Benedito Dias Rodrigues l'd watched this movie in December 1996 for first time on television,in that time l'd rated 5/10 but now on full length DVD with original audio it's seem much better...Cannon made a lot of movies during the 80' action movies and J L Thompson was really good director of this kind of movies...Messenger of Death has Charles Bronson as newspaper's reporter an unusual role to "Stone Face",the plot is totally improbable but is around two Mormons families whom are in clash after women and children massacre,but Bronson suspicious that the real reason is an Water Company. Apart the plot the amazing Colorado landscape is breathtaking and the music score is properly fine,as always Bronson never disappoint his fans.

Michael_Elliott Messenger of Death (1988) ** (out of 4) After three women and several children of a Mormon family are brutally murdered, reporter Garret Smith (Charles Bronson) begins to investigate and it seems the possible suspect might be between two rival members of that family. As the reporter gets deeper into his investigation his own life comes into jeopardy.MESSENGER OF DEATH is that Bronson movie where he kills nobody. With that said, it should come as no surprise that this film was the least popular of his Cannon movies at both the box office and the video rental market. If you ask die-hard Bronson fans what their least favorite Cannon film is more than likely they're going to name this if they've even seen it. MESSENGER OF DEATH doesn't completely work but it's still a mildly entertaining mystery that at least gives us a chance to see Bronson in a different type of role.J. Lee Thompson does a pretty good job in his directing duties and especially during the opening sequence where a mystery man enters a house and murders several people. The editing of this sequence is very well-done and the director handles it quite well. I'd argue that we're also given a couple fun action scenes including Bronson in a jeep going up against a couple semis trying to run him off the road. As far as the legend actor goes, for the most part he's actually pretty good here. He's certainly believable as a reporter and it's nice seeing him in this type of role. The supporting cast is also good in their parts and you'll also see some familiar faces including Gene Davis (10 TO MIDNIGHT), Tom Everett and Kimberly Beck (FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER).So, where does MESSENGER OF DEATH go wrong? For starters, the budget was extremely low so I'm sure many interesting scenes were never filmed. Another problem is that its main story just isn't all that interesting. The mystery aspect could have been played up a lot better but too often the film falls back to a formula action picture where we see Bronson whooping up on people. These action scenes just don't sit too well with an otherwise talky picture. MESSENGER OF DEATH isn't your typical Bronson movie but it's certainly not the worst of his career.

Scott LeBrun Charles Bronson stars as Garret Smith, a crime reporter for the Denver Tribune. He learns of a horrifying incident, that of the massacre of a Mormon family. This sets off further sparks among two brothers who already have bad blood between them: fundamentalist preacher Willis Beecham (Jeff Corey) and farmer Zenas Beecham (John Ireland). After some digging around, Garret realizes that the two siblings are possibly being manipulated by some other party.As far as the Charles Bronson / director J. Lee Thompson / Cannon Group product goes, this isn't outright terrible, but it isn't as engrossing as their other sleazy offerings (especially "10 to Midnight" and "Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects"). Ultimately, the filmmaking / storytelling is pretty simplistic, which is a shame, as this look at a certain culture could have yielded more interesting results. Bronson plays a more upbeat character than usual, but Garret (or Garr, as friends call him) is still a typical Bronson bad ass who can hand others' asses to them without expending much energy himself. The opening set piece of the killing of innocent women and children is pretty chilling, and there's one action highlight of two big rigs sandwiching a truck in between them. But the ending is rather weak, wrapping up too quickly and producing little satisfaction.Bronsons' supporting cast is pretty damn good: Trish Van Devere, Laurence Luckinbill, Daniel Benzali, Charles Dierkop, Corey, Ireland, Gene Davis (Bronsons' nemesis in "10 to Midnight"), Jon Cedar, Tom Everett, Kimberly Beck, William Phipps. Van Devere is lovely and appealing, and Benzali is quite amusing as the police chief who's being promoted for a run for the mayors' office.At the very least, this offers some gorgeous scenery and a rousing music score by Robert O. Ragland.Six out of 10.

lost-in-limbo After a massacre was committed on a family of Mormons, newspaper reporter Garret Smith decides to dig a little deeper into the story, to only find out that there might just be more to it then just two feuding brothers.Another IMDb reviewer mentioned "Messenger of Death" is somewhat a change of pace for Bronson compared with his other efforts within this period, and definitely they got that right. Here it's a steely eyed Bronson doing a lot investigating and self-advertising his newspaper articles, than handing out much forcible punishment. Get ready for conversations and story development deluxe! Is more so a mystery set-up than action splurge. Actually don't fear, he gets 'some' hands on action. This Cannon presentation can't seem to escape it's cheap, and almost TV movie quality. However this wasn't a huge fault, but the main one was it promised so much to only fizzle out. The opening atmospheric musical piece, established by haunting chants sets the mood and the beginning sequence is brutally eerie and unsparing with director J. Lee Thompson's stylish guidance. After this well-implanted beginning, what we get afterwards is mostly lacklustre and anti-climatic textbook fluff. Too bad it has to go to waste, as Thompson shows scope, ace pacing and strings along the set-pieces with a beautiful Colorado backdrop captured by fluent cinematography, but breaking it down has got to be that the story can get too causal and unintentionally comical. The revelation to what's happening just comes off feeble, and lacking. Thompson does invoke few terse spurts of suspense throughout the rest of the running time with a rather inventive brush, but this notable sequence involving two trucks loses out to the same-old, same-old pattern. Robert O. Ragland's airy, uncanny tremble that features heavily in his persistent instrumental score is really well pulled off. The religious aspect is there, but more so a stepping stool for the story to play out then share any real light on the topic. Even the money hungry and corrupt side of business corporations finds some similarities between the two, where Bronson's character becomes "the avenging angel". At least Charles Bronson makes for an appealing protagonist and he shows some colour in his calculated performance, and the support cast chip in with very solid and somewhat ripe turns. Passable Bronson venture.