The movie is loosely based on one of the arcs of the Valérian and Laureline graphic novel, specifically the place where Laureline is kind of taking over Valerian in the character importance in this huge city with floating cabs and tons of crime, so wonderfully portrayed by Korben Dallas err... Bruce Willis that is. No Leeloo in the book though. A fun read for that French European charm, and updated books were released in lasr 10 years in both USA and UK, decent paper, great color transfers.
Can anyone enlighten me? I'd say before I gave up with Film, that Fifth Element was the deepest tripe. I can't say for sure, but I believe that after Terminator 2 and Jurassic park there was garbage for a few years, and the Fifth Element was one of the junctions that I took towards never watching a movie again.
Edit: Bit of an artistic flair on these responses. It was shit but it was French, it was shit but it was meant to be... etc
Well, you are starting from a point of not liking movies to begin with. Don’t think you will like it better 25 years later. It was a fun film a lot of people enjoyed, myself included. It isn’t meant to be much more than a fun sci-fi film with cool visuals.
Some of us recognize it for the supreme art it is, a 1997 English-language French science fiction action film directed by Luc Besson and co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen from a story by Besson. It stars Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, and Milla Jovovich. Primarily set in the 23rd century, the film's central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Willis), a taxicab driver and former special forces major, after a young woman (Jovovich) falls into his cab. To accomplish this, Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defence of Earth against the impending attack of a malevolent cosmic entity.
Chased by relentless cliches, a chaotic malevolence that cannot be comprehended (but understands your deepest weaknesses), crushing inequality, and an androgynous Chris Tucker, the hero and heroine are plagued by corporatism gone amok, and use the system against itself to save the world. It is, quite simply, Willis' and Oldman's finest movie to date among dozens of fantastically acted movies.
A goddess can choose to save the universe. What's the use of saving life when you see what you do with it? One of the deepest mysteries in the universe. Answer that, and you have the ethos to lift others and champion the big causes out of the jaws of ennui and nihilism.
It’s a French sci-fi comic book film. It’s not explicitly based on any particular one but that’s what it’s trying to be.
As such it is fundamentally big, bombastic, and kind of stupid in much the same way Marvel’s films would be in later years. Except with a French flavor. All it’s ambitions lie in being cool-looking and kind of absurd, not in telling a subtle story full of well-acted characters. French films have a reputation in the US for being smart and classy and this film was maybe less stupid than an American comics adaptation but it is still kind of fundamentally a big, stupid, gorgeous film. The Frenchness left a lot of people underwhelmed because they were not ready for a big stupid comic book romp. I’d read enough Moebius when it came out to know what groove it was aiming for so I loved it.
I don’t know how it holds up in a modern world full of big stupid leave-your-brain-at-the-door American comic-book blockbusters. It was a nice taste of that sort of thing in a stand-alone package.
Also you might want to try watching some movies that are not big stupid sci-fi things before giving up on the entire medium? Find your local art house if you live in a decent-sized city, subscribe to their newsletter and spend an evening seeing something that sounds interesting now and then. They’ll probably have a few of the big dumb effects showcases too, because those reliably bring in money, you can continue to ignore them in favor of stuff like “we have this amazing psychedelic animated fairy tale from Hungary for one week only” or “a loving remaster of one of David Lynch’s twistier works”.
It’s not a movie for deep plot, and it’s lacking in writing, which would normally ruin a movie for me. But gosh, the setting. It feels lived in. The future — its culture, its fashion, its transportation — it all feels bewildering in a way that the real future would be to us. It doesn’t bother to explain any of it either, because everyone in the future knows it. The audience is stuck there with Leeloo, having learned the word “multipass”.
In a way it was a lot like my first time watching Spirited Away (a far better film) knowing next to nothing about Japanese culture. Everything about it seemed new and fantastical and like a wholly new setting. I can’t recapture that feeling now that I know a lot more Japanese culture, but The Fifth Element can retain that sense of a real but truly alien place and culture.
The Fifth Element had amazing world building and had an irreverent and playful tone that a lot of people found really fun. Those things obviously didn't resonate with you, but that doesn't mean the film is tripe. That would insinuate that the film makers failed, when in fact they succeeded at exactly what they were trying to do.
Maybe I was too young to know any better, but I loved the 90s movies - from T2 all the way to matrix including 5th element.
> but I believe that after Terminator 2 and Jurassic park there was garbage for a few years
But lion king, toy story, pulp fiction, shawshank redemption, fargo, forrest gump, etc were released soon after jurassic park. Garbage isn't the word I'd use to describe these movies.
This movie is cool in that the protagonist and the antagonist never really meet.
The only time I’ve seen this done elsewhere was perhaps S2 of Netflix’s Punisher series. Which was neat and seemingly very intentional but ultimately not really capitalized on for some reason.
A similar one is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. They never meet face to face, indeed the actors were never on set on the same days due to production timing issues.
Frank Castle meets and eliminates the main antagonist at the end (Anderson and Eliza Schultz, the wealthy couple). And he has a long fight scene with their hired mercenary (John Pilgrim, the other main antagonist) just prior to that. The Punisher definitely meets them all.
He does meet and fight John at the end, who I was referring to. But in every episode prior they never actually meet. At the police station he is juuust out of view and Frank is leaning in his chair to try and see him. At some other point they have a literal fire fight with approximate knowledge of where the other is but no visibility so they’re just blind firing through wall. Maybe some other choice moments.
It’s a very different choice than Fifth Element where their experiences are tangential to each other. The punisher guys are in active conflict, they just never get the opportunity to actually see each other face to face. Until the end. They go to some length with the camera shots to convey this.
Idk, I thought it was cool. But ultimately not capitalized on.
There's a neat vibe to this movie. It's not high art but it's got its charms. I remember the film being peppered with little scenes that seemed irrelevant but served to set the carefree and sort of zany mood. I'm thinking of scenes like the one with the space port guys burning the parasites off of the ship's hull. Or the scenes involving Ruby Rhod's entourage. Also, it's hard to go wrong with Gary Oldman.
25 years already? Wow time really flies. This is one of my all time favorite movies.
Just to mention a few not well known trivia: Moebius did the production design, Jean Paul Gaultier the costume design, Lee Evans and Tricky are playing roles, Beason and Jojovich got married after the film and there was a legal battle with Jodorowsky and Giraud vs Besson about plagiarism of the plot from The Incal.
This film has devoted fans and haters, but we have to agree that this space opera is something special :-)
I remember the moment of sitting in the cinema, watching this movie, when Milla Jovovich appears on screen and I was instantly in love with her and her character. The movie’s world completely immersed me and I remember wishing for it not to end.
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[ 67.1 ms ] story [ 680 ms ] threadhttp://theabsolutemag.com/22276/books/the-incal-is-the-comic... (graphic novel)
It was also my first DVD and Blu-ray purchase.
Edit: Bit of an artistic flair on these responses. It was shit but it was French, it was shit but it was meant to be... etc
Chased by relentless cliches, a chaotic malevolence that cannot be comprehended (but understands your deepest weaknesses), crushing inequality, and an androgynous Chris Tucker, the hero and heroine are plagued by corporatism gone amok, and use the system against itself to save the world. It is, quite simply, Willis' and Oldman's finest movie to date among dozens of fantastically acted movies.
A goddess can choose to save the universe. What's the use of saving life when you see what you do with it? One of the deepest mysteries in the universe. Answer that, and you have the ethos to lift others and champion the big causes out of the jaws of ennui and nihilism.
As such it is fundamentally big, bombastic, and kind of stupid in much the same way Marvel’s films would be in later years. Except with a French flavor. All it’s ambitions lie in being cool-looking and kind of absurd, not in telling a subtle story full of well-acted characters. French films have a reputation in the US for being smart and classy and this film was maybe less stupid than an American comics adaptation but it is still kind of fundamentally a big, stupid, gorgeous film. The Frenchness left a lot of people underwhelmed because they were not ready for a big stupid comic book romp. I’d read enough Moebius when it came out to know what groove it was aiming for so I loved it.
I don’t know how it holds up in a modern world full of big stupid leave-your-brain-at-the-door American comic-book blockbusters. It was a nice taste of that sort of thing in a stand-alone package.
Also you might want to try watching some movies that are not big stupid sci-fi things before giving up on the entire medium? Find your local art house if you live in a decent-sized city, subscribe to their newsletter and spend an evening seeing something that sounds interesting now and then. They’ll probably have a few of the big dumb effects showcases too, because those reliably bring in money, you can continue to ignore them in favor of stuff like “we have this amazing psychedelic animated fairy tale from Hungary for one week only” or “a loving remaster of one of David Lynch’s twistier works”.
In a way it was a lot like my first time watching Spirited Away (a far better film) knowing next to nothing about Japanese culture. Everything about it seemed new and fantastical and like a wholly new setting. I can’t recapture that feeling now that I know a lot more Japanese culture, but The Fifth Element can retain that sense of a real but truly alien place and culture.
> but I believe that after Terminator 2 and Jurassic park there was garbage for a few years
But lion king, toy story, pulp fiction, shawshank redemption, fargo, forrest gump, etc were released soon after jurassic park. Garbage isn't the word I'd use to describe these movies.
The only time I’ve seen this done elsewhere was perhaps S2 of Netflix’s Punisher series. Which was neat and seemingly very intentional but ultimately not really capitalized on for some reason.
It’s a very different choice than Fifth Element where their experiences are tangential to each other. The punisher guys are in active conflict, they just never get the opportunity to actually see each other face to face. Until the end. They go to some length with the camera shots to convey this.
Idk, I thought it was cool. But ultimately not capitalized on.
This film has devoted fans and haters, but we have to agree that this space opera is something special :-)
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