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.

The film has Charles Bronson in its favor, and is fairly well-made. It'a a little unbelievable, but fans of the genre or Bronson should enjoy it. Basically, Charles Bronson is an investigative reporter who investigates the slaying of a man's family, originally under the impression that the slaying was due to religious differences. One thing of minor note...it's not really a feud between different Mormon sects. The LDS Church has banned polygamy, in accordance with federal law, and excommunicates members who practice it. I suppose some might say that all the break-off groups(like the RLDS, FLDS and polygamist clans) can be considered part of a Mormon Religious Umbrella....but that would be kind of like saying members of the Russian Orthodox Church are really Catholic.

Boy, this is a mess. This is one of those films that, on paper, look like they have a lot going for them but, when they put it on the screen, nothing meshes. There's a decent cast – Bronson, van Devere, Benzali, Ireland, Corey – and an intriguing setting, but the plot is fatally anaemic and the direction, considering it comes from an old trooper like Thompson, is surprisingly shoddy. Much of the acting is second-rate at best, while characters perform abrupt about turns for no explicable reason. For instance, Orville Beecham (Charles Dierkop), a clean-living Mormon farmer, is crazy for revenge after mysterious intruders murder his wives and children and yet is full of forgiveness after the rest of his family is wiped out in a gunfight.The film opens well, with an atmospheric prologue in which two mysterious gunmen massacre the wives and children, although why the gunmen's identities are concealed is something of a mystery as they disappear for the next thirty minutes and are immediately confirmed as the killers when they re-appear. Anyway, from this neatly paced opener, the film goes rapidly downhill. Charles Bronson plays a Denver reporter who gets involved with the warring Mormon clans who go to war over the killings, and he's pretty bad here. He was 67 when the film was made, and he looks bloated and tired. On top of that, he's saddled with an awful script and a frankly ludicrous storyline – which is a crime really because the unusual subject matter here deserves much better writing than that offered by 73-year-old writer Paul Jarrico. Director J. Lee Thompson manages a couple of effective scenes, and there is a good sequence in which two water tankers attempt to crush Bronson's vehicle on a winding country road, but for the most part his direction is flat and uninspired and the story simply fails to engage.Bottom line: give this one a miss.

Messenger of Death (1988) was a huge disappointment for a Cannon film starring Charles Bronson. After making some very violent, sleazy and exploitive fare for Cannon, this movie was a big let down for fans of his eighties films. This was a boring and tedious movie. The direction was lackadaisical and the actor was pedestrian and unmotivated. Bronson looked extremely bored and was nearing the end of his acting career. This film expiated his retirement. Too bad because this film could have been a much better than what it turned out to be.Charles Bronson had a good run during the early to mid eighties. It's a shame he couldn't have ended his career with a big bang instead of a boring movie and a few years later in a retread sequel to a dead film series. Fitting that his film career ended as Cannon films was dying as well.Not recommended at all. Considering the talent in front and behind the camera.