MORE "HEAVY METAL" THAN "HEAVY METAL"
A review of "The Fifth Element"
"The Fifth Element", the latest offering from Luc Bresson, the director of "La Femme Nikita" and "The Professional", is a lavish-if-unfocused sci-fi fantasy. The basic idea is that there's Something Big and Nasty way out there at The Edge of The Universe, and periodically it Comes Back to Earth to Cause Problems that are Nicely Scored. One alien race, a pleasantly lumbering bunch, have been maintaining a device/weapon created to keep the SB&N at bay upon its return. The device uses the four alchemical elements plus a fifth -- a perfect being, the supreme warrior -- to operate. For some reason, this race removes this device from Earth (the oncoming first World War seems to be a plausible cause, but this was not made very clear if that was indeed the case), but prom- ises to return it before the beginning of Act III. The main problem with this device is that if someone other than the true Fifth Element uses the device, they become Really Bad and More Powerful than most villains. Naturally, Gary Oldman -- or Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg -- wants to do just that. Working with him are a group of apparently free- lance mercenary aliens who can disguise themselves by morphing their frog-esque heads into human heads. Apparently, this is difficult -- whether the creatures need to hold their breath or keep their concentration very focused is again un- clear. It read to me as the latter. Coming into this film, I expected that this monsterous "Stargate"-like premise would involve Bruce Willis. The Scruffy Cynic with the Shitty Job has deep within him the perfection of the Fifth Element. As it turns out, this is not the case. The craft, returning as promised, is attacked by Zorg's buddies and destroyed. Fortunately, enough remains that a clone can be made (in a tru- ly impressive sequence), and our F.E. turns out to be a feral Milla Jovovich. The current Earth military underestimates her prowess (insufficiently displayed in my opinion, as compared to the assassin in "The Professional"), and she es- capes. Bruce saves her in his cab, and the two spend the remainder of the film trying to get back to locate and operate the device, all the while evading Zorg's clutches. This becomes easier as Zorg pisses off the Frog men rather early in the film, and is forced to create most of his own obstacles to Bruce and Milla's progress. The Frog men are reduced to being an additional-one- might-say-extraneous obstacle. Over the running time of the film, Bruce and Milla are supposed to fall in love and care for one another -- Milla's emotional development is crucial to her effectiveness within the device's operation. Bresson has never been good at more than the most rudimentary character development, and this time the story needs it more than usual. As a result, this aspect of the film is espec- ially unsatisfying. Additionally, the film's message comes across as "Love is the greatest weapon of all", which struck me as a little odd. Bresson's films when they are working, resemble energetic comic books, while "Element" comes off as a decent issue of "Heavy Metal" -- a simple story told in an extremely elaborate, oblique way. The storytelling seems especially fuzzy here -- my view of the plot is my impression gathered from the entire film, rather than a series of clear points made in succession, each building upon the previous one. The main strength of "Heavy Metal" is in its graphic richness and the technique of its execution, and "Element" shares both "Metal"'s strengths and weaknesses. Moebius is a design contributor to the film, and his unique look can be seen and felt, particularly with the graphically snappy designs of the policemen's uniforms. There are not a lot of narrative surprises, so it is left up to the visuals to compensate. They aren't paticularly original -- as usual, "Blade Runner"'s influence is heavily felt -- but they are entertaining in their own right, and drew me through the film. There are many entertaining characters, but most have little to do of and importance (Ian Holm is paticu- larly wasted). For sheer audacity, Gary Oldman and Chris Tucker deserve the top scenery-chewing awards. Tucker plays a futuristic DJ character, a colli- sion between Prince and Madonna, with such energy that you'll either laugh or clutch your your temples. I found him funny, but like many of "Element's" charms, not well integrated into the story. I'd like to see this again, mostly to hum the sets and to see if I can bring the plot more into focus. Otherwise, if you're not interested in flying cars or Milla's midriff, you won't have much to do. Recommended for art directors.
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- Jeff "When I'm Finished With You, They'll Be Stumbling Over YOU In The Dark" Pidgeon
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