Michelle Monaghan’s brimming résuméis back-to-back with an unusually equal blend of duds, hits and titles falling somewhere between both ends of the spectrum. While nearly every great actor manages to retain bee’s knees status even when working with rubbish material, Miss Monaghan mostly only performs well with a decent script in her hands – bar “Made of Honor” in which she came out on top despite some lazy screenwriting.
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As luck would have it, Michael Petroni’s new Netflix thriller “Messiah” offers enough space for the actress to expand her wings. Over 10 episodes, Petroni forces Monaghan’s character – terribly earnest CIA agent Eva Geller – to run the gauntlet of both life and career. Recently widowed and concealing a potentially terminal illness, the hardened careerist works alongside a committed team to locate the truth – or otherwise – in young preacher Al-Masih’s (Mehdi Dehbi) claims as to divinity.
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After emerging from nowhere, the supposed second coming makes it known he stands against what he perceives as a toxic establishment, urging people of all kinds to come together, to live among one another in harmony. The Belgian actor’s smoldering looks and fabulous coif aside, Debhi – or shall we call him Monsieur Cheekbones? – plays the role with an incredibly magnetic mixture of poise, intensity and charisma. Together with Petroni and the remainder of his impressive cast – including a reliably colourful Jane Adams as veteran journo Miriam Keneally and Tomer Sisley as bullish Israeli soldier Aviram Dahan (harbouring a skeleton in his own closet) – Debhi and Monaghan are the tour de force nobody expected from the shelves of Netflix this early in 2020.
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Pessimistic to the max, Eva believes Syria is dealing with nothing more than a talented hustler, or even a radical of some sort with malign plans afoot. But the guy has an epic and burgeoning band of global followers, every one of them convinced he’s the real deal, a gift from above sent to heal society’s wounds, the salvation mankind needs so desperately. Al-Masih inexplicably succeeds in escaping from custody, somehow teleports (off-camera) between countries, possibly reads minds, evokes colossal acts of nature and executes apparent life-saving miracles. All of this only serves to fuel an already raging fire in his followers – and, erm, maybe us too?
We can draw obvious parallels between “Messiah” and taut thriller series “Homeland” Although the latter is infinitely better in every way – that’s not up for discussion – the former is a heavenly effort for the most part. It has attracted a hell of a lot of controversy in a short period of time, much of it stemming from the show’s writers handling concepts from countries, religions and cultures they don’t truly grasp. Be that as it may, such hot debate is often part and parcel of shows like this, so if we ignore the storm, it’s clear to see the overall product is pretty damn wonderful.
Even so, it’s hard not to admit that, at points, it gets a little tedious, dragging viewers through grim quagmires in an otherwise powerful and fast-paced narrative. More importantly, now and then, it feels like there’s an almost intolerable tension between the spiritual aspects of the story – which would benefit from a skosh more subtlety to keep the central mystery alive, thank you very much – and all the usual bells and whistles of thrillers. Basically, it’s a mere matter of tone inconsistency, and while it does nag on occasion, it doesn’t ruin the general experience. And despite polarizing audiences, the concluding twist isn’t to be missed. [B+]