"I wish she would just go home..."      

THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC (R)

Reviewed November 14, 1999 - Check out The Messenger Website.

Studio Synopsis: In 1429, a teenage girl (Milla Jovovich) from a remote village stood before the world and announced she would defeat the world's greatest army and liberate her country. In began as a small voice in the heart of a simple girl… but the voice grew stronger, rulers were drawn to listen, armies were empowered to fight and her countrymen were inspired to believe.

Fuzzydog Review: The Messenger is a film that attempts to re-tell the Joan of Arc story in truly grand fashion.  Under the direction of Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element), it is filled with lavish setpieces, elaborate battle sequences, and a kind of raw energy that is often extremely captivating.  Milla Jovovich plays Joan of Arc with a wide-eyed, almost manic intensity, with John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway, and Dustin Hoffman rounding out the cast of main players in this epic.  The result is a film that definitely has its "wow" moments visually, and one that also makes you pay attention to its individual performances.  There is without question an undeniable boldness and audacity to this film (a quality that's typical of Besson's prior works). 

Unfortunately, all of this grand, bold and lavish intensity doesn't always translate into compelling drama in The Messenger.  A kind of coldness pervades the mood of this film...it's a distant, detached quality that makes it hard to forget that you are indeed just watching a movie.  The frequent and often cryptic sequences involving Joan's many "visions" from God also tend to be distracting, as they eventually begin to make you wonder whether she truly is a messenger of God, or simply a mentally troubled lunatic. 

Oh well, at least they tried.  I'll have to give The Messenger some credit for ambition in both scale and scope; the fact that it fails to spin a tightly-knit dramatic tale is a big disappointment, but at least it does so while trying to offer a unique vision.  Whether that's worth a trip to the theater is up to you...

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

reverie79@webtv.net gives this movie  stars: "I just saw The Messenger on video and was completely disappointed. I had been looking forward to seeing the movie since it's release in the theater. All I can say is I'm glad I didn't waste an outing on a Saturday night for this junk. First of all, the Jesus that was cast for this film looked like a heroin addict. I feel the casting of this movie was all wrong. They had good actors, but unfortunately their talent could not be seen. The characters weren't well developed. For a 2 1/2 hour movie it sure felt rushed. I don't feel they did justice to Joan of Arc and her story. I laughed in many scenes which were not intended to be funny. I could go on and on about this film so I will cut my comments short. The movie is good enough to watch on HBO if you have nothing better to do." (4/23/00)

stranger_1981@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "The Messenger came as quite a shock to me, the story is told with the least amount of passion, and the least amount of conviction, that I have seen in a movie all year. The story is rushed along during the beginning, in order to reach the battle scenes, which weren't very good, and the ending is slightly better, but still not worthy of this story. The story of Joan Of Arc has been told many times, the latest, directed by Luc Besson, is one of the worst. The latest actress to tackle the role of Joan, is Milla Jovovich. Her performance is the worst in the movie, her Joan is shown more as a blood thirsty beast, than a girl driven by the power of god. The story of Joan, starts as her family is killed by the English, who now occupy half of France. Joan has an experience in the woods, and claims to have a message from god. Her message must be delivered to Charles VII, played by John Malkovich, who is in the running for the crown of France. Her message is to let her lead an army into the liberation of France. This leads into two major battle sequences, in which Joan leads an army of the French, liberates two towns. Jovovich's performance is pitiful. Her Joan is annoying half of the time, and is a pain to watch on the screen. Joan of Arc was supposed to be a mad woman, and the way Jovovich plays the role, it seems more like she was just having a frustrating day. Insanity is a very delicate thing to portray, those who are truly insane, do not just yell and scream, they have a driving force that cannot be explained. Jovovich was truly wrong for this role. The story itself is one that is deeply involving, and intriguing, but the way it is portrayed in this film, is sadly, more of an excuse to put us into the middle of carnage, and battles, than a passionate look at the life of Joan Of Arc. It was really a shame because, the story of Joan, is such a mystery, and such an intriguing story, that, with a better, more creative director, the story could become a potential epic. The movie, goes from scene to scene, painfully pushing the plot along, until it puts us into some pretty pitiful battle scenes. The battles scenes were laughable, and at some points reminded me of Army Of Darkness. As funny as that sounds, there is a sequence in which people are killed by fast moving, steel balls. The movie has some high points, the scenes with Dustin Hoffman, were exceptionally masterful. His performance is excellent, and actually brings some decent acting out of Jovovich. His role is not explained in the film, but I would call him Joan's conscience. Some people think he played god, but that would be a horrible touch in this film. Malkovich's performance is also very good, he believed in Joan of Arc, but also was taken by the temptation of the crown. A lot of the scenes in this movie were very laughable, take for example where Joan, supposedly has her sign from god. She describes the wind hitting her, and the visions that come to her. The way they are portrayed, seem like she over reacted, instead of really received a sign from god. Besides some masterful scenes in the end, the movie is a complete mess. It has all the signs of a production gone wrong. All of the money went into big name actors, and special effects, instead of writing, and direction. A lot of the movie is absurd, and the dialogue is used as a tool to push the plot, painfully, from scene to scene. There is one more scene that should be mentioned, it is a scene in which a woman's dead body is raped, while the sword is still in her chest. It is disgusting, and will make most audiences cringe. Why did it have to be that graphic, and unconvincing. Then they went for a cheap joke to end it. Where they were going with that, I guess to show the beginning of Joan's insanity, but the way it is portrayed, shows signs that the director needs to be a little more subtle." (11/26/99)