Plot: What’s it about?
“The Fifth Element” is a wild sci-fi with extravagant scenes, stunning visual effects, great dialogue, and wonderful sound. Director Luc Besson tells a good-vs.-evil story centered around several main characters. It begins with a cameo appearance by Luke Perry at the beginning of the 20th century when the viewer is first introduced to the concept of the five elements and to the Mondoshawan, a breed of aliens who view nothing so important as the preservation of life. As the story is told, the five elements are the ulimate weapon against ultimate evil. Every 5,000 years, the planets align perfectly and evil comes to extinguish life. The Mondoshawan are the keepers of the five elements and promise to return in 300 years when the planets align and evil comes. Cut to the 23rd century.
Evil is now on its way. The Mondoshawan are intercepted before they can deliver all five elements and they are scattered. The government is powerless to stop the evil as it approaches and must send in a “discreet operation” to save the world. Thus, we meet Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a former military war hero who is now a cab driver. After having the fifth element, named LeeLoo (Milla Jovovich), almost drop into his lap (literally) as a cab fare, he is recruited for this mission and embarks to other worlds to retrieve the other four elements. Their adventure is both humorous and exciting. Other stellar performances to be noted in this movie include Chris Tucker as a hilarious and unforgettable DJ named Ruby Rhod, as well as Gary Olman who portrays a very convincing psychotic human villain.
The quality of the sound and picture of this DVD are excellent. The video is first rate. The colors are bright and sharp. The audio is excellent as well, putting the sound system through a solid work out. The rear channels are utilized quite frequently. Overall, a quality job, in this viewer’s humble opinion. I must admit however, that I was a little disappointed that there were no extras on this DVD. Perhaps there is a special edition in the works someday.
In summary, I would certainly recommend adding this DVD to the collection. It works great as an action movie or a comedy. At the very least, it is certainly worthy of the price of a rental.
Video: How does it look?
Excellent. The colors were bright, sharp and clear. With the different settings throughout this story, this is an excellent movie to watch on DVD. One will easily notice a different between the old VHS version and the DVD picture.
Audio: How does it sound?
Again, excellent. Solid usage for the subwoofer and rear speakers in this movie.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Other than coming in Pan & Scan (which I don’t really consider a feature) and other languages, there is not a lot here.
