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The Fifth Element
DVD Review by Jack Van Lieshout |
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For my first trick…. Today’s DVD review is of the movie "THE FIFTH ELEMENT". How does one start a review of a movie that believe it or not essentially transported me to another place in time and space? Hey that rhymes. A movie that has a scantily clad woman with orange hair literally pounding the bad guys, or whatever they are, into unconsciousness, not to mention a blue alien lady that sings opera. And man can she sing. As I sat before the big screen and popped this disc into the player I had no idea of what to expect. I became mesmerized from the beginning to the end. I will admit right here and now that on occasion I have been an on again off again Bruce Willis fan but this movie succeeds in many ways…. even with him. OK here goes. Many years ago in a land not so far away, an archeologist is examining a stone structure when low and behold an alien vessel with large metal bug like creatures lands and confronts him and his guests. A secret lies within these walls, the secret that will one day save the world from certain destruction. The aliens of course have the best interest of humans in mind, and they remove the secret from its dormant hiding place for redelivery at some point hence. Jump 300 years ahead and true to the word of the bug like guys, really bad aliens are preparing to, well to put it politely, destroy us poor helpless humans. Yeah right as if we cant do that ourselves!!! Anyway…a battle ensues and the "Fifth Element" a chick with orange hair is all but destroyed in a space battle. Scientists find a piece of her after her vessel crashes and they kinda rebuild her. She comes to life, meets Bruce Willis, in a very novel way, and goes on to…well I wont give that away. Let's just say the movie, from that point on gets a bit ahhhhh, different. I have seen many movies in my day but this one took me by surprise, as I had seen no movie like it before. That my friends is a treat. The movie never dragged for me and was not even over AFTER the blue lady sings. I must of course comment on the quality of the sound and image on this disc, after all this is home theater. Lets see the word I would use is STUNNING !!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!! Does the term 3 dimensional sound enticing? Well this movie comes very close to that realization. The colors even the orange in Leeloo’s (The Fifth Element) hair is reproduced with a brilliance that boggles my mind. You want detail…well it is in this movie in spades. Count the hairs on the chin of Korben Dallas (Willis) go ahead count em. Uniforms, stars, worlds all look good on this disc. The blue Diva Plavalaguna is truly blue and the glitter on her skin makes me think of well…nevermind, just know its way cool. The makeup on the DJ Ruby Rhod is totally outrageous but ever so clear. Blacks are black, no dot crawl, no smearing, just pure color. Almost filmlike. And that my friends is the goal here. Sonically, again this disc is in the upper class. Tight, punchy well defined with great surround effects. Dialogue comes across with great authority and cleanliness. Your subwoofer will get a workout on this movie. Even the top end is good. I never felt strained and my ears never did start to bleed. On this disc both widescreen and panned and scanned versions are available. Go for the widescreen if your TV can do it. I will recommend this movie, not all will like the content I am sure, but all will be rewarded by the quality of the disc both visually and sonically. Good Viewing Jack
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The Fifth Element The movie never dragged for me and was not even over AFTER the blue lady sings. Staring: Bruce Willis |
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