The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
Joan of Arc
Adventure, Drama, Action, History, War • 2h 38m
Overview
In 1429, a French teenager stood before her King with a message she claimed came from God; that she would defeat the world's greatest army and liberate her country from its political and religious turmoil. As she reclaims God's diminished kingdom, this courageous young woman has various amazing victories until her violent and untimely death.
Director: Luc Besson
Cast: Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway, Dustin Hoffman, Pascal Greggory, Vincent Cassel, Tchéky Karyo, Richard Ridings, Desmond Harrington, Timothy West, Rab Affleck, Stéphane Algoud, Edwin Apps, David Bailie, David Barber, Timothy Bateson, David Begg, Christian Barbier, Christian Bergner, Andrew Birkin, Dominic Borrelli, John Boswall, Matthew Bowyer, Paul Brooke, Bruce Byron, Charles Cork, Patrice Cossonneau, Tony D'Amario, Daniel Daujon, Tonio Descanvelle, Philippe du Janerand, Sissi Duparc, Barbara Elbourn, Christian Erickson, Tara Flanagan, Bruno Flender, Serge Fournier, David Gant, Sydney Golder, Jessica Goldman, Framboise Gommendy, Robert Goodman, Jean-Pierre Gos, Joanne Greenwood, Bernard Grenet, Valerie Griffiths, Timothée Grimblat, Richard Guille, Thierry Guilmard, Jérôme Hankins, Jacques Herlin, Len Hibberd, Didier Hoarau, Vera Jakob, Michael Jenn, Toby Jones, Gérard Krawczyk, Richard Leaf, Franck Lebreton, Joseph Malerba, Dominique Marcas, Eric Mariotto, René Marquant, Carl McCrystal, Gina McKee, Phil McKee, Simon Meacock, John Merrick, Joseph O'Conor, Quentin Ogier, Mélanie Page, Brian Pettifer, Philip Philmar, Brian Poyser, Olivier Rabourdin, Vincent Regan, René Remblier, Joseph Rezwin, Ralph Riach, Mark Richards, Malcolm Rogers, Tara Römer, Julie-Anne Roth, Olga Sékulic, Vincent Tulli, Jane Valentine, Jemima West, Tat Whalley, Peter Whitfield, Frédéric Witta
Director: Luc Besson
StudioCanal / Gaumont / Sony 4K Blu-ray
SC caps. Great-looking 4K master except for DNR'd higher-gen shots such as the opening sequence. StudioCanal resolves finer detail but has encoding issues in highlights, the non-Original Camera Negative shots and traces of chroma noise. Sony used a low-pass filter which makes the film look less sharp and finely detailed but the encode is more consistent.
Director: Luc Besson
StudioCanal / Gaumont / Sony 4K Blu-ray
SC caps. Great-looking 4K master except for DNR'd higher-gen shots such as the opening sequence. StudioCanal resolves finer detail but has encoding issues in highlights, the non-Original Camera Negative shots and traces of chroma noise. Sony used a low-pass filter which makes the film look less sharp and finely detailed but the encode is more consistent.
Director: Luc Besson
2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.
StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.
2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.
2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps
2025 Sony US 4K Blu-ray has the original 5.1
Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-Ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.
Director: Luc Besson
2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.
StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.
2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.
2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps
2025 Sony US 4K Blu-ray has the original 5.1
Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-Ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.
Director: Luc Besson
Director: Luc Besson
Director: Luc Besson
LaserDisc is best for stereo.
While Sony 4K Blu-ray has Original Stereo, it is compressed like the 5.1 on the 4K Blu-ray.
The TrueHD 5.1 from the 2008 Sony Blu-ray is free of compression. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=22484238&postcount=94
Director: Luc Besson
LaserDisc is best for stereo.
While Sony 4K Blu-ray has Original Stereo, it is compressed like the 5.1 on the 4K Blu-ray.
The TrueHD 5.1 from the 2008 Sony Blu-ray is free of compression. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=22484238&postcount=94
Director: Luc Besson
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray from the Luc Besson 9-Film Collection: has Dolby Vision, better than 2017/2020 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray from the Collection: has the English Original 5.1
This title was released many times on 4K Blu-ray and Steelbooks, there was a TC Entertainment 4K Blu-ray with 5.1 and Dolby Vision too before the Luc Besson Collection was released but differences are unknown, so not recommended for English users.
Director: Luc Besson
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray from the Luc Besson 9-Film Collection: has Dolby Vision, better than 2017/2020 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray from the Collection: has the English Original 5.1
This title was released many times on 4K Blu-ray and Steelbooks, there was a TC Entertainment 4K Blu-ray with 5.1 and Dolby Vision too before the Luc Besson Collection was released but differences are unknown, so not recommended for English users.
More Adventure on Blu-ray
Director: Simon Wincer
Kino Lorber Blu-ray > 4K Blu-ray
4K is disappointing with color space issues and poor encoding, disc replacement program for the 4K disc has been put out with the correct color space.
Director: Simon Wincer
Kino Lorber Blu-ray > 4K Blu-ray
4K is disappointing with color space issues and poor encoding, disc replacement program for the 4K disc has been put out with the correct color space.
Director: Alan Crosland
Director: Alan Crosland
Director: Sam Wood
Probably Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Probably Kino Lorber Blu-ray
While no comparison is available, this is indeed a new 4K restoration. However it has its problem like not scanned from best surviving prints due to some issues, or technicolor out of alignment but seems to be still better than older releases
Director: Sam Wood
Probably Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Probably Kino Lorber Blu-ray
While no comparison is available, this is indeed a new 4K restoration. However it has its problem like not scanned from best surviving prints due to some issues, or technicolor out of alignment but seems to be still better than older releases
Paramount 4K Blu-ray has the original colour grade
Paramount 4K Blu-ray has the original colour grade
OG: "4K80" or "D+80" on the high seas. If not, Disney 4K Blu-ray
Special Edition: "4K97_V" or "D+97_V" on high seas.
2027 Original Trilogy restoration/50th anniversary rerelease clips leaked plus release confirmed
OG: "4K80" or "D+80" on the high seas
Special Edition: "4K97_V" or "D_97_VI" on the high seas. If not, the 4K Blu-rays are generally considered an improvement over the 2011 Blu-rays. (although both restorations are DNR'ed and have issues).
OG: LaserDisc audio is the best option for the Dolby Stereo mixes. 70mm six-track mix is included in 4K80 (taken from an actual 70mm print). There are 16mm rips of the mono mix.
Special Edition: Cinema DTS or 1997 LaserDisc for the Special Edition.
OG: "4K80" or "D+80" on the high seas. If not, Disney 4K Blu-ray
Special Edition: "4K97_V" or "D+97_V" on high seas.
2027 Original Trilogy restoration/50th anniversary rerelease clips leaked plus release confirmed
OG: "4K80" or "D+80" on the high seas
Special Edition: "4K97_V" or "D_97_VI" on the high seas. If not, the 4K Blu-rays are generally considered an improvement over the 2011 Blu-rays. (although both restorations are DNR'ed and have issues).
OG: LaserDisc audio is the best option for the Dolby Stereo mixes. 70mm six-track mix is included in 4K80 (taken from an actual 70mm print). There are 16mm rips of the mono mix.
Special Edition: Cinema DTS or 1997 LaserDisc for the Special Edition.
2D version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
3D version: Disney 3D Blu-ray or Disney+/Apple TV Vision Pro Streaming
2D version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
3D version: Disney 3D Blu-ray or Disney+/Apple TV Vision Pro Streaming
2D version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
3D version: Disney 3D Blu-ray or Disney+/Apple TV Vision Pro Streaming
2D version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
3D version: Disney 3D Blu-ray or Disney+/Apple TV Vision Pro Streaming
Directors: Tony Bancroft & Barry Cook
2020 Disney 4K Blu-ray
Digital re-render: 2020 Disney 4K Blu-ray, caveat: no Dolby Vision metadata from 4K Streaming
Original theatrical 35mm render: WOWOW HDTV broadcast
Directors: Tony Bancroft & Barry Cook
2020 Disney 4K Blu-ray
Digital re-render: 2020 Disney 4K Blu-ray, caveat: no Dolby Vision metadata from 4K Streaming
Original theatrical 35mm render: WOWOW HDTV broadcast
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