The Messenger- The Story of Joan of Arc

[Foreign Devil]

Was wondering if any of you have seen the movie about Joan of Arc that stars Milla Jovovich. I haven't seen it recently, but thought about it the other day while looking at the historical battles.

So, any thoughts, diatribes, rants, complaints, nitpicking, comments or even praise?

[candidgamera]

Forward Observer posted an interesting link for what someone thought about it - mainly bad - Robert(?) Maxwell of "Gettysburg" - and is planning to do it up right his way.
Don't have the link right at hand - think if you go to "Gods and Generals" website you can find it there.

I liked the battle scenes, but don't know enough about period to properly judge how accurate.

[deejayvee]

It's far better than the other Joan of Arc movie

[candidgamera]

Quote[/b] (deejayvee @ Jan. 22 2003,17:31)]It's far better than the other Joan of Arc movie
You must mean the recent one made for TV - with Powers Boothe as her Dad - hard to buy him period as Medieval Frenchman - would agree.

[deejayvee]

Quote[/b] (candidgamera @ Jan. 22 2003,22:06)]You must mean the recent one made for TV - with Powers Boothe as her Dad - hard to buy him period as Medieval Frenchman - would agree.
Yeah, that'd be one. I just couldn't believe how woeful the attack on Paris was. It has my vote for the worst Medieval battle scene in a movie, EVER

[candidgamera]

Am sorry to hear you have to suffer our "major network" product over your way. Actually, never watched the whole thing, just segments - think was originally a "Sunday Night Movie". Seem to remember it wasn't dirty enough in this one to be believable as Medieval.

[Spino]

I believe The Messenger was a European production made with Hollywood money. At best it was a Hollywood/European co-production with Besson and the European producers having total control over the movie's content. Anyway, having worked on many domestic and foreign independent films I can tell you that Hollywood does NOT corner the market on crappy movies. The problem is that Hollywood films enjoy wider distribution than their global counterparts, leaving the average movie goer both here and abroad with a decidely warped view of the movie industry. Enemy at the Gates was about as big a sh|tfest as you'll find and that was an entirely European production (and the most expensive European film ever made).

The Messenger had all the ingredients of a great historical epic but was poorly executed, particularly with regard to the script. I was rather shocked that the performances in The Messenger weren't bad at all. Surprisingly enough, Milla Jovovic did an ok job as Joan but it's a pity that they didn't go for a more accurate portrayal of France's national hero. First and foremost I believe the real Joan of Arc refused to use, let alone carry a weapon. More often than not she simply bore a standard that she used on many occassions to lead and rally the troops.

For what it's worth, most made-for-TV movies suck, regardless of their country of origin.

I shudder to think what Baz Luhrmann is going to do in his Alexander the Great epic (starring, of all people, Leonardo DiCaprio)... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[The Marcher Lord]

I shudder to think what Baz Luhrmann is going to do in his Alexander the Great epic (starring, of all people, Leonardo DiCaprio)...

Definately one to miss I am waiting for the Oliver Stone production of Alexander The Great. Stone has been very rigorous in his background research and wants to get it right......so my money is on that one.

Must admit I liked The Messenger, it has its flaws - the Dustin Hoffman 'messenger' sequences were rather annoying -but the battle scenes are some of the best medieval battle footage to date and Jovovich was a plausible Joan, if a bit neurotic at times.

[Spino]

As far as I'm concerned Oliver Stone lost it sometime around JFK. I think his coke habit has finally caught up with him. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/dizzy.gif

Scorsese was also trying to put together an Alexander biopic with DiCaprio in the lead http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif but Marty saw that the DiLaurentis/Luhrmann production was further along in terms of production so he backed down. DiLaurentis spirited DiCaprio over to his production and there you have it. Although Scorsese is far more talented than Luhrmann I shudder think of him behind the helm of another epic, especially having watched the abomination known as Gangs of New York.

To be blunt, I'm not too pleased with any of the big name directors nowadays. If anything, I'd love to see an unknown director or even an old timer like John Milius give it a go. Milius may not have the visual flair that Stone and Scorcese have but he's got a firm grasp of history (especially military) and a penchance for avoiding the kind of crap that would turn an epic into a joke.


Quote[/b] ]Must admit I liked The Messenger, it has its flaws - the Dustin Hoffman 'messenger' sequences were rather annoying -but the battle scenes are some of the best medieval battle footage to date and Jovovich was a plausible Joan, if a bit neurotic at times.

I agree 100%.

[Foreign Devil]

I'm a big Kubrick fan meself.

[Red Peasant]

It's a shame but the best epic battle-scene directors are, like Kubrick, dead: Akira Kurosawa and Sergei Bondarchuk.

Peter Jackson has shown great promise in LOTR, wonder if he could transfer that talent to the historical genre?

[Major Robert Dump]

The Messenger was a joke. If the movie were nothing but dialogue-less battles then it would have been interesting.

Dialogue was horrible. I think the acting really blew. And, oh yeah, Joan of Arc didn't watch from a closet as a soldier raped and murdered her sister because she didn't have a sister. I guess that one was thrown in for "dramatic" effect.

yay.

[eXoMagus]

I dun remember much from the movie except for the battle scenes and if I remember correctly, the big ballista-like machine that shot multiple arrows at once when Joan of Arc and her army was besieging this castle somewhere... Newayz, I gotta say that the acting could've been a LOT LOT better, and dialogues suck terribly... I just dun feel like Jovovich is actually rallying the troops, rather she's more like reading off a script

I know this wouldn't be a fair comparison due to budget and producers and stuff, but just compare The Messenger to Braveheart, especially the acting and dialogues.
There ya go http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Forward Observer]

Hey guys,

Here's the link to the thread about Gods and Generalswhich in turn brought up the name of the director--Ron Maxwell.

Maxwell thread Here (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=3;t=1036)

Maxwell, wrote a review of the Messenger movie, in which he was not very complementary. He also has a Joan of Arc movie of his own in pre-production planning. Here is the link to that review, which is at his site:

http://www.ronmaxwell.com/messenger.html

Cheers

P.S. Most movie reviews are written by some goober who has never had anything what so ever to do with the creative process that goes into making a movie. Maxwell is one of the exceptions.

[Zauba'a]

John Milius is a GOD. Period.


Can you think of anyone cooler than the guy who gave us Conan AND Red Dawn? I can't.

*begin sarcasm

Luhrmann's gonna have a lot of musical numbers with dancing war elephants and persians, and then for the big finale in India...a big spectacular dance scene between Alex and his lover, with fireworks in the background and beeeeeautiful costumes FFFFFFFABULOUS

*sarcasm complete

Anyway, I'd rather see a movie on Harald Sigurdson. I just read some short readings on his life. WOW. That guy went everywhere. Goes from Saxony down to Byzantium. Becomes a Varangian Guard, gets fat and rich. Comes back home carrying loads of gold and silver, arms and armor (one suit he named "Emma"), and then proceeds to invade England. In the end he gets an arrow in the eye, but HEY He still had a butt-load of fun before that.

[Brutal DLX]

I liked it.

I know it wasn't very accurate, but I like the French humour, and maybe the dialogue was enhanced because I watched a dubbed version..

I thought it was a nice twist and well acted to put the Conscience in there (Dustin Hoffman).
As usual, Besson creates his own vision which is essential for cinema if you look at it as a form of art...
If you want realism, watch a documentary.

[Foreign Devil]

Quote[/b] (Brutal DLX @ Jan. 31 2003,12:09)]If you want realism, watch a documentary.
I think I'll print this out and put it on my wall...

[Ithaskar Fëarindel]

Boils down to this: do you want films to have an interesting story, or an accurate one? Don't often find that the two are the same.

[candidgamera]

Quote[/b] (Ithaskar Fëarindel @ Feb. 04 2003,08:37)]Boils down to this: do you want films to have an interesting story, or an accurate one? Don't often find that the two are the same.
Sad fact is that real history is interesting enough not to be messed with by Hollywood. When films like Patriot and Pearl Harbor get made seems like they suck the oxygen out of getting good films made on the subject matter.

[deejayvee]

Quote[/b] (Ithaskar Fëarindel @ Feb. 04 2003,08:37)]Boils down to this: do you want films to have an interesting story, or an accurate one? Don't often find that the two are the same.
No, the question is: do you want films that are a generic Hollywood formulated film guaranteed to make some bucks, or do you want an accurate film?

For most of us here, history is interesting. Unfortunately, the majority of the paying public want to see the same old trash over and over again and so this will always be more profitable.