To get you in the mood, I'll start off by saying I'm totally obsessed with the film. This is not an understatement by any means. The advertisement first caught my eye about a week before the film was to come out. My first thought: Oh, goody! Finally a new SF flick that looks somewhat original -- perhaps I'll go see it! So, I decided I would. The date was set: after I got off work Friday at 9:00pm, I'd make my little VW Bug go fast so I could get to Fayetteville and see the 10:00 showing. It would be the first day the film began to play here in the US, so I needed to secure tickets. I had "ticket duty" (being the person who has to show up at the theater at 5:00 to get tickets for a first day show) last time, so it was my best bud Marty's turn to go get the tix. For some reason in his infinite wisdom he decided to get there at 5:00, even though he was buying for the 10:00 show. Therefore he sat for FIVE HOURS waiting for me to arrive. He brought a book, SF of course. He was fine.
I arrive having changed from my work clothes in the car (on account of I'm so clever) ready to see the film, so we go in and uh...watch it. So we're in the theater, and I bring up the fact that our wonderful newspaper, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, gave the film a C- in its review and basically said "the movie sucks, see it for the effects". So my friend and I were anticipating a not-so-good film with FANTASTIC effects. Finally the film started and throughout the crowded theater a cheer arose. We watched the entire film without speaking. We left the theater when it was done. The film had not lived up to our expectations.
It blew our expectations away and then jumped up and down on them for fun. Suffice to say ladies and gentlemen, children and pets, aliens, etc, the film is good and I enjoyed every minute of it. I've seen it three times! My friend has seen it three times! Two of our other friends have seen it twice! If you haven't seen it, you need to *go* and see it!
The basic plot of the film is that absolute pure evil is threatening the Earth, as it does every 5000 years, in the year 2263. Korben Dallas is "chosen" to literally save the world from a fiery death. Really he doesn't mean to get involved -- you might say the problem just kind of falls into his lap :-) The priest Cornelius decides that Korben is not needed, and sets out to save the world himself. He hears on the radio/tv/whatever that Korben has won the trip to Fhloston Paradise...good for him, 'cuz there is a mega-super concert being given by the Diva Plavalaguna during that time which has made tickets and reservations rather hard to come by. So really Korben is working for the military, but also for Cornelius and Leeloo and...jeez, you want me to give it all away, don't you? Anyway, it boils down to this: Leeloo is the Fifth Element. The search is on for the four missing stones required to make her "work" against evil. Unfortunately for our intrepid adventurers, Jean Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (or "Zorg" :-)) is also seeking the stones to turn over to Evil himself. The great action that follows is the heart of the movie. You know, I'm beginning to think you need to go see this film. Look here: Leeloo is the only one who can stop Evil. She can't do it without the stones and she can't obtain the stones without Korben. Get it? Ahhhhh... the plot materializes in front of your blind eyes (the effects ARE good, eh?).
Now for the review part. The movie is one that can be watched in several different modes: one, as a comedy. Two, as a "serious" film with some very humorous parts. Three, as a adventure/romance film. And finally four, as a film with a shaky plot that has as its only merit fantastic effects. Unfortunately several reviews I have read by critics take the latter viewpoint. The movie is meant to be watched actively, and by that I mean that you can't just sit there and expect everything to bash you in the face straight off. It requires thought, attention, and (sometimes) patience. When what you're trying to assimilate finally lands on your head with a thud, you'll be enlightened -- because previous parts of the movie that seemed to make no sense suddenly appear in their true lights. After three times watching this magnificent film I've decided to adopt viewpoint number three as the best interpretation of the film. You see, Korben initially gets caught up in the mission to save the world when he is about to turn it down! Why? A certain perfect supreme being appears at his door. I think I just heard a 'click' on your end -- you see the romantic part now! Korben is obsessed with Leeloo. OK, the adventure part I really don't think needs explanation for anybody with an IQ above 4, but I'll say it anyway. The adventure really begins immediately after Korben accepts the mission. The plot converges, and the four seperate sides trying to obtain the stones come dangerously close to meeting one another in the airport...and they stay quite close together, so to speak, at Fhloston Paradise. Stuff happens, as you can imagine, and that's the most physically active part of the movie -- a damn good reason to see the film by itself.
Just so you know my favorite scene in the movie is the one in which the Diva Plavalaguna sings her concert, and the parts immediately before the concert and after her death. Something to keep in mind is that the very talented actress, Maïwenn Le Besco, was not really singing the part. The song was sung by Inva Mulla Tchako. Maïwen just acted like she was singing. I had a suspicion while watching this scene that she may not actually be singing but couldn't be sure until I went through the credits. Maïwen did a tremendously good job! You really cannot tell that she is *not* singing the part. The scene is beautiful and one of the things you may notice is that during a pause in the song, when all the instrumentation has stopped and it's just the Diva singing, the theater will be absolutely dead silent. It seems to affect everyone, to some extent -- a powerful scene. Her voice has sort of an echoing quality that seems to fill the concert hall, and the ship, etc. After the operatic part is finished (an entire segment of Lucia Di Lammermoor is sung, lasting 3:10) a cool part begins where the Diva basically "gits down wit' her bad self" :-) On the soundtrack it is called "The Diva Dance", and features the same stellar voice as in the previous part but is twisted around, up and down, back to front, totally awesome. It sounds great and meshes very well with Leeloo elsewhere in the ship who is totally trashing a bunch of Mangalores during the dance. You can tell that certain parts (if not all parts) of "The Dance" were created by electronically mixing sound bytes of the Diva's voice, but it sounds great! It sounds right.
The film is very well done, like I said before, including technically. The scene integration is seamless, the editing is invisible (a good thing) and the effects are for the most part quite convincing. As someone who always takes the hard SF viewpoint, some parts of the film seemed far-fetched or inaccurate, for example, "jumping to lightspeed" would result in reaching the nearest star in 4.4 years, not a much farther one in three hours. But hey, it wasn't meant to be a hard SF film (see 2001 if you like) and if you just go along with it, it's completely fine. The travel techniques are also explained (somewhat) in the novelization of The Fifth Element, ISBN# 0-06-105838-6. A four year or more trip would rather slow the plot down, and hyperspace is so theoretical...
The only technical 'glitch' I really think I saw was when Right Arm (Zorg's assistant) was blown up at the payphone in the airport. In the aftermath of the explosion, I thought I could make out Right Arm's final pose (arm in the air a bit in frustration, head leaned toward the phone) in silhouette, and I saw it all three times. But that's minor, and you really have to look for it or be lucky, and maybe I'm wrong anyway so WHO CARES. If you aren't going to see the movie because of *that*, please ram your head into a wall several times until you can't feel it. Hey, thanks.
If you aren't going to see the movie because of some critic, on the other hand, keep in mind that critics enjoy
nitpicking films. I mean hey the reviewer for the AJC gave it a C- and I give it A+,
so you see that it is all subject to opinion. In the opinion of me and my friends,
including two to who the word "Science Fiction" is unknown, the film is very good. Most reviewers
are older folks who reminisce about when gas was 5 cents a gallon or some crap, and hate music by
"Bruce Springstein" cuz it's too loud. Gimme a break. Listen to ME :-) Seriously, if you're in
for something new and different, go see The Fifth Element. If you go see it and think it's
a waste of money (doubtful), you can send me hate mail. I enjoy sending replies.
