The Messenger (Luc Besson Collection) - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Messenger (Luc Besson Collection)



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
It’s been years since I’ve revisited this flick, and mostly because of how poor the original Sony Blu-ray was back in the day. One of the original batch of films in the format war, The Messenger was a mess of an encode, which turned a decent movie into a mediocre viewing experience. Even though the audio track was pretty good for its time. So naturally I was curious to see a film I hadn’t seen in roughly 15 years and came away blown away by the technical spec changes. Sure, The Messenger was always a massive, but ultimately flawed, telling of Joan of Arc, but the audio and video changes are pretty massive, and worth the upgrade from the 2008 disc without question.

Luc Besson’s take on Joan of Arc is ambitious, but inevitably more of a “style over substance” flick that isn’t even close to his best films. The story follows young Joan (Jane Valentine), where she watches the pillaging of her village by the invading Englishmen, the assault on her sister, and the highly controversial claims of seeing visions of God that change the direction of her life forever. Jump forward a few years, and the French King Charles VII (John Malkovich) is ready for a miracle. That miracle comes in the form of Joan (now Milla Jovovich), who is proclaiming to her liege that she has been sent from God to lead the French to victory over the English. Whether anyone believes her claims is irrelevant, but Charles sees a passionate icon who could rally their troops and hopefully change the course of their conflict.

The story plays out in typical Joan of Arc fashion, showing the young woman’s religious fervor and the people’s response to her passion, all leading up to her infamous execution at 19 years old. And this could have been a REALLY good movie if done properly. Besson tries to make this an epic period piece film, but the controversy really stems from HOW Besson tells his story. It’s over-polished, overly visually brash, and the nature of Joan’s religious visions is chaotic at best. The images and flashes of a vision are very stylish, but also very confusing and disjointed. And the wartime conflict takes up an enormous portion of the film when we really want to see more of the political machinations that make her historical tale so fascinating.

While Besson is obviously trying to lionize Joan of Arc a bit, she comes across as virtually insane. A mad woman who seems to be doing this all out of her brokenness from watching her family being killed and raped. And maybe that was what Luc was trying to get across. That genius and madness are very, very close to each other, and the lines blur sometimes. But either way, how it plays out on screen is a bit frustrating. I loved the tale of Joan of Arc when I grew up as a child (medieval history was always my favorite), but even I couldn’t get past how disjointed and scattered the film feels.

On the flip side, the action and visual effects of the film are top-notch. Luc Besson went out of his way to get period-correct costumes, and his eye for camera work is superb as always. And the supporting cast is phenomenal. John Malkovich is perfect as Charles VII, and Dustin Hoffman is never a bad addition to any film. Oh, and you all know Quinn from Dexter? Yeah, he shows up as a young YOUNG man as well (I just got through binging Dexter the last few months, so he popped up on my radar immediately). But sadly, the overly bloated film struggles to get off the ground, and despite its many positive points, falls squarely in the middle of the rating system for most people. Not a bad movie, but not a great one either.




Rating:

Rated R for strong graphic battles, a rape, and some language




4K Video: Video:

Sony didn’t supply any information about any remastering or restoration work done, but it’s rather obvious that this was taken from a newer 4K remaster, complete with HDR/Dolby Vision color grading. And let's not mince words here, the results are stunning. This is a night-and-day upgrade over the 2008 Blu-ray, which gives the film new life. Colors are warm and vibrant, with rich green foliage, soft blues for the skies, and a brown and mahogany color to the dingy interior castle shots where Charles resides. The film uses a rather reserved and tempered color palette, using sepia and blue tones quite a bit. Flesh tones look natural and revealing, showcasing every bit of dirt and debris on poor Joan’s face as she leads the French troops to victory. Blacks are deep and inky, with only minor issues in the dingiest of castle interior shots. Artifacts are basically nonexistent, and while not PERFECT, this encode is what we all wanted for the film years ago.







Audio:

The Dolby Atmos track is a nice upgrade over the old 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track, and really plays to the film's strengths. The mix is light and airy, with that beautiful score by Eric Serra just permeating every angle of the room. Action sequences are obviously very robust and active, with massive surround usage during those events. The film can be very talky at times, so the surrounds and LFE can sink into the background amidst muffled discussions in castle corridors, only to explode with action once more when Joan is in the thick of it. LFE is powerful and balanced, adding weight to the battles or the slamming of a heavy wooden door, but knowing when to slide into the background when not needed.









Extras:

• “In The Footsteps of Joan” Making-Of Documentary (88 minutes)
• 30 Minutes of Interviews:
-- Director of Photography Thierry Arbogast
-- Editor Sylvie Landra
• The Search for the Real Joan of Arc Featurette
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

I know I’m overusing the word a bit, but The Messenger is definitely ambitious, but one that struggles with a lot of competing themes and overpolished visuals that overwhelm the already bloated run time (in both versions). But for fans of the movie, this is the definitive upgrade over the 2008 Blu-ray, including not only the remastered and restored 4K disc, but a new Blu-ray struck from that same master as well. Extras decent, and luckily stored on a 3rd Blu-ray disc to keep the 4K and Blu-ray feature film discs with as much bitrate as possible for the epic film. An interesting watch, but one I wouldn’t blind buy unless you’re already a fan.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway, Dustin Hoffman, Vincent Cassel, Pascal Greggory, Tcheky Karyo
Directed by: Luc Besson
Written by: Andrew Birkin, Luc Besson
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English, French DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Sony
Rated: R
Runtime: 148 Minutes / 158 Minutes (unrated)
Blu-ray Release Date: November 11th, 2025

Recommendation: Interesting Watch

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