SummaryNew York cab driver Korben Dallas didn't mean to be a hero. But he just picked up the kind of fare that only comes along every five thousand years - a perfect beauty, a perfect being, a perfect weapon. Now, together, they must save the world. (Columbia TriStar)
SummaryNew York cab driver Korben Dallas didn't mean to be a hero. But he just picked up the kind of fare that only comes along every five thousand years - a perfect beauty, a perfect being, a perfect weapon. Now, together, they must save the world. (Columbia TriStar)
It's ludicrous, but it's fun. Besson is a filmmaker so in love with his own daffy excesses that he's able to pull us, laughing, right into his world of loony pop. [9 May 1997]
France’s most expensive and highest grossing film for a whopping fifteen years, this masterpiece by Luc Besson gained its fame and fortune mostly off the back of poking fun at itself. This movie has a wonderful, to-the-point script, with an excellent pace and adorable, lively characters. It’s ability to create setting thru stunning sets, props and amazing wardrobe is only surpassed by its charming wit and playful attitude. Such a pity, then, for Besson to have not learnt his lesson: when everything mattered most, (at the inception of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) he chose a wordy, toothless script, a pompous, show-off screenplay, and no sense of levity in the film whatsoever. His choice to try and intrigue visually without employing meaning or depth, cost him his entire fortune and his future as a producer (remember that even Avatar had an engaging plot and a unique mythology).
This Sci-Fi Opera Comedy (a genre created by the late and wonderful Douglas Adams) was heavily criticized by radical feminists for flat and sexist portrayals of women, despite the protagonist being THE prototype flawless female, “key to everything” that is so prevalent in today’s political and social rhetoric. “The Fifth Element” transcends typical dramas by juggling spectacle, humor and heartfelt emotion, and thru its morale: men and women need each other, we can support one another, and by presenting the incredible value of being loved.
Too long by half, burdened with shabby F/X and offering up some seriously weird performances, this pricy foray into science fiction is a muddle of miscues and narrative bloat--along with a lot of frivolous fun.
As you sit through the interminable two-hours-plus that constitute The Fifth Element -- a colossally stupid, overbearingly pompous new movie by Luc Besson -- you can expect to become acquainted with boredom on the most elemental level.
Do you know how you can tell a film is a masterpiece? You might find someone who takes exception to putting The Fifth Element in the same cohort as the Shawshank Redemption, but basically no real human beings dislike this film. It is just so much fun and proof that you don't need a film that takes itself seriously to reach the highest levels of the art. I'm perplexed that they never followed this magnificent world-building effort up, but then again lets not ruin a good thing. Bonus: you get to see the one time Milla's ridiculous overacting made sense.
I do not think this is as good as most people say. Gary Oldman is especially good and there are many undoubtedly funny parts but other times it's just plain annoying instead of funny. The ending is dripping with romance and Chris Tucker is unbearable.
So ridiculous. I’m not sure if I liked the film or not, but I will certainly remember it as a very silly and whimsical sci-fi action movie aimed at kids, that is not meant to be taken seriously.
This movie takes all the reject aliens from Star Wars, the slapstick comedy of a cartoon, the dramatic elements of Blade Runner, and ends up being one of the stupidest films I have seen in recent memory. Not all of it is bad though (Bruce Willis does he can with the script, Gary Oldman's accent is amazing and Chris Tucker is noteworthy). But the story is simple awful, the practical special effects look nice in some areas but then look awful in others, the acting isn't great and the editing of the last hour or so of this movie is atrocious. I can see where people can like it, but with many, many better sci-fi movies out there, it's just not my thing.
This is a very epic sci-fi film that honestly is a bit too much. The cast overacts everything to the point where it just becomes annoying, The story makes very little sense, and it never seems to find even the slightest footing when it comes to consistency in the tone/characters. It's a mess. It's the kind of movie that was destined to be a cult classic and nothing more.