Thursday, July 10, 2014

Movie Review #24: The Fifth Element

Geez, I really gotta stop waiting to review movies a week after I've seen them. Things start get a little muddy. The best time to review a movie is the day after viewing it; when it's still fresh in your mind, but the emotional high of having just seen it has worn off.

Anyway, I watched The Fifth Element for the first time. Short version: it's a fun, fast-paced, funny sci-fi movie that you'll probably enjoy.

SYNOPSIS

300 years in the future, when an ancient evil that awakens once every, I dunno, 40,000 years or something threatens Earth, the pieces to the ritual that will destroy it must be gathered before time runs out.

One of those pieces is a mysterious woman who speaks no English and breaks free from the people who need her and lands in the cab of a guy who, not understanding what's gong on, decides to rescue this girl from her captors.

FULL REVIEW

The Fifth Element is not a deep movie. It's not exploring any deep mysteries of  humanity, and it's not going to make you terribly reflective once it's over.

However, I wouldn't say it's a shallow movie either. There's depth you can read into the futuristic world the movie portrays, but the movie isn't going to explore those assets for you; you just have to wonder about those things on your own.

Though the main characters are of course white and straight, the movie also depicts black people in positions of power, one of which is incredibly effeminate. Both of those characters also pretty much steal whatever scene they're in.

I think the movie did a lot of good for the sci-fi genre, giving a large budget to a movie that was definitely science fiction but didn't take itself too seriously.

As usual, Bruce Willis play John Everyman who, it turns out, is not very Everyman at all.

It's tough trying to think deeply about the movie because it honestly doesn't beg for deep thought. It's a comedy that takes place in the future, and it actually manages to be funny. What else is there to say?

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