Light-hearted Visually Stunning Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2013)

Yes, Chris Tucker's sexuality will shock the old (white) folks. Yes, Gary Oldman's over-the-top performance and bleeding forehead won't please them either. But there simply is no other movie, science-fiction or otherwise, that outranks this movie in imaginativeness or visual style. Oddly, it capture New York City in the 1990's better than any film set in the 20th Century.
The story is pulp fiction and the ending maudlin; but who would have it any other way? Willis, Jovovich, Besson (for direction and script), and perhaps Tucker (and Ian Holm), all deserved Oscars for this.
Perhaps some day Pedro Almodovar will make a screwball sci-fi comedy, or maybe Stanley Kubrick will come back from the grave and direct a Star Wars sequel as a dead-on comedy. Until then, if you haven't seen this film you don't know squat about movies.