Product: The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Region 2) (1999)
Rating: 3.0
Joan, Joan, Joan
Impetuous and deranged, Joan leads her countrymen into battle. If you love her, follow her.Milla Jovovich plays a desperate Joan, rarely serene. She's getting messages from beyond, and uses her divine guidance to defeat the invading enemy. And this sequence is pretty fun, though the images of medieval combat are a bit on the gory side. Though Jovovich's performance is fevered and exciting, she can't carry the introspective scenes quite as well.To make things worse, she is surrounded by great actors sleepwalking through minor roles, and her director insists on having showy metaphysical scenes that do very little to illuminate the protagonist's point of view. The finale is a little subdued, as well.Nevertheless, it's a fun film. It's not a bad way to spend 2.5 hours, and sometimes great actors are at their most fun when they're phoning in a part, like Dustin Hoffman as "The Conscience," whatever that is.