Maybe, if Besson could be limited to directing

Rating: 7/10 (31 August 2014)

I've seen a few of Luc Besson's movies beforehand, mainly those where his obsession with the idea of the reluctant super heroine operating in a male dominated world is clearest. I liked Nikita, though I had some issues with the plot holes that in my mind come to signify Besson's writing. It was even more of a problem with the 5th Element, where pseudo philosophic babbling was added to the mix not to mention tons of pretentiousness. The truck on which Besson's obsession carries him is moving forward always advancing, unfortunately it doesn't advance into good movie making, it's simply gets more pretentious and more dependent on his pseudo philosophic babble. Besson has all the making of a good director. He has a very good visual perception, which he always translate well to the screen. He has a good eye for actors and even more so for actresses Anne Parillaud, Milla Jovovich and Natalie Portman owe him a lot, the last two launched their cinema career on his films. And all his talent as director is getting him into poorer and poorer results, because he insists on writing his own scripts. Many directors do it with remarkable outcome Luc Besson doesn't. He must have someone else beside him to tell him that things don't make sense, someone with an influence. It seems to me that he simply doesn't care about plot logic he might even think his "philosophic" bits are deep and meaningful - sorry it's not the case. It rings hollow and pretentious (I know I used this word before - no other word describes it better).
And so, amazing performances by Scarlett Johansson, and Min-sik Choi, and some solid acting by Morgan Freeman and Amr Waked, on top of some brilliant action scenes and some real beautiful cinematography, are all getting wasted because by the end of the film the utter stupidity of it all covers everything else. What's supposed to be deep and thought provoking is so empty and ridiculous I found myself laughing a desperate bitter laugh instead of being excited or thrilled.