Bullet Points: Message Man

Why didn’t anyone message me about Message Man?

Nobody bothered to direct message me on Twitter or Instagram and tell me how awesome Message Man is. Even less people used Facebook Messenger to message me and say “Hey, you really need to check out Message Man!” There were no SMS text messages, not even a message in a bottle!

• Thousand Islands: Our movie begins with retired assassin, Ryan Teller (Paul O’Brien), arriving in Indonesia. Ryan needs to see a mechanic about a part he needs repaired and to pick up some general supplies for the boat he now calls home. It isn’t long before he is befriended by a young boy named Doni. Doni offers to help Ryan get the supplies back to his boat and even invites Doni to have dinner with his family. Ryan accepts the invite and meets Doni’s mother Jenti and Doni’s sister Dewi. Doni tells Ryan his father died years earlier… and I started to get the feeling that I was watching some sort of Hallmark movie about an assassin who was actually going to get to leave his dark days behind him and fall in love with Doni’s mom and sail around the world with his new family… and then Ryan started chopping off the limbs and heads of pirates who nearly ran over Doni in the street and then threatened to cut off Ryan’s balls… at this point I officially knew I was NOT watching a Hallmark movie.

• Grudge Match: The pirates, who now have a few less men than before, are in the skin trade and routinely will go to various villages in Indonesia and rip women right from their homes. These horrible pieces of human trash work for a man named Lee (Verdi Solaiman). Lee is pissed that some of his men have been killed… but he’s really pissed when he finds out who did the killing. It seems that during his assassin days, Ryan Teller, was hired to kill Lee’s parents… and Lee has been dreaming of the day he would be able to exact revenge on Ryan Teller… and now it appears that day has come. When his hired assassins don’t manage to bring Ryan too him, Lee gets information about who Ryan has been associating with since arriving in Indonesia and orders his men to kidnap young Doni and Dewi and send their mother a message in the form of a brutal beating.

• Anti-Piracy: When Ryan finds a bloodied and battered Jenti and learns that her children have been kidnapped by Lee, he promises Jenti he will get Doni and Dewi back and then Ryan goes into full vengeance mode. First Ryan visits the pirate ship and obliterates all of them. Then Ryan makes his way to Jakarta to have his final showdown with Lee. Ryan does not go it alone in Jakarta as he gets some help from a long range sniper he was able to order up and a reluctant auto rickshaw cabbie named Adi, who with a little liquid courage and a strong sense of right and wrong, helps set up an absolutely fantastic scene that proves that while money can’t buy you happiness it can buy you some sweet revenge!

The action and violence packed third act of Message Man more than counterbalanced the low-key first act of the film. Message Man is the only revenge flick in recent memory (or possibly ever) that ended on a genuinely happy note. Normally the vengeance seeker gets what he/she wanted, but their life is still in shambles… but Message Man took a different approach on a familiar theme from the Hallmarkesque start to the feel good finish.

There’s only one way to finish a Bullet Points review and that is with some Bonus Bullet Points…

• Favorite Character: While I thought Paul O’Brien did a good job as the main protagonist, Ryan Teller. My favorite character was Adi hands down… he didn’t have the skill set of Ryan Teller, but he had guts!
• AKA: The working title for the film was Kill Vengeance.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see someone figuratively (and quite possibly literally) shit their pants while watching a webcam show, then Message Man is the movie for you.
• Written and Directed By: Corey Pearson made his writing and directing debut with Message Man. Hopefully we get more action from Corey in the future.