Rating: Summary: Star Wars Fans can love this movie too! Review: I grew up with Star Wars, and still love it today, but times, tastes and styles do change. It doesn't make one "better" than another, just different. I, for one, absolutely love this movie! It's fun, flashy, thin in spots and hopelessly romantic, but also very positive about the future (if a bit crowded). Futuristic New York is enough to give you vertigo! The visuals, set designs, aliens and costumes are amazing - if you don't like this movie's look, you are probably dead.Mila makes Leeloo "perfect" as the Supreme Being out to protect all mankind - innocent and wise all at once; and you just can't fault Bruce for doing what he does so well, a cynical wisecracking working stiff just looking for that "one perfect woman". But the secondary characters are what truly makes this one fun: "Weddings?" - Ian Holm delivers classic straight lines and Chris Tucker is just high-energy comedy as Ruby Rhodd (that trashy radio guy) - I roll on the floor every time I watch this - and it's definitely one to watch over and over for the incredible detail and sheer visual magic. Buy widescreen and see the whole thing!
Rating: Summary: All time classic - true top 10 Scfi-Fi movie of 20th century Review: Whether or not you are a fan of Sci-Fi you can't help but love this film. I will admit it is a guys movie, but ladies don't despair, apart from the high tech, space ships, gun battles, aliens and explosions, there is an honest to goodness love story.
Rating: Summary: QUITE A TRIP Review: It's entirely possible that Luc Besson was on some kind of drugs when he scripted this way-out, wacky, but extremely entertaining scifi thriller. His vision of the future is both impeccably original and wildly humorous. Cars spinning through space; police cars that still squeal tires when there's nothing to squeal them on! Like a wild video game, the vision of this future is great. Bruce Willis is fine as Corbin Dallas; he evinces his usual cool macho, with that underlying bit of sensitivity. Milla Jovovich, red hair and all, does a good job in conveying the enthusiasm, innocence and naivete of the newly born. Notice the sadness in her eyes as she views the word "War"; her reactions are poignant. Gary Oldman as Zorg is all out ham and he pulls it off, showing what a versatile actor he is. The usually stoic Ian Holm has never been livelier than in his role as Father Cornelius. He looks like he's having the time of his life and after all the stuffy, laconic roles he's played, he cuts loose and is wonderful. And Chris Tucker---what a character. Tucker is manic, frantic and annoying---but he is also very very funny. I haven't laughed like that in a long time. Note too the capable performances of Tiny Lister (usually a mindless body bag) and Brion James (also a lot looser than in his usually villainous roles). THE FIFTH ELEMENT is a strange movie indeed, but I found it to be one of the most unusual scifi films in some time.
Rating: Summary: Silly. Review: If only they had another director (perhaps Ridley Scott, using a little "Blade Runner" flair), this movie could have had the potential to be very good. Instead, director Luc Besson ("Leon," aka: "The Professional") chose to formulate this sophomoric piece of sour eye-candy that even the geekiest science fiction aficionado would despise. Aside from the poor direction, Hudson Hawk paired with an androgynous (and extraordinarily annoying) Chris Tucker sidekick, is enough to drive anyone to mercilessly strangle a kitten.
Rating: Summary: Awesome Sci-fi comedy adventure! Review:
Set in the distant future, a cab driver named Korben Dallas ( Bruce Willis) has a tough life until one day he meets a unusual fare that fell into his cab. It's a lovely alien beauty named "Leeloo" ( Milla Jovovich) whom was really a secret experiement as she is known as the ultimate weapon against evil, she with Korben Dallas must save the world from a destructive force as there must be five important elements to destroy it, along his way he meets a cast of colorful characters such as Ruby Rod ( Chris Tucker), Cornelius ( Ian Holm) and the dastardly Zorg ( Gary Oldman).
From Luc Besson ( director of "Leon The Professional" and " Le Femme Nikita) comes a totally dazzling, colorful and wonderful Sci-fi fantasy comedy adventure epic which is now a cult favorite among Sci-fi fans. Luc Besson has always dreamed of doing this movie since he was a teen, it finally came true as this movie is a stunning flick with great performances, a witty sense of humor, non-stop action, impressive visual effects, cool aliens, and this movie is totally one of my all time favorite movies.
The new 2-Disc Ultimate Edition is a big time improvement over the previous bareboned DVDs in both regular and Superbit forms, but this one has nice extras. It's got a handful of featurettes such as how they designed the movie, a scene that never made it into the final cut, optional full length trivia track, and it has Superbit digital picture with perfect sound quality.
This is a must see and must have for Sci-fi DVD collectors everywhere! it's a good time of a movie and one of my choices for best movies of 1997.
Also recommended: " Total Recall", " The Running Man", "Blade Runner", "Dark City", " The Dark Crystal", "The Wizard of Oz", " Akira", "Ghost in The Shell", " Metropolis ( 2001 and 1927 versions)", " Armageddon", "Con Air", " Stargate", "Independence Day", "Titanic", " Starship Troopers", " The Terminator 1 & 2", " 6th Day", " Heavy Metal", " Big Trouble in Little China", " Sky Captain and the World of Tommorow", "Star Wars Trilogy", " Star Trek movies", " Ghost in The Shell 2: Innocence", " Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai", " Barberella", " Flash Gordon", " Dune" ( both versions), " Indiana Jones Trilogy", " The Mummy ( 1999)", " Transformers: The Movie".
Rating: Summary: A Gem Review: Between Chris Tucker's hilarious he/she hysterics, and Bruce Willis' witty underdog snideness, this movie was perfect. Thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. You don't have to be a big sci-fi fan (which I am not) to understand the plot, which is a basic good (earthlings) v. evil (piggish aliens) story.
A truly great film!
Rating: Summary: Bruce Willis in a science-fiction comedy/adventure. Review: The name "Bruce Willis" usually means it is going to be an excellent film. This time Bruce Willis tries a CGI-effects science fiction film. This is his 30th film.
In "Languages", you must press on "English 5.1" to get sound for the film.
You may choose "Fact Track" to receive facts about the film in English or Spanish while film is playing. It will replace subtitles.
Bruce Willis plays "Korben Dallas", your typical alpha-male who wakes up with a cigarette, stereo playing and television on. He also owns a white pussycat that keeps coming back home.
It's the year 2214. Willis drives a mid-air taxi-cab (remember the Jetson's airship?) where on this day he picks up Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil [2002], Resident Evil: Apocalypse [2004]). It guess orange hair is still in style. She was just re-created and talks in babbling.
McDonald's Restaurant is still around on the 25th floor with a whole new meaning to "drive-in".
Disc 2 includes the "Special Features". Too many to list, but some highlights are:
The Star Element: Interviews with Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich.
The Diva featurette includes interview with Maiwenn who played the Diva Plavalaguna. This will also include the entire performance of Maiwenn against green screen.
Note: Maiwenn played the Diva Plavalaguna, but was lip-syncing the opera. It is soprano, Inva Mula's voice doing the aria.
Rating: Summary: The Fifth Element Review: The Fifth Element is an overall superbly done film, well-acted as it is hilariously entertaining. Not the best actor around, Chris Tucker gives a hilarious performance as a near psychotic radio host, and Bruce Willis is the hero as he is in much of every film he plays in. The music for The Diva (who is brutally murdered) is performed superbly and is gorgeously sung.
Rating: Summary: This is not a movie for dummies Review: After having read all the negative reviews to this movie (1-2 stars), it became clear to me that the most frequent complaints (e.g. the "loudness" of some characters, the "vagueness" of the plot) could result from a clash of cultures.
North Americans don't laugh at the same things Europeans do.
And North American don't appreciate subtleties either: they refuse to use their wits and "zoom-out" to see the big picture, no matter how obvious it may be; instead, they crave for Star Wars-like dialogs, by means of which everything is spelled-out to them ("Luke..." -- pause for unsuccessful dramatic effect, during what is probably the only 2 seconds without any shower of soldering sparks or any electronic video-game sound, er, special effects, in the whole movie -- "I am your father...")
In European-style movies like The Fifth Element, viewers aren't treated like dummies who have to be told which way is up, instead they are shown a complete, working, verisimilar scenario of a society -- where every bit of info counts.
For example, we are shown -- even if by such hints as background music, names of characters, diversity of accents, architectural design style -- that in the future the dominant culture is no longer Western. It doesn't take us viewers a long time to realize that names such as John are no longer in fashion, as isn't Rock & Roll, or Sunday picnics at the park.
Unlike North Americans and their unhealthy obsession with their own navels, Europeans stand midway between Eastern and Western cultures, and therefore see this "fusion future society" as a likely possibility.
So, I would dare saying that "show vs tell" is not the main reason North Americans don't like this movie: it is perhaps the loss of dominance of American culture that they find subconsciously the most repelling. That, and of course the ridiculing of the Western mass-media/entertainment industry, by the Ruby Rod character...
Me, I find it difficult to accept that the very same reviewers who dislike this movie (a typical "mythical hero" storyline, with the inevitable stereotyped characters and the unavoidable "good vs evil" plot) still praise Star Wars...
As a kid, I used to liked Star Wars movies, but now I find them boring to watch a second time, even the new ones -- no, especially the new ones!
On the other hand, I find The Fifth Element intelligently satirical and refreshing, by any standards -- and it only gets better each time I see it.
But even if you don't like the movie itself, listen to the soundtrack, by Eric Serra. He has made the soundtracks for all of Luc Besson's movies, up to and including The Fifth Element.
Rating: Summary: "It Mu5t Be Found" Review: What an exhilarating, visual feast Luc Besson's 1997 sci-fi extravaganza "The Fifth Element" is. And what a mess.
This tumultuous cinematic experience, starring Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich, combines unapologetically hokey science fiction (often blatantly ripping-off "Brazil" and "Blade Runner") with quasi-religious undertones, and garish French New Age visuals courtesy of legendary couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier. This mind-boggling film veers from being impertinent to silly to exciting to downright stupid. Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that writer and director Besson originally wrote twenty-two years ago when he was sixteen. And I sincerely doubt that he changed a word of the script since then.
Although this movie is literally dripping with eye-popping special effects, they're all hung on a scatterbrained plot that is literally incomprehensible. The plot, what there is of one, is your basic "cab driver saves the world from a big flying ball of evil using magic rocks" story, with Willis as the cabbie in question and a sorely out of place Gary Oldman as the business tycoon who wants the rocks for himself. And while lots of things blow up, most of the film is just plain boring and idiotic, especially Chris Tucker's performance as Ruby, an indecipherable, somewhat disturbing intergalactic Dennis Rodman-esque talk show host. Yes, you read that correctly.
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