leon the director's cut dvd!!!!!

WOOOHOOOOOOOO, although everyone over in the dvd sewer has known about this for days, it's still good news.

And what the heck is everybody's beef with The Messenger? Up until RainMan came into the picture, it was a really cool flick.

I just thought the Messenger was completely boring and unbelievable. I had no sympathy for ANY of the characters and while Mila J. is a fairly competent actress, she conveyed no sympathy or charisma which I feel Joan of Arc should be positively oozing considering her history. Her delivery of all of her lines came off as goofy and ridiculous. Tcheky Karyo I think played the only character I had any cares for at all and even those were minimal since his part wasn't that big.

The Messenger was goofy. The visuals were goofy. The story was goofy. The acting was crap.

It was the 'Ishtar' of Luc Besson's career.

the visuals were great, the story was true, and the acting was way better than the Fifth Elephant.

I thought Milla did a great portrayal of someone who genuinely thought they knew what God wanted them to do, but couldn't convince anyone else.

Karyo was great as well, but I always love him. I also really dug the rest of the soldiers in Joan's entourage. They all had great personality and a great camaraderie.

chenzzo's post was paid for by the "Luc Besson Masturbatory Fanclub".

He knows not his actions.

Which is a damn shame, too, cause you'd think he'd realize if he was masturbating someone...Maybe Besson is a scientologist. You know how persuasive those guys can be...

What I HATED about that movie, was the insinuation that she didn't actually hear from God, but she was just a disillusioned freak. It pissed me off because it made it seem like on of history's greatest female heros was acting out of her own insanity.

Also, when Hoffman enters the scene it was so surreal that it didn't make sense. I like surrealism, but you have to finish with a sense of understanding. All I left with was confusion.

Otherwise, I thought it was good up until that point. And I think Milla and Malkovich were excellent.

But I did like 5th Element more. . .

Hey Nick, just cause you didn't like it, so what. I liked it a great deal. And just so you frickin know, the only other Besson movies I've seen are the Professional and the Fifth Element, so I'm hardly a Besson junkie. So to re-iterate. BITE and ME.

Like I said before, I didn't care for the end. On that point I agree with Dannyboy. However I felt that the movie left the door open to your interpretation as far as whether or not she was sane. I felt that the only real doubt was in her mind, as influenced by the doubt and negativity of those around her.

I also thought Malkovich phoned his performance in as well. Any one of the soldiers in Joans army was infinately better than him.

If the visuals were strange, so what? Most dreams/visions that people have aren't really known for being normal. I dreamed the other day that I blew my brother up with a grenade down his pants, in a subway tunnel, in my front yard. Needless to say, I don't have a subway tunnel in my front yard. I thought the visuals portrayed a sense of bewilderment and awe at the situation, where the dreamer/visionary was unsure of all of what was going on.

So in retrospect I felt it was a flawed film but far from horrible, In Nick's words I would say "harmless".

While it's true, chenzzo doesn't have a subway tunnel in his front yard, he DID blow up his brother with a grenade down his pants.

Yow!

chenzzo send icy barbs of hate my way:

"Hey Nick, just cause you didn't like it, so what. I liked it a great deal. And just so you frickin know, the only other Besson movies I've seen are the Professional and the Fifth Element, so I'm hardly a Besson junkie. So to re-iterate. BITE and ME."

Well, I never!

Anyhow, Bessons' GOOD movies no longer outweigh the bad in my opinion. He needs to hook up with a good writer and put his numerous visual flairs to good use.

NO hate, I just really like to be bitten, but I do hate it when people think that their OPINION is of more relevance than other people's cause they went to film school.

But I digress. To each their own, and I DO agree with the Nunz's last statement.

getting back on topic...

has anyone SEEN the integrated version? it is head and shoulders above the US release

I've been trying to get it for a long time, but then I realized that the footage would be on the DVD, so I decided to wait.

Actually, in this credit driven internet world, I am sure to credit Nick for telling me about the impending dvd release.

The version we've got (another Limey here!), is identical to the American version (that's according to one of my American friends whose seen my version). If you rented a tape from France, Holland or any of the Nordic countries you will have seen the extra twenty or so minutes that are inserted into it.

As far as I know the only difference is the name (Leon/The Professional).

The US version removed almost the entire second act, where Leon takes Matilda on hits and uses her as a decoy, having her knock on doors to allow Leon easier entrance to targets. She also performs her first hit, and they celebrate at a restaurant, where she gets drunk on champagne and then hits on him (apparently too racy for US audiences). There are a few other brief scenes that show up in the integrated version, but the majority of it is Leon training her.

We *definately* didn't get those scenes in the UK version either, generally we get the same cut scenes that the US do, with only a few notable exceptions. Our censors (the BBFC, I assume the equivalent of the MPAA?) are almost as squeamish as yours are. Maybe a little less so on sex scenes (ala Eyes Wide Shut) but more so on violence (ala Fight Club).