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For those who might not know, Joan was a 19 year old girl who, after receiving messages from god, goes on the mission to put the French Dauphin on the throne of France and kick the Brits out of the country by leading an army. The movie is built in three parts: Joan’s childhood, the battles against the English, and the trial. Thanks to the big budget, Besson is able to show an accurate and detailed version of the Middle Ages from the costumes and elaborate sets to the art of battle. Contrary to the Hollywood versions of the Middle Ages, tha period is shown here as rough, cruel, sadistic and not as clean and shiny as Robert Taylor’s armor (Ivanohe). An emphasis has been put on the scene of battles describing the art of a siege and showing these fights as bloody and furious as they were. The battles are spectacular and the director shows a real dexterity to direct them, making them the most enjoyable of the three parts of the movie. In addition, the story told by a French director is closer to the French state of mind and culture than any other versions will ever be. In addition, Besson adds some arty shots that give more mysticism to the story. But the main strength is undoubtedly Besson’s take on the story. Throughout the movie, Joan’s divine messages and sanity are questioned by her peers and therefore by the spectator. The movie is open to different interpretations. It’s up to the spectator to decide if she really received messages from God, if she was just a troubled lunatic teenager who misinterprets some signs, or if she is just used a legend as a pretext for her own personal avenging mission. In the same way, it is hard to define if she is a cruel teenager who likes violence or not. And this will lead to the best scene of the movie, a chat with her conscience interpreted by a sinister Dustin Hoffman just to confuse the spectator even more before the end. However, the film has too much of a taste of an after Braveheart-Elizabeth kind of flick to be personal. The opening scene with the attack of the village are reminiscent of the opening scene of Conan the Barbarian, with a woman defending a kid with a sword before being killed. The main difference is here that the woman (Joan’s older sister) is then raped by an English soldier, therefore symbolizing the rape of France by England. From then, as in Conan, she will have this look of revenge in her eye, revenge that will become the mission of her life. Also, Besson seems to have studied Braveheart battle scenes that became a standard, what is obvious in his way of shooting realistic bloody violence. Finally the movie also goes for conspiracy plots and Machiavellian characters just as in Elizabeth. The big issue here is the lead actress Milla Jovovich. Jovovich is far from being a good actress and her character is totally annoying with her ducky voice and her almost psycho acting. Yet if it is obvious that she is not a good actress, it is also difficult to totally condemn her acting either: wouldn’t such a weird 19 year old girl like Joan be as annoying and crazy as Jovovich? It's difficult to know, the boundaries between her low-scale acting, her personality and her character’s behavior being so blurred. One thing is certain: better acting comes from the supporting roles including John Malkovich, Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Vincent Cassel (also in Elizabeth) and Tcheky Kario. Finally, in an effort to be even more Hollywood-style blockbuster oriented, Besson took the bad habit since the Fifth Element to slip in some cheap humor and one-liners between and during action sequences, that in addition to not being funny at all, do not match with the style of his movies at. His touch of French Goofiness does work, but his American-wannabe humor never does. Besson was clearly trying to make a definitive classic about Joan Of Arc and appeal to the American Audience. Both attempts fail because of an uncharismatic leading actress and an impersonnal direction. However, in its scale of blockbuster type epic, The Messenger is way above what we endure every summer.
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