The fifth element is not talent

Rating: 2/10 (3 January 2002)

When this movie got released in US, a TV crew made interviews at the end of the show (it was in a LA theater, if I remember well). I never forgot what a 10-year old girl said : "Dez nuthin in it. It's bowing." She was 10-years old, so I presume she was not what you could call a sci-fi purist. But she said the essential.
Luc Besson knows how to film corridors, people walking through corridors and, to a lesser degree, people fighting in corridors. But he can't write a decent story: he has a very conventional imagination, why is why there are so many clichÃ©s in his movies, and also why he has to copy from others. Besides, all his movies become quickly outdated, and "the fifth element" is not an exception. Besson makes trendy movies which do not stand the test of time. Try watching again The great blue or La femme Nikita and you'll see
what I mean. Too much style, no class.
In France, Besson never gets any official award for his work, and he's very proud of it. He thinks that makes him a cursed artist. In my opinion, he's just a tedious climber who spent too much time in Disneyworld (and thought it was art). There's nothing more to say abouth this guy.