La Femme Nikita)

Starring:Luc Besson
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The Professional
Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) made his American directorial debut with this stylized thriller about a French hit man (Jean Reno) who takes in an American girl (Natalie Portman) being pursued by a corrupt killer cop (Gary Oldman). Oldman is a little more unhinged than he should be, but there is something genuinely irresistible about the story line and the relationship between Reno and Portman. Rather than cave in to the cookie-cutter look and feel of American action pictures, Besson brings a bit of his glossy style from French hits La Femme Nikita and Subway to the production, and the results are refreshing even if the bullets and explosions are awfully familiar. --Tom Keogh

The Fifth Element
Ancient curses, all-powerful monsters, shape-changing assassins, scantily-clad stewardesses, laser battles, huge explosions, a perfect woman, a malcontent hero--what more can you ask of a big-budget science fiction movie? Luc Besson's high-octane film incorporates presidents, rock stars, and cab drivers into its peculiar plot, traversing worlds and encountering some pretty wild aliens. Bruce Willis stars as a down-and-out cabbie who must win the love of Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to save Earth from destruction by Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) and a dark, unearthly force that makes Darth Vader look like an Ewok. --Geoff Riley

The Big Blue
A hit in Europe but a flop in the U.S.--where it was trimmed, rescored, and given a new ending--Luc Besson's The Big Blue has endured as a minor cult classic for its gorgeous photography (both on land and underwater) and dreamy ambiance. Jean-Marc Barr is a sweet and sensitive but passive presence as Jacques, a diver with a unique connection to the sea. He has the astounding ability to slow his heartbeat and his circulation on deep dives, "a phenomenon that's only been observed in whales and dolphins until now," remarks one scientist. Kooky New York insurance adjuster Joanna (Rosanna Arquette at her most delightfully flustered and endearingly sexy best) melts after falling into his innocent baby blues, and she follows him to Italy, where he's continuing a lifelong competition with boyhood rival Enzo (Jean Reno in a performance both comic and touching). Besson's first English-language production looks more European than Hollywood, and it suffers from a tin ear for the language. At times it feels more like an IMAX undersea documentary than a drama about free divers, but the lush and lovely images create a fairy tale dimension to Jacques's story, a veritable Little Merman. More dolphin than man, he's so torn between earthly love and aquatic paradise that even his dreams call him to the sea (in a sequence more eloquent than any speech). Besson has expanded the film by 50 minutes for his director's cut, which adds little story but slows the contemplative pace until it practically floats in time, and has restored Eric Serra's synthesizer-heavy score, a slice of 1980s pop that at times borders on disco kitsch. Most importantly, he has restored his original ending, which echoes the fairy tale he tells Joanna earlier in the film and leaves the story floating in the inky blackness of ambiguity. --Sean Axmaker

Subway
This dark and highly stylized French import directed by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Professional) concerns an enigmatic safecracker played by Christopher Lambert (Highlander) hiding out in the Paris Metro system from a gangster. While living in the underground and eluding both gangsters and Metro police he meets up with a group of colorful and quirky subterranean inhabitants eager to help him and start a rock band. All the while the safecracker blackmails a rich woman (Isabelle Adjani) with whom he is in love. Meant to be a tongue-in-cheek commentary on urban life, the film works better as a light freewheeling entertainment, with well-constructed fast-paced action sequences and a breezy sense of humor about itself. Subway is an intriguing diversion and a chance to see the cutting edge of modern French moviemaking. --Robert Lane

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
1999 may be remembered as the year of Joan of Arc: NBC created a miniseries in her honor, Carl Dreyer's long-lost The Passion of Joan of Arc was discovered in a mental hospital, and Facets re-released Jacques Rivette's Joan the Maid. Luc Besson rounds out the corpus with his stylistic and vaguely heretical grand-scale feature, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. Besson (La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element) challenges established notions about the Maid of Orleans as he creates a decidedly more human heroine than have previous biopics. The story line is the same--a young, illiterate peasant girl convinces the dauphin of France to give her an army, and she leads them to victory in Orleans, only to be burned at the stake for heresy--but Milla Jovovich, in the title role, is a woman possessed. Her influences are less than heavenly; as a child she witnesses the murder of her sister by the English, a death caused by the sister's giving her hiding place to young Joan, which causes an intense desire for revenge. Yes, God still speaks to Joan, but even this is undermined, as Dustin Hoffman, playing The Conscience, questions her motives. Cinematically, The Messenger is stunning, with fantastical sequences of Joan in communication with higher powers. Yet the graphic violence (scenes include random decapitation and a dog gnawing on a body); the uneven accents, which make it difficult to tell who is fighting on which side; and the rewriting of lore may make this version of Joan of Arc appeal only to Besson fans. Jovovich is convincing, and while at times the film may drag (at times you wish they'd hurry up and burn her), it is a remarkable and insightful retelling of a well-known piece of history. --Jenny Brown

Amazon.com essential video

Ancient curses, all-powerful monsters, shape-changing assassins, scantily-clad stewardesses, laser battles, huge explosions, a perfect woman, a malcontent hero--what more can you ask of a big-budget science fiction movie? Luc Besson's high-octane film incorporates presidents, rock stars, and cab drivers into its peculiar plot, traversing worlds and encountering some pretty wild aliens. Bruce Willis stars as a down-and-out cabbie who must win the love of Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to save Earth from destruction by Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) and a dark, unearthly force that makes Darth Vader look like an Ewok. --Geoff Riley

Description

The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format.

Customer Reviews:

What's Not to Love!.......2007-06-29

As I have recently become a solid fan Milla Jovovich and her work, I was compelled to see this movie again. I remember from my younger days seeing this film and not understanding that it was intended to be an action/comedy! Let me just say, when it comes to any movie that leans more toward comedy than action, this movie does it all!

The acting is superb in this movie. Everyone plays their roles perfectly. Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Chris Tucker, and dare I say even... Luke Perry. A very solid cast that don't take themselves too seriously and just seem to have fun in the film!

Of course, we have Willis saving the world; along with Tucker as an inadvertent side-kick; and the love interest and connection with Jovovich! This movie tackles every major genre all in one! Action, comedy, adventure, romance, and sci-fi all wrapped up in a fun-filled "B" movie that has become a cult classic!

For a good time, see this movie! If not just for Gary Oldman doing an awesome job as the evil man from the south, and a very big former professional wrestler as the United States President!

A change of heart.......2007-06-13

I first saw this film at the theater when it was first released. At the time, the slogan that went with it was "...go beyond Star Wars, go beyond Star Trek..."

Wow. That's a pretty bold statement. I had been a life long fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars as well us Luc Besson's previous work (Le Femme Nikita, and the masterful The Professional). I was really looking forward to this movie.

And then I was disappointed.

The film is visually stunning (obviously borrowing heavily from Blade Runner), but the movie was MUCH different than either Star Trek or Star Wars.

First of all, the film was VERY campy. It made no attempts to deliver a serious or believable story. Most of the characters delivered their lines as if they were all taking part in one huge inside joke.

Some of the cinematography was done is such a way that I felt as though I were watching an '80s rock video.

The special effects, however, are probably the biggest redeeming qualities of this film. They are absolutely impeccable. The costumes and set designs were very good as well.

But this movie could never even hope to hold a candle to the Star Wars or Star Trek franchise. It was more of a comedy than anything else.

To be quite honest, after I saw the movie.....I hated it.

Then came the VHS release. With some trepidation, I decided to rent it and give it another chance. This time, I knew what to expect. I knew that I wasn't going "beyond Star Trek" or "beyond Star Wars". I was able to watch the film a second time with no preconceived notions of what it was going to be like.....

.....and I actually ENJOYED it!

If taken for what it is (a sci-fi action-comedy), The Fifth Element is actually quite a well-crafted and executed little film. Just don't expect the film to deliver something better than what Star Wars or Star Trek has to offer.

I learned an important lesson from the marketing of this movie. It's best to go into a film without any ideas of what it will be like or what it SHOULD be like, despite what the advertisements may suggest.

All in all, I did buy a copy of the DVD for my collection and I do watch this movie from time to time. It's fun escapism, but Star Wars it's not.

One of the Best Sci Fi Movies Ever.......2007-06-12

I would rank this movie up there with the top 10 greatest Sci Fi movies. Special effects...stupendous. Storyline...excellent. Casting, Acting, Costumes...all top notch. If you don't own this movie, you should purchase it NOW!!

Thank you, French guy!.......2007-05-29

This is it, folks. An actual apex of film making, as only a French guy could bring.

And let me attest to this now: It's been BROUGHT!

LEON is probably my favorite movie of all time, but this movie just goes off in directions that no other film has gone before. I have now idea how this film can be so funny, so tragic, so inspiring, and so sad all at the same time, but it does, and it does it well.

Do you know what I'm most thankful for? That they didn't make a sequel. I (usually) really hate sequels, and a sequel to this would have blown. If you've seen Starship Troopers 2, then you know what I'm talking about.

So what would Marc Antony do? DUH! He'd drop Cleopatra like a small pox scab and run off with Mila Jovivic! (is that how you spell her name?)

One of my favorite movies.......2007-05-17

I love this movie, in fact I'm going to have to watch it again this week now that I have been reminded I have it. Oh yeah, superbit is pretty cool, but I bought the superbit version as a gift for my parents.

Leon - The Professional (Uncut International Version) (Superbit Collection)

Average customer rating:

An All-time Favorite GUY movie.
Most convincing love story ever.
The Professional
The Professional
Unbelievably ridiculous but try not and be emotinally attached

Leon - The Professional (Uncut International Version) (Superbit Collection)
Starring: Jean Reno , Gary Oldman , Natalie Portman , Danny Aiello , and Peter Appel
Director: Luc Besson
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Thrillers | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

DTS | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

Superbit Collection | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Fifth Element (Ultimate Edition)
La Femme Nikita (Special Edition)
Ronin
Heat
V for Vendetta (Two-Disc Special Edition)

ASIN: B0000AGQ6Y
Release Date: 2003-09-09

Amazon.com

Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) made his American directorial debut with this stylized thriller about a French hit man (Jean Reno) who takes in an American girl (Natalie Portman) being pursued by a corrupt killer cop (Gary Oldman). Oldman is a little more unhinged than he should be, but there is something genuinely irresistible about the story line and the relationship between Reno and Portman. Rather than cave in to the cookie-cutter look and feel of American action pictures, Besson brings a bit of his glossy style from French hits La Femme Nikita and Subway to the production, and the results are refreshing even if the bullets and explosions are awfully familiar. --Tom Keogh

Description

Customer Reviews:

An All-time Favorite GUY movie........2007-06-28

This is definitely a guy movie, about a professional hit man who's not too bright but has a big heart and is very adept at his craft. It is an intriguing story. Great plot (you don't know how it will turn out), great acting, great villian (this cop is a pscycho). You will like the characters and feel for their well being. A must see!

Most convincing love story ever........2007-06-22

"I know what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to be an assassin. Like you." Spoken by a little [..]Natalie Portman, which becomes the earmark of my early attentions that this movie was more than your run of the mill movie. In fact, Natalie Portman may not have been the focus of this film but every ounce of her characterization of Mathilda stood out as owning this films reputation as an underground international hit. I can't give justice to the power she releases at the explosive ending with Leon that comes straight from some everyone-dies-Scorsese-mob-ending. Her invoking sobs are stomach clutching and her innate control is so fantastic it's frighteningly genius. It's almost impossible for me to discover the means for her to of have created such a complete character with such genuine passion when I consider the real life pressures such as the presence of people and running camera's absorbing every nuance of her countenance and paired against such dominating presence as Jean Reno and Gary Oldman no less! At film ending, I felt obligated beyond an audiance member, as if some member in an important film jury. Obligated to award that outstanding performance. Because in the movie business, audiences (unlike sports spectators who support having the best of athlets)do not reward the best of movie making. They rush to see movies like spider man 3, and oceans and reward them with unbelievable revenues that executives celebrate over. This under the radar revenge film with a bizarrly genius child actor was more than just a klatch of hollywood moments, it was a delicate lingo of sexual undertones. It was a 'becoming of age'-ness, and metamorphisized rebirth. This child was fantastic and worth droves of applause. She literally and metaphorically walks away from the hollywood glitch and glamour at some point. Away from the eye catching fire, and explosions. The throngs of police extra's, and of the cliche final showdown. She walks away as a child would, but with the aged spirit of a master actress, spliting the story in no better way for me into that scence of departure. One the one side is Leon, the revenge gun for hire story, and then the other of a precious girl coming of age under extraordinary circumstances which parallels the slave of Leon's rebirth from soulessness. "Is it always this hard?" She asks Leon with blood on her face. And as if questioning the validity of her own living, sweeps the blood with her hand and stares at it. "No." Exclaims Leon without emotion. Planted behind Leon's mirrory glasses at that moment is his rebirth.

The Professional.......2007-06-12

Excellent movie now a classic never get sick of watching, a must have for all movie buffs !

The Professional.......2007-06-05

This is a fantastic movie. Jean Reno is absolutely marvelous as the hit man who takes in an orphaned young girl (Natalie Portman) after a crooked DEA agent (Gary Oldman) kills off her entire family. Reno brings depth, sensitivity and a true comedic flair to the character. Natalie Portman is, naturally, adorable and shows true skill in the role. And Gary Oldman? He's just brilliant. The best - that is the foulest, the most despicable - villain there ever was. You've just got to see this movie!The Professional

Unbelievably ridiculous but try not and be emotinally attached.......2007-06-03

Here is the rare film that combines a ridiculous storyline with a fabulous cast, great overacting, action, tenderness, angst and pathos and creates a winner you can't take your eyes, ears, heart or attention from. It will have you rooting for a serial killer who is teaching a 12-year-old the tricks of the trade. No kidding!

Jean Reno, who has probably never given a poor performance, is perfectly cast as an illiterate killer for hire. When Natalie Portman's family -- which lives in his building -- is murdered by bad cop-cocaine dealer Gary Oldman and crew, not yet teenager Portman survives and takes up housekeeping with the illiterate neighbor, a witness to the murders that is a full-time contractor to restaranteur Danny Aiello, playing the kind of gritty New York role that's made him famous.

You've probably already figured out this movie contains a lot of profanity, killing, bloodletting, foul play, and good guy-bad guy technique that's typical in this kind of urban drug-induced "police" drama. What you haven't figured out -- and what you won't until you see this film -- is the affectionate relationship it creates between older than her years but still youthful Portman and her new father figure and the way this relationship will addict you to this film.

Their relationship is about as connective as that torch you still carry for the high school sweetheart that got away. It sits beneath the surface eating up emotional bandwidth and retaining a place in your shattered psyche. The relationship between Portman and Reno (pronounced renn-Oh, not like the city in Nevada) will do the same thing to you.

I had no idea this movie, now 13 years of age, had all this going for it. It's a film that catches you unprepared. You want to see all the killing and be neutralized by its brutality. Yet this tender relationship between two down and out figures draws you in like a wet kitten at your front door whose mother was just run over by a car in the street. It melts your heart. Meanwhile, Gary Oldman is the [erfect foil, the epitome of evil. He gets his later in a memorable scene with our hero, Reno.

You have all this to look forward to as many times as you want by buying, renting, or borrowing this wonderful movie. My advice is to get on with it.

Superbit Collection (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon / The Fifth Element / Desperado)

Average customer rating:

Superbit review
Review of the DVD quality, not the movies.

Superbit Collection (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon / The Fifth Element / Desperado)
Starring: Bruce Willis , Gary Oldman , Ian Holm , Milla Jovovich , and Chris Tucker
Director: Luc Besson , Ang Lee , and Robert Rodriguez
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

DTS | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

Superbit Collection | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Action & Adventure | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

General | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

Action Heroes Superbit 3-Pack (Spider-Man / Spider-Man 2 / Men in Black) - Amazon.com Exclusive
Black Hawk Down
Leon - The Professional (Deluxe Edition)
Starship Troopers
Men in Black II (Widescreen Special Edition)

ASIN: B00005OCJR
Release Date: 2001-10-09

Amazon.com

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Hong Kong wuxia films, or martial arts fantasies, traditionally squeeze poor acting, slapstick humor, and silly story lines between elaborate fight scenes in which characters can literally fly. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has no shortage of breathtaking battles, but it also has the dramatic soul of a Greek tragedy and the sweep of an epic romance. This is the work of director Ang Lee, who fell in love with movies while watching wuxia films as a youngster and made Crouching Tiger as a tribute to the form. To elevate the genre above its B-movie roots and broaden its appeal, Lee did two important things. First, he assembled an all-star lineup of talent, joining the famous Asian actors Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh with the striking, charismatic newcomer Zhang Ziyi. Behind the scenes, Lee called upon cinematographer Peter Pau (The Killer, The Bride with White Hair) and legendary fight choreographer Yuen Wo-ping, best known outside Asia for his work on The Matrix. Second, in adapting the story from a Chinese pulp-fiction novel written by Wang Du Lu, Lee focused not on the pursuit of a legendary sword known as "The Green Destiny," but instead on the struggles of his female leads against social obligation. In his hands, the requisite fight scenes become another means of expressing the individual spirits of his characters and their conflicts with society and each other. The filming required an immense effort from all involved. Chow and Yeoh had to learn to speak Mandarin, which Lee insisted on using instead of Cantonese to achieve a more classic, lyrical feel. The astonishing battles between Jen (Zhang) and Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh) on the rooftops and Jen and Li Mu Bai (Chow) atop the branches of bamboo trees required weeks of excruciating wire and harness work (which in turn required meticulous "digital wire removal"). But the result is a seamless blend of action, romance, and social commentary in a populist film that, like its young star Zhang, soars with balletic grace and dignity. --Eugene Wei

The Fifth Element
Ancient curses, all-powerful monsters, shape-changing assassins, scantily-clad stewardesses, laser battles, huge explosions, a perfect woman, a malcontent hero--what more can you ask of a big-budget science fiction movie? Luc Besson's high-octane film incorporates presidents, rock stars, and cab drivers into its peculiar plot, traversing worlds and encountering some pretty wild aliens. Bruce Willis stars as a down-and-out cabbie who must win the love of Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to save Earth from destruction by Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) and a dark, unearthly force that makes Darth Vader look like an Ewok. --Geoff Riley

Desperado
It's Sergio Leone meets Sam Peckinpah meets Quentin Tarantino in this ultraviolent, mythological shoot-'em-up by auteur Robert Rodriguez. In Desperado, Rodriguez creates larger-than-life, genre-tweaking stock characters and puts them through their paces. As they stride bravely through an Old West lightly dusted with camp humor, they're periodically called upon to nimbly dodge bullets and fireballs through outrageously choreographed displays of Hollywood pyrotechnics. In this bigger-budget semi-remake/semi-sequel to Rodriguez's indie sensation, El Mariachi (made, famously, for $7,000), Antonio Banderas is the darkly charismatic El Mariachi, the Mysterious Stranger in town; Steve Buscemi is perfectly cast as his weasely, motor-mouth Comic Sidekick, laying the groundwork for El Mariachi's entrance by spinning saloon stories to build up his legend; Cheech Marin is a standout as the Bartender, who really knows how to handle a toothpick; and gorgeous Salma Hayek is, well, the Girl--treated to the kind of full-blown, slow-mo introduction the movies traditionally lavish on beautiful new stars. It doesn't add up to much, but it's a kick. --Jim Emerson

Description

Customer Reviews:

Superbit review.......2002-04-20

Odds are you're reading this and wondering about Superbit and not about the movies themselves. If you just wanted the movie you'd just get the normal movie and save a few bucks, so I'll address the Superbit stuff here. Can you tell a difference? Yes. Is it dramatic? Sometimes. Sound quality is remarkable but only if your home theatre can render sound extremely well. On normal TV speakers you won't hear a difference. Picture quality is notably better *sometimes*. For example, in the Fifth Element during the taxi scenes or when LeeLoo is being reconstructed, or in Crouching Tiger in many of the outdoor scenes. Since Superbit by definition uses the entire disk for enhanced picture and sound, there are NO DVD extras included. For Fifth Element this is no different than from the regular DVD because it has no extras. Crouching Tiger is a different story. You may want to own both as the standard DVD is chock full of extras. If your DVD player is a computer, you'll need PLENTY of speed and memory to play these at full quality.

Review of the DVD quality, not the movies........2001-11-27

Two of the movies included are fabulous, one is reasonably entertaining. But, you can read a review of these movies anywhere. I am giving my recommendation for this particular DVD set and the format. The picture and sound quality literally blew me off my chair. Above and beyond the quality of even the best DVD's I have seen, including Criterion collection discs of other movies. You won't get a lot of "extras" (scenes, bios, etc.) on these discs, but you do get the best experience watching the movie bar none, period, with these discs. If you spent the money on a surround sound receiver and large, flat screen TV, spend the money on these discs to justify the other, larger investments in your Home theatre you have made.

Luc Besson Collection (Leon The Professional/The Fifth Element/The Big Blue/Subway/The Messenger/La Femme Nikita)

Average customer rating:

Luc Besson Rocks!
Excellent Collection
6 DVD Set Luc Besson

Luc Besson Collection (Leon The Professional/The Fifth Element/The Big Blue/Subway/The Messenger/La Femme Nikita)
Starring: Luc Besson
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Action & Adventure | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00005Q65D
Release Date: 2001-12-18

Amazon.com

The Professional
Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) made his American directorial debut with this stylized thriller about a French hit man (Jean Reno) who takes in an American girl (Natalie Portman) being pursued by a corrupt killer cop (Gary Oldman). Oldman is a little more unhinged than he should be, but there is something genuinely irresistible about the story line and the relationship between Reno and Portman. Rather than cave in to the cookie-cutter look and feel of American action pictures, Besson brings a bit of his glossy style from French hits La Femme Nikita and Subway to the production, and the results are refreshing even if the bullets and explosions are awfully familiar. --Tom Keogh

The Big Blue
A hit in Europe but a flop in the U.S.--where it was trimmed, rescored, and given a new ending--Luc Besson's The Big Blue has endured as a minor cult classic for its gorgeous photography (both on land and underwater) and dreamy ambiance. Jean-Marc Barr is a sweet and sensitive but passive presence as Jacques, a diver with a unique connection to the sea. He has the astounding ability to slow his heartbeat and his circulation on deep dives, "a phenomenon that's only been observed in whales and dolphins… until now," remarks one scientist. Kooky New York insurance adjuster Joanna (Rosanna Arquette at her most delightfully flustered and endearingly sexy best) melts after falling into his innocent baby blues, and she follows him to Italy, where he's continuing a lifelong competition with boyhood rival Enzo (Jean Reno in a performance both comic and touching). Besson's first English-language production looks more European than Hollywood, and it suffers from a tin ear for the language. At times it feels more like an IMAX undersea documentary than a drama about free divers, but the lush and lovely images create a fairy tale dimension to Jacques's story, a veritable Little Merman. More dolphin than man, he's so torn between earthly love and aquatic paradise that even his dreams call him to the sea (in a sequence more eloquent than any speech). Besson has expanded the film by 50 minutes for his director's cut, which adds little story but slows the contemplative pace until it practically floats in time, and has restored Eric Serra's synthesizer-heavy score, a slice of 1980s pop that at times borders on disco kitsch. Most importantly, he has restored his original ending, which echoes the fairy tale he tells Joanna earlier in the film and leaves the story floating in the inky blackness of ambiguity. --Sean Axmaker

Subway
This dark and highly stylized French import directed by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Professional) concerns an enigmatic safecracker played by Christopher Lambert (Highlander) hiding out in the Paris Metro system from a gangster. While living in the underground and eluding both gangsters and Metro police he meets up with a group of colorful and quirky subterranean inhabitants eager to help him and start a rock band. All the while the safecracker blackmails a rich woman (Isabelle Adjani) with whom he is in love. Meant to be a tongue-in-cheek commentary on urban life, the film works better as a light freewheeling entertainment, with well-constructed fast-paced action sequences and a breezy sense of humor about itself. Subway is an intriguing diversion and a chance to see the cutting edge of modern French moviemaking. --Robert Lane

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
1999 may be remembered as the year of Joan of Arc: NBC created a miniseries in her honor, Carl Dreyer's long-lost The Passion of Joan of Arc was discovered in a mental hospital, and Facets re-released Jacques Rivette's Joan the Maid. Luc Besson rounds out the corpus with his stylistic and vaguely heretical grand-scale feature, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. Besson (La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element) challenges established notions about the Maid of Orleans as he creates a decidedly more human heroine than have previous biopics. The story line is the same--a young, illiterate peasant girl convinces the dauphin of France to give her an army, and she leads them to victory in Orleans, only to be burned at the stake for heresy--but Milla Jovovich, in the title role, is a woman possessed. Her influences are less than heavenly; as a child she witnesses the murder of her sister by the English, a death caused by the sister's giving her hiding place to young Joan, which causes an intense desire for revenge. Yes, God still speaks to Joan, but even this is undermined, as Dustin Hoffman, playing The Conscience, questions her motives. Cinematically, The Messenger is stunning, with fantastical sequences of Joan in communication with higher powers. Yet the graphic violence (scenes include random decapitation and a dog gnawing on a body); the uneven accents, which make it difficult to tell who is fighting on which side; and the rewriting of lore may make this version of Joan of Arc appeal only to Besson fans. Jovovich is convincing, and while at times the film may drag (at times you wish they'd hurry up and burn her), it is a remarkable and insightful retelling of a well-known piece of history. --Jenny Brown

La Femme Nikita
French director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) broke the commercial taboo against female-driven action movies with this seminal, seductively slick film about a violent street punk (Anne Parillaud) trained to become a smooth, stylish assassin. Though it amounts, in the end, to little more than disposable pop, the film has a cohesiveness in style and tone--akin to the early James Bond films--that gives it a sense of integrity. Parillaud is compelling both as a wild child and chic-but-lethal pro (trained in good manners by none other than Jeanne Moreau). Tchéky Karyo is also good as the cop mentor who develops feelings for her. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Luc Besson Rocks!.......2004-07-03

Simple Review - This is a great collection from a great director. You obviously wouldn't be looking to buy the entire collection if you hadn't seen any of the individual films, so if you like Luc Besson or Jean Reno (an actor in many of Besson's films) then you'll like this set. The good news is that 1) The Professional is the extended international version with 26 additional minutes of footage ($25 on its own), 2) the Big Blue is the director's addition with lots of extra footage, and 3) the Messenger is the extended international version, too. Also, each DVD case has the same spine and border, so they make a really good looking pack. This is a great buy!

Excellent Collection.......2002-10-15

A long-time Luc Besson fan, I have avoided renting or buying one of my all-time favorite films, 'Subway' because the US dubbed version is so incredibly terrible. I finally got around to shopping for the DVD and discovered that it had been released twice, once in the original, reformatted version with English dubbing (BLECH!) and more recently in wide-screen format with choice of French with English subtitles or the (BLECH!) dubbing. This box set, for those who are curious, includes the latter version. In fact, all the films in the set are in wide-screen format (5th Element includes BOTH modified and wide-screen) and the box set includes Director's Cut (original French version) of The Big Blue. I took the plunge and bought the collection and can honestly say I'm ecstatic to have purchased it. Well worth the money!

6 DVD Set Luc Besson.......2002-06-03

One thing which I wanted to know, but could not find on the packaging until I opened it, was whether the movies in the set were all widescreen. I was quite happy to find out that all of the films in the collection are widescreen, at least according to the packaging. I have watched 4 of these films and enjoyed them all. It would be useful if the technical specifications section would spell out more clearly when films, especially in box sets, are in widescreen.

DVD:

DVD List

DVD

DVD

PeaceJam

Bonanza: Badge Without Honor : DVD

The Bourne Supremacy [2004]

DVD: Pistoleros Del Rio Bravo

Flatliners