'The Messenger' review

Woody Harrelson (Credit: Oscilloscope)

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With three months left in the army, injured staff sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) is assigned to help Sgt. Stone (Woody Harrelson) notify the family when soldiers are reported dead. During this difficult assignment, Montgomery bonds with Stone and slowly seeks a relationship with a deceased soldier's widow (Samantha Morton).

The buzz: This year has already brought one great movie about the war in Iraq ("The Hurt Locker"). It would be great if the directorial debut from Oren Moverman (co-writer of "I'm Not There") could make it two.

The verdict: Moverman's a little fuzzy on the ethics of Montgomery's interest in Olivia (Morton), but mostly "The Messenger" is a devastating debut helmed with immense power and control. Foster, a rising talent whose career brings to mind Edward Norton, is tremendous, and Harrelson and Morton are just as sturdy. They support a film that could have been heavy-handed but instead feels like a real exploration of grief, connection and people rendered lost by the things that happen to them. The army comes off as a family, and the film is true to the horror actual families feel when seeing those two men in uniform approaching the house. Great, sad stuff.

Did you know? Stone insists that men should never ask for directions, which includes using Mapquest or a GPS. There's pride, and there's just a stubborn refusal to accept technology.

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