by someone whose chief accomplishment is Emmerdale and a TV series director.

The acting is not great. The direction is not given to cinema. Sheehan has been better in other things.

In the end this is a missed opportunity. A good idea that could have been a decent, low budget, crime drama but is let done by the tone of the movie.

I'm a huge fan of Robert Sheehan, and this is truly one of his very best moments of acting. I'm really puzzled as to why this movie has some really bad reviews - it is a hauntingly beautiful story of what might happen to someone who has been tormented by ghosts from the time they were just a young boy. I thought the cinematography was very well done, the shots of Jack speaking while walking "alone" through various vast, empty places was an interesting choice that I think paid off. The music was perfectly suited to the morose and at times painful mood of the story. And the acting... wow, just wow. Robert Sheehan was truly amazing as such a tortured, tragic soul. This is a story that will stick with me for a few days at least. Well worth the watch. I did not find it to be boring at all, in fact I was absolutely riveted. That said, it is definitely the kind of movie that you watch for the acting, rather than the action.

All you want from a very, very surprising movie. A skillfully written and acted movie, more please..............!

Main characters are fully formed, the dialogue is rich the locations well thought out.

The main characters are very human and you want more and the movie keeps giving.

Young actors are well directed giving me the feeling of a fully rounded journey.

I saw this at the Scottish film festival and was not expecting a small masterpiece.

I watched The Messenger because I saw on IMDb that it was categorized in the thriller and horror section. That was the only reason I was interested in this movie. And again the movie is categorized in the wrong section. It has absolutely nothing to do with a horror movie nor a thriller. IMDb should check movies out for themselves before categorizing them. It's very annoying. The Messenger is just a drama, and not even a good one. It's one of those movies were the story has been done before and way better. The "I see dead people" is a nice idea for a story but unless you bring something new and better then seen before it is of no point making it. The Messenger is way too slow to be entertaining and the slow violin and piano music throughout the movie doesn't help a bit. The cast is okay but also nothing that you will remember about.

Jack, played by Robert Sheehan, is a medium, of a scruffy, unkempt, variety. Jack's abilities have not made him rich or famous. Instead, Jack is marginalized by society and in an real sense, condemned by his talent. Jack leads a life of dispossession and isolation.

This film, in large part, takes place inside Jacks head. The plot builds ever so subtly and there are segues that make you question what exactly is taking place. The question of who and what Jack is, is as much a mystery as the unfolding story of a murdered journalist. Is Jack in fact in possession of supernatural abilities that let him talk to the murdered reporter or is he, more plausibly, mentally ill?