The story of Joan of Arc is a very interesting story and this movie doesn't do much justice to this story. It does create a creepy atmosphere with a nice visual style and therefore the movie was good enough for me. I was hoping for a little more of Joan of Arc and her life but I guess you can't have it all.
We begin with Joan when she is still young, played by Jane Valentine in a very good way. We see how her sister is killed and raped, in that order, and how she finds a sword. She thinks this is one of the signs from God; we get to see some more. Whether they really are signs the movie kind of leaves in the middle with the appearance of something like her conscience (Dustin Hoffman). We see how she gets her own army, has success, but is captured after Charles VII (John Malkovich) is crowned as the king of France and doesn't really support her anymore. As most people know Joan of Arc was burned alive when she was only 19 years old.
Milla Jovovich plays the older Joan. Director Luc Besson also used her for his 'The Fifth Element' and although she is not really bad here she was better in her element in that first movie. Luc Besson was actually the reason I went to see this movie, after his great 'Léon' and the goofy 'The Fifth Element'. He didn't disappoint me with his direction, but he did with the movie. After a pretty good start the movie gets a little boring and it seems that the most simple way is chosen to tell the story. Even the visual style is much better in the first half of the movie.
We begin with Joan when she is still young, played by Jane Valentine in a very good way. We see how her sister is killed and raped, in that order, and how she finds a sword. She thinks this is one of the signs from God; we get to see some more. Whether they really are signs the movie kind of leaves in the middle with the appearance of something like her conscience (Dustin Hoffman). We see how she gets her own army, has success, but is captured after Charles VII (John Malkovich) is crowned as the king of France and doesn't really support her anymore. As most people know Joan of Arc was burned alive when she was only 19 years old.
Milla Jovovich plays the older Joan. Director Luc Besson also used her for his 'The Fifth Element' and although she is not really bad here she was better in her element in that first movie. Luc Besson was actually the reason I went to see this movie, after his great 'Léon' and the goofy 'The Fifth Element'. He didn't disappoint me with his direction, but he did with the movie. After a pretty good start the movie gets a little boring and it seems that the most simple way is chosen to tell the story. Even the visual style is much better in the first half of the movie.