All Rise...

Judge Brett Cullum dives into the fifth element which is love, life, and adolescent scifi.

Editor's Note

Our reviews of The Fifth Element (published January 17th, 2000) and The Fifth Element: Superbit Edition (published October 18th, 2001) are also available.

The Charge

There is no future without it.

The Case

The Fifth Element is a highly stylized sci-fi romp from French director Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita) which has been released on DVD and Blu-ray many times over. It is a comic book come to life, and makes little sense when examined closely. But narrative be damned, it's a fun ride with Bruce Willis (Die Hard) as a futuristic taxi driver who ends up with a mysterious passenger (Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil) who is the key to saving the earth from destruction. She is the titular fifth element, and she has come to save us from ourselves. Before it's all over there are several chases, an escape to a luxury resort, an opera concert by an alien diva, a protective priest (Ian Holm, Alien) and a radio host (Chris Tucker, Rush Hour) tag-along. All the while, a bad guy with a bad haircut (Gary Oldman, Bram Stoker's Dracula) is trying to get the elusive element for profit and gain. It's all super silly, but it moves fast and you get sucked in. Basically, this is a Heavy Metal comic book come to life. Besson claims he began to write the script at 16, and that is believable given the naive charm most of the film gives off. It's a mess, but it's a pretty mess with plenty of design and creative sets and creatures. It looks dated now with these early CGI attempts, but that makes it look a bit more like a living comic in all honesty.

This 4K Blu-ray release mirrors The Ultimate Edition which was released on DVD back in 2005. The transfer is punched up a good bit with a new 1080p high definition sheen, but the extras are exactly the same. The images look awesome with a real depth and vibrancy. I enjoyed the newly minted look of the film, and it is amazing the clarity they have achieved with the visuals. The sound are two Dolby mixes, and one is labeled Atmos while the other is just a simple straight forward mix. Atmos is an aggressive surround sound that engages all five channels. This disc is louder and clearer than ever before. The quality in both visuals and sound surpass all other previous releases, and you have the added bonus of having all the extras that were on the definitive DVD release. The supplements are over 120 minutes of featurettes which examine the movie from every angle. There are interviews with the designers, actors, and effects people. There are straight ahead talking head interviews, and then rough cut footage of certain sequences. These are all divided up into short chunks labeled by types. Also included is a facts or trivia track that runs over the feature. All in all this is pretty good stuff, but collectors have seen it before.

The Fifth Element is unique when you think about sci-fi, because it seems like a feature funneled through the brain of an adolescent boy. It's Barbarella or Flash Gordon for the '90s, and seems to have developed strong cult followings like those features did. It's not deep, it's not logical, and there's not much to meditate on once the film finishes. But it's a blast while it moves through amazing set piece after set piece, and you can't help but smile at the end results. When Chris Tucker struts on the soundstage in a part originally envisioned for Prince wearing a Jean Paul Gautiler gown with his hair styled like a unicorn you know you are in for something totally different. This latest Blu-ray release is the best it has ever looked, the best it has ever sounded, and has all the best supplements produced so far. European sci-fi has never been this much fun!

The Verdict

Guilty of being a gas and a new elemental force in science fiction. The Fifth Element is free to go!

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