Don't ask Besson for a moral lesson...

Rating: 6/10 (16 April 2007)

...he'll give it to you and waste 90 million bucks doing it.
It was a highly anticipated, over-hyped blockbuster from Luc Besson of "Nikita" and "Leon" fame, featuring Bruce Willis still sitting on laurels from his performance in wonderful "12 Monkeys" just a year before. What I was expecting was nothing short of a miracle in film- making, thinking how European cinematography can only outdo Hollywood once it lays its hands on similarly high budget.
Yes, my expectations were pretty much slaughtered once the film started rolling. What I got in for was a mere charade of clichés, goofy acting and unwanted moral lessons garnished with the music of the hour. Nothing in it had any meaning or weight to it. I tried to watch it as a silly comedy but nothing really did it for me back then (and the guy laughing hysterically in the seat behind me certainly didn't help). Then I expected at least some point to all that and indeed it was laid heavy handedly upon the audience in the end when, out of the blue, the movie detoured into dead serious. Of course, by that point, I gave up and made sure not to take anything in it seriously. Goes especially for Besson's teenage naiveté in making his case against war and human nature (one has to wonder about him - the man was closing 40 at the time). I was probably just as naive as him expecting something else.
Nowadays, however, I try not to miss "The 5th element" whenever they air it on TV. Once you go past the pretentious BS you can find in it precious gems that redeem the movie. One of those is certainly Chris Tucker and his outlandish performance (the only thing I could acknowledge as quality even back then). Too bad his character was conceived as a strictly sidekick - there were opportunities for him to develop into a really meaningful protagonist. Many of supporting characters and lines are also funny (although majority still isn't - I classify it under "the French humor"). The cinematography and art design are lovely in their colorfulness and, in retrospect, it's a treat to watch Bruce Willis from the era while he still had some hair to his head.