The story of the 15th-century Maid of Orleans, who led the French to a string of military victories over the English, has never made a decent film and director Luc Besson can't break the jinx here. Quite baroque and medieval to begin with, the film soon becomes messy and murky and full of dislikeable characters. And, once its battle scenes are over, interest drains away altogether as the film trudges towards its inevitable burning-at-the-stake ending. Milla Jovovich, the director's wife at the time, has a good stab at a difficult and none-too-well written role, which even hands her a change of hair colour towards the end. John Malkovich's Dauphin seems touched rather than weak, while Faye Dunaway and Dustin Hoffman are along for rather ponderous cameos. Joan's story sure seems like a potent action drama but, try as he might, Besson just can't make it work.

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