Product: The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Region 2) (1999)
Rating: 3.0
An Uninspiring, If Entertaining, Epic
Epic war films have, thankfully, been given a new life in recent times. Historical peices, in particular, owe their success to Braveheart - unquestionably one of the best epic films ever made. The Messenger tries very hard to BE Braveheart, and yet it always comes up short of its goal. In spite of Luc Besson's talents, this is, quite frankly, a Braveheart clone that somehow manages to lose one of the most important aspects of the war epic - inspiration. The Messenger is rarely inspiring. It certainly does nothing that Braveheart or Gladiator haven't already done far better.For starters, the script is lukewarm. Frankly, the script lacks the intelligence and life of others in the genre, and sometimes the dialogue borders on cheesiness. The acting leaves a bit to be desired from some of the cast as well. Mila Jovavich screams like a mad woman when she wants to inspire her troops, and instead becomes nothing but an annoying, shrieking thing devoid of inspiration. Who would follow her into battle carrying on as she does is beyond me.The battle sequences in The Messenger are suitably graphic in the tradition of realistic epics, but they somehow manage to cheapen the violence in the process - something that neither Braveheart nor Gladiator managed to do (to use those examples yet again). The battles are also harder to follow, because the battlefields are not wide open and the French and English all seem pretty much the same in their armor. This is more accurate, certainly, but not quite as cinematic.And yet The Messenger is not all bad. There are some interesting characters that Joan meets on her road to immolation, and they liven things up when they are onscreen. Chief among these is Tcheky Caryo. Dustin Hoffman as Joan's conflicting Conscience is also a welcome addition.All in all, The Messenger is a decent, if not thoroughly engaging, epic.