Reviews
Information on the book: factual part.
The Fifth Element. Written by Terry Bisson, from the screenplay by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen. Based on a story by Luc Besson. (C)1997 by Gaumont. $5.99 US, two bucks more in Canada. Published by Harper Paperbacks. 250 pp. ISBN# 0-06-105838-6.

Fifth Element Novelization Review

I had enjoyed the movie so much I decided I'd read the book. Unlike most movie-books these days, the book is actually based on the screenplay of the film -- not the other way around. The book follows the film pretty closely but there are some deviations. Hey -- Zorg still loses, the world is saved, etc. It's mostly little things. The only major thing I can remember being different that may affect the future after the story is that Zorg does not die "all the way". He is still alive at the end of the story although his near future is kind of hanging in the air. It could go either way, depending on whether or not his ship sees him.

There was one other pretty memorable event in the book. Zorg meets up with Korben! In the movie they never actually saw each other. In the book, they meet up in the Diva's stateroom. Korben and friends are trying to figure out how to shut the bomb off, and Zorg walks in (with 13 seconds on the clock) and resets it, saying "overtime!" Korben pulls the "yellow light" trick on Zorg, but it doesn't work -- exactly. Zorg reports to Korben that the yellow light doesn't mean that the safety is on, it means the clip is (whoops) empty. Korben takes a few solid swings at Zorg, the outcome is predictable...poor Zorg.

I guess I should review the book. Well, I'd like to say it was supernifty like the movie, blew me out of my seat (hard to do with a book, at least straight off), and I would read it again and again. Well...no. The book unfortunately is not as good as the movie by a long shot. A *long shot*. The writing style of the author is kinda...well, childish sounding at some points. It seems written for lil' kids. Well maybe not that bad, but it sure doesn't stimulate the brain to act much. It's more a TV set than a book -- no thinking required. If you have not seen the movie and want to read the book to get an idea of how good the movie is, please stop. Don't. You'll feel bad later for having missed a great film. Look, see I read the book in three hours. Three hours. That's all it took, and the book is 250 pages. If you're in for easy reading I guess this is the book for you, but jeez you could read the thing on the way to school it's so quick.

To sum it up, the book does follow the movie closely which would make it marginally worth it for die-hard Fifth Element fans to read. Perhaps even people in locations where the movie has not come out yet would be able to use it, as long as they kept in mind that the book loses terribly to the movie. Me, well I use it as a data bank of sorts. Can't clearly remember a particular scene (doubtful, I've seen it three times) then I look it up. It is useful for small details, like if you're making a site or something. It also does *barely* touch on some of the technical issues that were not explained in the film and some unclear areas are touched upon and cleared up somewhat (I found the Diva scenes quite useful). If you're a collector go ahead and get it.

Buy the book if you have a lot of spare cash and nothing better to do. OR if you love the movie so much it worries you. OR if you're making a site. Do NOT buy the book to review the movie, and do not pass judgement on the movie by the book. For once, I have to say screw the book, see the movie!


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