50
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Besson's account of the Maid of Orleans presents itself as a celebration of a martyr's faith but shows more interest in the violence and hatred that surrounded her life.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
63
Philadelphia Inquirer by Desmond Ryan
You might be occasionally dumbfounded by The Messenger, but you won't be bored.
60
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
Never was the case for psychotropic medication more acute than in Jovovich's performance.
25
San Francisco Chronicle by Edward Guthmann
Isn't some sober history lesson that bogs down in long speeches and tedious facts. It's about style, it's about fashion, it's about rock 'n' roll busting out in medieval France.
50
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
Besson is unable to weave the comic scenes together with the serious gory ones, so both seem increasingly jarring and unbelievable.
70
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Blends great cinematic energy with an awkwardly mixed multinational cast and aggressively over-modernized dialogue.
60
Chicago Reader by Lisa Alspector
Luc Besson--and Andrew Birkin wrote the pandering, adolescent screenplay for this pseudosubversive hagiography, and nearly every scene screams out its sensationalist intent, though few actually achieve the status of spectacle.
40
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
Besson loves his violence almost as much as he loves his leading lady.
50
Has a three-way split personality, which happily includes an action-packed middle to ease the pain of its early protracted exposition and later action so slow that you'll be asking "Gotta match?" to the person next to you.
70
A lively, nutty film, one full of clumsy, clanging battles filmed by the gifted, eccentric Besson with bloody brio.