style

Rating: Null/10 (11 January 2003)

I have one word. Style. On the page, and even with the principal cast "star" list, "The Fifth Element" is one of those summer blockbusters designed to make the studios a big buck and then vanish. But like "Seven", when in the hands of a master director something else happens. They apply style, and suddenly you have something stunning.
Every facet of this film fits with every other facet. You take take a single frame from the film and you just "know" it's "The Fifth Element".
That's style. And style matters more than character OR plot. What do compelling characters or intricate plots matter if you can unify them in the style of the story-telling?
When "The Matrix" came out die hard anime fans rejoiced that this film had managed to bring the comic book into real life. But they seem to have forgotten "The Fifth Element". Because "The Fifth Element" is exactly that, with it's plots, characters, production design, and framing, it's editing, everything about it screams comic book. Once again it all comes back to style.
It's just a pity that when audiences see a film that has one of those "blockbuster" actors in it they automatically and instantly class the film as a mere "blockbuster" bit of mindless entertainment and are then unable to ever see the film for its real worth.