Product: The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Region 2) (1999)
Rating: 2.0
Dissapointing Version of the Joan Of Arc Story!
Unfocused, overproduced, over-ambitious and overlong, that is the best way to describe this uneven period action movie/tragedy/religious melodrama. That's really too bad because it had potential and some great actors in it; Faye Dunaway, John Malkovich and Dustin Hoffman. Starting with the cast, Mila Jovovich was simply wrong for the role, 'Joan of Arc' is just as complex a character as 'Blance DuBois', it was just too difficult for her but who can blame her for trying. She was miscast in a vital role and overdoes it a lot, but then she isn't even an actress, she was originally a model that's always been typecast for roles where exotic looks where needed. Faye Dunaway is under-appreciated, John Malkovich is simply miscast in a role that makes him look silly and childish and Dustin Hoffman just plain seems awkward in the role of devil?/angel?/conscience?. For a period film it is too Hollywoodized, strange considering the French cast and foreign director, it also fails to capture the times with silly accents and unimpressive sets, costumes and makeup. The battle scenes have an extremely low credibility level and look cartoonish. And the 'miracle sequences' where Joan is visited by God are ridiculous, the guy that plays Jesus looked more like a freak that the son of God, his looks are really distracting. It tries to be 'Braveheart' (a much better film) at times but fails miserably and near the end it violently changes direction to religious melodrama. This are the film's best scenes where they start to question whether Joan really saw God and even those sequences are overlong. And the final burning at the stake, which should of been poignant or dramatically successful is dull and unrewarding. The stylized direction by Besson is completely inadequate here, it works well in films like 'La Femme Nikita' (his best film) or even 'The Professional', but not here. Note: if Joan really saw God (and I'm not saying she didn't), I wonder why he preferred the French armies to the English, there's a religious contradiction right there. God loves all and doesn't wish war and manslaughter for anybody. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 4!