calan8

That's how I was when I walked (staggered) out of this "film". I couldn't leave, because it was at a film festival and the cinema was full of people. I was stuck in the middle. Trapped.

The tiny fragment of original footage which attempted to bind this film together features some of the worst acting ever to grace the big screen. The daughter was a stand out performance - stand out in the bad sense.

Thge cinematography was hideous, consisting of disjointed framing and some of the oddest lighting I've witnessed.

As for the stock footage... well at first one...

Wait.

Why am I reviewing this film? Why do I acknowledge its existence? Please, don't watch it. Do something useful with two hours of your life and go watch some paint dry.

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.