Imagine a world where films about utopian futures and jet-packs and robots, or sadomasochistic sex fests or tales of espionage and intrigue would end up being among some of the most stunted releases of the year... Yeah, welcome to 2015. For all of the tightly written, wonderfully exciting projects like Carol, Mad Max and Brooklyn that were rich and diverse and never compromised on thrill factor, some of the year's films so badly fudged their potential that their lack of follow through is almost comical. They were exciting lies sold on the back of enticing premises and misrepresenting trailers that made claims the films simply couldn't deliver on. To borrow crude imagery from one of the worst offenders, we'd been warmed up with all manner of clamps and feathers only to be left dangling from the ceiling, trussed up like a turkey, moist but unsatisfied. And there were some pretty big names on the year's black list of improbable borers...
12. Kill The Messenger
The Promise The idea of a movie based on the end of Gary Webb's notorious and tumultuous career as an investigative journalist who tried to take on the CIA was always a great one. There was potential in there for an All The President's Men feel but with more toxicity and more pressure on Jeremy Renner's lead, whose integrity was destroyed by a vicious smear campaign in the wake of allegations of political corruption. The fact that he died in compellingly suspicious circumstances after his career was left in tatters added to the sales pitch of the movie too. The Problem Sadly, the execution is all over the place. There's not enough tension by half, it's uneven and the end is unsatisfactory: it's neither defiant enough nor chilling enough. Unfortunately for Renner, he's still not quite sole leading man material. He's an interesting character actor, but there's a false swagger in his performance that suggests he thinks he's in a David O Russell film when the script just isn't that strong.
