Rating: 
Summary: Use your mind with this one...
Review: If you are going to watch this movie and truely enjoy it, you must keep an open mind. It is graphically beautiful ( the fight scenes are well done and emotional ), the acting unmatched, and the storyline neutral. The story lets you think about what was actually going through Joan's head. Nobody can really say, and the movie doesn't try to decide for us, which is exactly why this movie is so great. It let's you use your imagination while you watch. It's not very often you get to see something on TV, or in the movies that makes you imagine, usually the director will do that for you, and put it in the movie. The Messenger doesn't leave much to the imagination only in spots where it wanted to make it's points, and show pieces of history we CAN prove to be. The fight scenes are graphic, and they show many weapons of war in that time ( trebuchet, mace, wall towers, etc. ). It stops the imagination to inform and teach. This movie disturbs people because it does a lot of things that take them out of their comfort zone. To me, that makes it a classic in itself. A must buy if you want to use your mind. If you are looking for a blockbuster movie that is nothing but excitement, watch DIE HARD. This movie is, in its own way, a masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Good film, but not great
Review: I missed this movie in the theatres, so I was excited about its video release. I watched the CBS movie about Joan of Arc and felt it left out too many details. The Messenger is the same way. They did use some actual events and some of the recorded dialogue that Joan used, but it seemed that the director used alot of "artistic license" too. The actors used alot of modern language and phrases that I don't believe would be used in the 1400s, and then out of nowhere Milla Jovovich would use an actual Joan quote and it would seem out of place. The visual affects were good though and I think Dustin Hoffman was terrific in his role. Overall, Milla was convincing as a wild young woman on a mission. I just wish the writers would have dug a little deeper into the actual history of Joan.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning And Moving Epic. Grand And Exquisite.
Review: "The Messenger: The Story Of Joan Of Arc" is exquisite, exciting and incredibly well-acted. Milla Jovovich gives her greatest performances as one of history's greatest martyrs. We forget about the beautiful model that she is and are totally convinced and astounded that this is Joan Of Arc. Luc Besson, probably France's best director, brings to the screen an astounding story told with style, elegance, a gritty feeling, hard-broiled action and beautiful cinematography. Not to mention the moving and rich musical score by Eric Serra. "The Messenger" got some heavy flack by critics who claimed it tried to be "Braveheart" and resorted to being an action flick. Not so! In fact, I enjoyed "The Messenger" more than "Braveheart" and the screenplay doesn't just concentrate on the action. We get to know the characters and Besson brilliantly shows Joan's troubled psyche and her battles between her heart and and her conscience. "The Messenger" is exhilarating and stylish, moving and Besson's masterpiece. This is his best film since "La Femme Nikita," and the most moving. This movie is grand and inspiring. Look at the attention Besson pays to the sets and costumes, music and style. "The Messenger" is rich in the detail seen in the greatest of period epics. A 90s update of a timeless story. A masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting overview of siege warfare-but no Braveheart!
Review: This movie has 1 redeming quality-it introdues the modernviewer to the art of war, especially the devestation brought aboutduring a siege. I liked the way the movie took you through all the different phases of a battle; the rallying of the troops, the pre-fighting taunting, the use of siege towers, etc.. What amazed me is how much this movie stole from Braveheart. The scenes involving Joan addressing the troops before the charge and the boiling oil falling on the helpless battering ram chargers made me think I put the wrong tape in.
Rating:
Summary: The Messenger: The Story Of Joan Of Arc
Review: Sorry folks, but it was too long and drawn out. You need patience to sit through this movie, and the end was a bit of a let-down. Hoffman tried hard but hats off to the leading lady. Cut about 30 minutes off and this could have been a classic...
Rating:
Summary: Romantic vs. Realist
Review: After viewing both the TV mini-series (at least half a dozen times) and (recently) Luc Besson's treatment of the Joan of Arc story I've decided that I thoroughly enjoy them both, and will watch them both again and again, for different reasons. The mini-series was (obviously) a romantasized Joan, beautifully coiffed (and with perfect makeup), with a suburban, year 2000 American demeanor;(mostly looking confused and/or helpless/hopeless). Romance is wonderful and I enjoy that in my life. On the other hand, Besson's Joan (Jovovich) looks to me like I imagine a peasant girl would actually look in the 1420's. (Bathing didn't really get popular until the 1600's, and even then was rather sporadic.) Jovovich as Joan has the fervor of a zealot with the slight tinge of the lunatic. That's what I would expect of a teenage peasant girl in 1420, hearing voices, seeing visions, expecting to save her country from invaders. The problems I've read concerning the realism and controversial graphic violence in the movie confounds me, and I suspect that anyone who has a problem with it is so locked into the 21st century point of view that they can't conceptualize a time that was different. (Like 30 years ago in America). War is and has always been nasty and ugly and unbearable and should never be romatisized. On another note, Besson's treatment of color and scope remain remarkable, the color and cinematography impecable. Neither film is for everybody, but then what film is?
Rating:
Summary: More fiction than fact
Review: Another example of how Hollywood can take a great story and make it painfully drull. The dialogue is laughable (completely comtemporary), the attribution and manifestation of Joan's madness utter nonsense, and it was probably Hoffman's worst perfomance in a movie in well over 20 years. Braveheart it is Not.
Rating:
Summary: A VISUALLY ARRESTING TRAVESTY
Review: Was she a prophet? Was she a nut? Perhaps she was a sly and highly intelligent manipulator. Maybe she was a feminist in an age of male domination who decided to use God as a ladder to French Royalty. All interesting possiblities. All completely ignored by this film. I doubt that even Luc Besson could explain what he thought of Joan of Arc and he doesn't even try to here. Depite battle sequences that are almost on par with those of Braveheart, a terrifc cast giving superb performances, and stunning visuals the film falls completely flat . I would've prefered it if the film had nothing good in it. It would have been easier to dismiss, but the presence of such great elements makes the whole that much more of a disappointment. Milla Jovovich gives her all in the lead role, Malkcovich is as usual terrific as the sly back stabbing king, Faye Dunaway wreaks of menace despite being underused. Then we come to Dustin Hoffman as The Conscience, who I think is Besson's attempt at redeaming himself. After roaming through the first half of the film, giving us battle sequence after another, dream sequence after another, all which look magnifecent, but by the third time you see them you start wondering if he is going anywhere with this, he doesn't. The Conscience is his feeble attempt at understanding Joan, but it comes too late, and by then we are not so much interested in understanding her, as much as we are hoping that the film would end. By the time the film is over you'll be thinking to yourself, what a waste of lots of great elements in this completely pointless mess. Note: The film was released outside America under the title Joan of Arc, which despite being used before, is a much better title then The Messenger: The Story Of Joan of Arc which sound more like a TV move then a cinamatic release.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible in every way
Review: i can't believe that reviewers found Mila's acting as exagerated! Joan was going through every kind of turmoil possible i think the least Mila can do is portray that. and she did in a beautiful way. Superb acting, amazing war scenes and a nuetral view, which makes watchers decide for themselves if Joan did all that for revenge or to fulfill God's message. Go out and buy it! Great work.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good portrail of inner struggle
Review: I like this move very much. I think that war should be shown as the brutal thing that it is and not made to look pretty or glamorous. But I especially enjoyed the scenes with Dustin Hoffman. I thought it was a pretty good depiction of the inner struggle that a spiritual person can go through.
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