David Galindo
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2003
- Messages
- 1,264
[c]The Fifth Element (UMD)
Region 1 • PG-13 • Dolby Digital • Available Now
[/c]
Just another typical Sony UMD...
Thoughts on the Movie
The Fifth Element is Sci-fi lite. It features an awesome futuristic metropolis, vast alien battles, and an opera performance on a space cruise ship...but all within a movie that knows exactly how clever it is and features some really goofy editing segments, not the least of which are the scenes of the ship taking off/bad guy getting blown up/DJ having sex with the stewardess scenes all cutting to each other with melded sound effects (such as the stewardess’ legs folding with the sounds of the landing gear retracting). Bah.
But I still enjoyed it. I might have enjoyed it even more if I was younger, but what can I say. Rather then try to explain the plot, I’ll let the official description do the work for me:
“Two hundred and fifty years in the future, life as we know it is threatened by the arrival of Evil. Only the fifth element (played by Milla Jovovich) can stop the Evil from extinguishing life, as it tries to do every five thousand years. She is helped by ex-soldier, current-cab-driver, Corben Dallas (played by Bruce Willis), who is, in turn, helped by Prince/Arsenio clone, Ruby Rhod. Unfortunately, Evil is being assisted by Mr. Zorg (Gary Oldman), who seeks to profit from the chaos that Evil will bring, and his alien mercenaries.”
There are some great scenes here, and while there are some great moments (such as Willis kissing Jovovich while she’s asleep and what happens afterwards) it almost felt like the film was trying a bit too hard, especially with Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker) who is just...well, annoying.
There is one thing the movie gets absolutely perfect though. During the first half of the movie, we get teases of what the futuristic metropolis looks like, but hardly a good focused view. Then, when Leloo (the Fifth Element) escapes and sees the future city for the first time, so do we, and the result it really, really amazing. There are hardly enough scenes in the city as we move to outer space before you know it, which is a damn shame. Still, I did enjoy the film enough to recommend it to any sci-fi fan out there who hasn’t already seen it.
Video Quality
It’s Sony, so that means...chop chop. Cropped from a 2.35 ratio to 1.78, the Fifth Element looks great, but not quite amazing. I’m gonna blame the cinematography on this, since some scenes are very dark (such as the view of the flaming comet) while others are vivid and crisp. The black levels are OK, but I’ve seen better from Sony. The transfer is good, but lacks the punch to bring it up to a higher score.
4/5
Audio Quality
The audio sounds great, with nice bass and directional effects. It’s not quite as loud as it could be, but loud enough to back up the great action that happens in the film. Sony usually delivers the goods when it comes to audio and video, which is great because...
4.5/5
Extras
...there are no extras. We get a menu that’s original, unlike the generic Sony menus we get with every UMD it seems, but there isn’t a chapter selection menu or even previews. Not only that, but when you start the movie you have to sit through forty seconds of FBI warnings in several different languages that is completely unskippable. Why?
I’m used to getting no extras from the Sony studio, but that doesn’t make it any less reprehensible.
0/5
Overall…
The video and audio look great as always from Sony, and the price is nice at $15...but maybe one day Sony will finally deliver some extras on UMD. Someday.
3/5
IGN CONVERSION:
Movie: 8/10
Video: 7.5/10
Audio: 8/10
Extras: 0/10
Overall: 6.5/10
Region 1 • PG-13 • Dolby Digital • Available Now
[/c]Just another typical Sony UMD...
Thoughts on the Movie
The Fifth Element is Sci-fi lite. It features an awesome futuristic metropolis, vast alien battles, and an opera performance on a space cruise ship...but all within a movie that knows exactly how clever it is and features some really goofy editing segments, not the least of which are the scenes of the ship taking off/bad guy getting blown up/DJ having sex with the stewardess scenes all cutting to each other with melded sound effects (such as the stewardess’ legs folding with the sounds of the landing gear retracting). Bah.
But I still enjoyed it. I might have enjoyed it even more if I was younger, but what can I say. Rather then try to explain the plot, I’ll let the official description do the work for me:
“Two hundred and fifty years in the future, life as we know it is threatened by the arrival of Evil. Only the fifth element (played by Milla Jovovich) can stop the Evil from extinguishing life, as it tries to do every five thousand years. She is helped by ex-soldier, current-cab-driver, Corben Dallas (played by Bruce Willis), who is, in turn, helped by Prince/Arsenio clone, Ruby Rhod. Unfortunately, Evil is being assisted by Mr. Zorg (Gary Oldman), who seeks to profit from the chaos that Evil will bring, and his alien mercenaries.”
There are some great scenes here, and while there are some great moments (such as Willis kissing Jovovich while she’s asleep and what happens afterwards) it almost felt like the film was trying a bit too hard, especially with Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker) who is just...well, annoying.
There is one thing the movie gets absolutely perfect though. During the first half of the movie, we get teases of what the futuristic metropolis looks like, but hardly a good focused view. Then, when Leloo (the Fifth Element) escapes and sees the future city for the first time, so do we, and the result it really, really amazing. There are hardly enough scenes in the city as we move to outer space before you know it, which is a damn shame. Still, I did enjoy the film enough to recommend it to any sci-fi fan out there who hasn’t already seen it.
Video Quality
It’s Sony, so that means...chop chop. Cropped from a 2.35 ratio to 1.78, the Fifth Element looks great, but not quite amazing. I’m gonna blame the cinematography on this, since some scenes are very dark (such as the view of the flaming comet) while others are vivid and crisp. The black levels are OK, but I’ve seen better from Sony. The transfer is good, but lacks the punch to bring it up to a higher score.
4/5
Audio Quality
The audio sounds great, with nice bass and directional effects. It’s not quite as loud as it could be, but loud enough to back up the great action that happens in the film. Sony usually delivers the goods when it comes to audio and video, which is great because...
4.5/5
Extras
...there are no extras. We get a menu that’s original, unlike the generic Sony menus we get with every UMD it seems, but there isn’t a chapter selection menu or even previews. Not only that, but when you start the movie you have to sit through forty seconds of FBI warnings in several different languages that is completely unskippable. Why?
I’m used to getting no extras from the Sony studio, but that doesn’t make it any less reprehensible.
0/5
Overall…
The video and audio look great as always from Sony, and the price is nice at $15...but maybe one day Sony will finally deliver some extras on UMD. Someday.
3/5
IGN CONVERSION:
Movie: 8/10
Video: 7.5/10
Audio: 8/10
Extras: 0/10
Overall: 6.5/10
