The Fifth Element- A film I'll always remember - Page 2

Most of The Messenger plays up the religious factor to an obscene amount, but it's all for the benefit of that last half hour, which takes its careful time tearing her religious convictions a new one. The film's got the same flaws as Besson's non-Leon work, but it is definitely a charcter piece, which is definitely Besson's strong suit, and it gets a load of brownie points in my book for being the one portrayal of Joan of Arc unafraid to explore the very real possibility that Joan may have been 100% batfuck insane.

i love the movie and find the visuals stunning to say the least. definitely reminded me of heavy metal. a bit of info i remember from the making of the movie:

1) chris tucker's ruby rod character was originally designed for prince, but prince decided against it
2) chris tucker has said that he meant for the role to be over the top
3) the clothing for the movie was designed by jean paul gautier (sp?) i believe

i love the movie and find the visuals stunning to say the least. definitely reminded me of heavy metal. a bit of info i remember from the making of the movie:

1) chris tucker's ruby rod character was originally designed for prince, but prince decided against it
2) chris tucker has said that he meant for the role to be over the top
3) the clothing for the movie was designed by jean paul gautier (sp?) i believe

I'm a big fan of Besson. This movie was OK-Good. Willis looked and must have bored during the making of the movie. Gary Oldman--love this guy. Chris Tucker--no comment.

I'm a big fan of Besson. This movie was OK-Good. Willis looked and must have bored during the making of the movie. Gary Oldman--love this guy. Chris Tucker--no comment.

My biggest complaint with the movie at the time, the summer of '97, for which I'm nostalgic for by default, was when the cops chasing Willis crashed into a train with a McDonald's logo, and were pummelled by a barrage of Big Macs. I sure was indignant at the time.

By the way, I enjoy the hell out of this movie. It's a great goofy movie that knows it's goofy.

I knew it, I motherfucking knew it! Put me in the "I like this movie" camp.

They don't put people in camps just for liking bad movies, do they?

Although maybe Saw.

Quiet, you!

The Fifth Element is the Streets of Fire of space operas.

Each time I watch The Fifth Element, I gain a little more respect for Chris Tucker's performance. Once you know Ruby's coming, and that he's there to stay, it's pretty remarkable. I can't imagine maintaining that level of energy. Zzzzsszzt!

Conversely, Gary Oldman's impersonation of Ross Perot hasn't held up as well. There's no doubt who the more talented actor is, but one is grabbing an opportunity with both hands and the other is just doing the director a favor.

Fifth Element is based on a comic book.
Sorta.
Luc Besson was been accused of plagiarizing the french comic The Incal when he made the Fifth Element.

The Incal was originaly published in Metal Hurlant, the french version of Heavy Metal.
Incidentally, The Incal was drawn by Moebius, who designed the Fifth Element.So he obviously didn´t mind that Besson ripped off his comic.

Fifth Element was an alright movie, but just imagine how cool it would have been if the film was directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, he´s the guy who wrote the comic.

I dunno. Is he a good director?

Ever seen El Topo or Santa Sangre?

No.

Alejandro Jodorowsky's best known films.

To answer your question..he's a spectacular director.

Don´t forget about Holy Mountain.

Indeed.

Man, 1997 was a good fucking year for Sci-fi fans. The Fifth Element, Men In Black, Starship Troopers and Contact. Pretty much something for everyone. These days, I'm not too hot on Contact because of its shitty "walk on the beach with dead Daddy" ending, otherwise it was intelligent and adult Sci-fi. Troopers is a fun satire of war movies, genuinely thrilling and still holds up today. I wish Verhoven would have came back to do a sequel with today's tech. I watched Men In Black a dozen times at the theater and, IMHO, it's the 1990's Sci-fi answer to Ghostbusters. This also extends to producing a shitty sequels five years later. But out of all of them, it's The Fifth Element that is my favorite. Originally, when I saw it, I was like "what the fuck was that?!?". I think it's because having grown up on Star Wars and Star Trek, I wasn't prepared for such a uniquely European flavored Sci-fi movie despite my love for Barbarella, but that was made in the 60's, so I had no modern day comparison. But over the years I find myself enjoying it more and more just for that reason. Mainly because it feels like a pulp Sci-fi adventure/Action flick with an emphasis on Fantasy. This isn't so-called-Hard Sci-fi, whatever the fuck that means. It's a lighthearted-popcorn-bubblegum-cotton-candy piece of simplistic fluff. At the same time it has more heart and humor then any of the fucking wretched Star Wars Prequels.  I can't say that I've seen a single Sci-fi movie that compares since and, yes, that even includes Avatar, which I do love. It's just that Avatar doesn't fly off the handle the way The Fifth Element does.

 

GIMME THE CASH!!!