Angel-A Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Angel-A Blu-ray Movie Review

"If I give you my life, would you know what to do with it?"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown November 24, 2025

Just in time for holiday shopping and potentially ideal for those French alt-genre film-fans in your family or friend group comes the Luc Besson 9-Film Collection from Sony, which offers six of the controversial filmmaker's movies on 4K UltraHD with Dolby Atmos tracks and three additional flicks on standard Blu-ray with DTS-HD Master Audio. Besson has a messy, I'll just call it "icky" personal past (a word that feels generous), but for those who can separate art from an artist's alleged and/or admitted misdeeds, this box set makes for a solid albeit flawed gift. The films included in the collection are black-and-white post-apocalyptic drama Le Dernier Combat (The Last Battle, 1983), stylized crime dramedy Subway (1985), theatrical and director's cuts of off-kilter romance The Big Blue (1998), proto-Wick assassin thriller Le Femme Nikita (1990), underwater documentary Atlantis (1991), theatrical and extended versions of the beloved, fan-favorite Leon: The Professional (1994), zany '90s sci-fi epic The Fifth Element (1997), domestic and international cuts of underrated historical biopic The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), and visually striking supernatural noir Angela-A (2005).

"And you? You remind me of those people at lunch who take a second serving of bread to finish their cheese. And then they take more cheese to finish the bread. And with the French, it's even more complicated. They take more wine to finish both. Afterwards, they're surprised to still be at lunch at 3:00 in the afternoon."

Jamel Debbouze plays André, a small-time criminal who lives in Paris and has less than twenty-four hours to repay some old debts. André quickly attempts to get help from the American embassy - as a "green card" holder - and then turns himself in at a local police department, but is unceremoniously thrown back onto the streets. Depressed and terrified, he heads to a bridge to commit suicide. Right before he jumps off, André sees a beautiful woman (Rie Rasmussen). She jumps, and so does he. André saves her life and she immediately vows to help him with his debts. At first, he doesn't believe her, but after a few quick stunts, he changes his mind. The two become friends and eventually fall in love. But the woman has a secret; one that would hurt André enormously...

Click here to read the rest of Dr. Svet Atanasov's review of the film, which he calls "an enjoyable ride" with "an odd but likable couple" whose dialogue is "never dull." He adds, "Besson's preference for loud and flashy action has not affected Angel-A. On the contrary, this is mostly a dialog-driven film whose most effective parts are the ones where the camera stands still."

Angel-A Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Click here to read Dr. Svet Atanasov's review of Angel-A's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation from 2009; for all intents and purposes, the same 2.34:1 transfer presented here. I was a bit more subjectively satisfied with it than he was, and the encode does appear to be freer of issues (other than the filtering, which is still very much present), thus my bump in score.

Angel-A Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Click here to read Dr. Svet Atanasov's review of Angel-A's DTS-HD Master Audio tracks.

Angel-A Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray edition of Angel-A includes two extras: first, a "Making of Angel-A" production featurette (SD, 27 minutes) that blends interviews with behind-the-scenes footage, and second, the film's theatrical trailer (HD, 2 minutes). Missing is a "Making of the Music" featurette and a music video that were included on the 2009 Optimum UK release.

Angel-A Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Angel-A brings something of a disappointing close to the Luc Besson 9-Film Collection box set. The film remains a solid crowd pleaser and a cutely penned romance, but the video transfer is outdated and haunted by issues and the supplemental package is disappointing. Angel- A could really benefit from a remaster. Ah well. The lossless audio is above average, so that's a plus.