Only the French Could Have Made This Film

Rating: Null/10 (18 March 2002)

There's something about French SF -- it's got that whole "Metal Hurlant," a-bit-overripe-and-a-bit-too-earnest-and-silly feel (these things really need Jean "Moebius" Giraud to steer them, or Truffaut, if he weren't dead). The hammy and overrated Gary Oldman plays his usual cheeseball villain in a collection of affected mannerisms and expressions, while Willis' hero (well, sort of) falls into one weird (but pretty) situation after another. In its favor, the movie gives you a whole other world of imagination. In its disfavor, the world it shows you makes little sense and is a bit over-designed. Usual "chosen-one-must-save-the-world" plot we've been forced to watch in SF and fantasy for the past 25 years (can you say "pyrotechnic special effects finale?"); tune out the plot and dialogue but stay for the cool designs (and the funny-looking ones, too)!