The Fifth Element

BUY IT	RENT IT

General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Running Time	123 minutes	Commentary Tracks	None
RSDL/Flipper	No	Other Extras	Cast & Crew Biographies Picture Gallery-Worldwide Posters
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region	4	Director	Luc Besson
Distributor	Columbia Tristar	Starring	Bruce Willis Gary Oldman Ian Holm Chris Tucker Milla Jovovich
RRP	$34.95

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	No	MPEG	2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	Yes	Soundtrack Languages	French (Dolby Digital 5.1) English (Dolby Digital 5.1) French (MPEG 2.0 ) English (MPEG 2.0 ) Spanish (MPEG 2.0 )
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
Macrovision	Yes
Subtitles	French English Spanish Dutch

    The weapon is en route to Earth but is intercepted by some nasty warriors (the Mangalores) who destroy the ship and its contents, except for a few cells, from which Earth science is able to genetically engineer an entire new being as good as new. This being, Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) literally drops in on Korbin Dallas (Bruce Willis) who decides to help her. He finds out that the stones were not on the destroyed ship with Leeloo, but that he needs to retrieve them from Phloston Paradise, from the Diva Plavalaguna. Conveniently, the government of the day has arranged that Korbin will win a ticket to Phloston Paradise, which allows him to get there. In the meantime, we also learn that Zorg (Gary Oldman) also wants the stones, but for nefarious purposes.

    Everything comes to a head on Phloston Paradise, with many factions after the stones and much gratuitous explosions, killings and special effects.

    The Fifth Element does not have a strong story. In fact, the plot is full of holes a mile wide. If the movie took itself at all seriously, it would fail dismally as entertainment. Fortunately, the movie is a roller-coaster ride of thrills, vibrant colours, great special effects, explosions, and excitement. It never pauses for a second, stunning us with glorious visuals and stunning audio effects, always moving at the pace of a rocket. This allows us to forgive the movie's plot holes, and simply enjoy it for the escapist entertainment that it is.

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer was absolutely razor sharp at all times. I could make out considerably more detail in all of the shots of the R4 version than I could in the equivalent shot in the R1 version. Never at any stage during the entire transfer did this quality waver in the slightest degree. Shadow detail was magnificent, with absolutely no low level noise whatsoever.

    The colours were vivid, bright and aggressive. Huge splashes of highly saturated primary colours adorn the sets and the costumes and there is never ever any trace of colours bleeding together or of oversaturation. Comparing the Region 4 to the Region 1 version showed that the Region 4 version was slightly less saturated in colour than the Region 1 version. The net effect of this was that some almost oversaturated scenes in the Region 1 version were now spot-on in terms of colour saturation.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. The only very minor film-to-video artefact consisted of some very minor shimmer in the scene where Leeloo has been reconstructed and she is attempting to escape. We see some very slight shimmer in a grille that is present in her tube, and I was looking very hard indeed for faults like this. I counted two film artefacts in total throughout the entire movie that I noticed, both very minor indeed.

    Now that I have raved about the video qualities of this transfer, I feel that it is important to note that this transfer has clearly been taken from a French version of the film. The opening and closing credits are in French, not English, and English subtitles default to on. I found this extremely distracting and disturbing, particularly since I could not read the end credits. If this is a problem for you, then I would recommend getting the Region 1 version of this DVD. If you want the best possible picture quality, then I would recommend the Region 4 version of this DVD.

Audio

    This soundtrack is a torture test for your speakers. It has an enormous dynamic range, ranging from whisper quiet to teeth-rattlingly loud. The loudest bits of this soundtrack defeated my system, and I had to back off a few decibels from my normal listening level to listen to this soundtrack in its entirety without overloading my system. This movie is just begging to be turned up even louder but you just can't do it without frying your system at some point. I guess it means that I need bigger and better speakers.

    Dialogue was loud, crisp and very clear at all times, even during scenes with enormous ambient presence. At my normal listening level, I was driving my centre speaker amplifier into overload, forcing me to back off the volume a little.

    The musical score, composed by Eric Serra, has attitude. It is strident, exciting, pulsating, and subtle when it needs to be, but never conventional or boring. It helps immensely in setting the tone of the movie. The Diva scene is a highlight of the score. Indeed, it is a highlight of all things DVD - Q: How do you know you are a DVD addict? A: You know what I am talking about when I say "the Diva scene".

     The surround channels almost continuously have full range and full volume sound, ranging from music and ambience to full-on explosions, gunshots, and general space whooshes. It is highly enveloping.

    The .1 channel has a massive presence in this soundtrack, starting from the very beginning of the soundtrack with huge low frequency rumbles and continues to pound almost continuously forever thereafter, especially for explosions and gunshots. If any movie demanded a subwoofer, this is the one.

    The only two very small criticisms I would make of the audio on this DVD are that very occasionally, the soundtrack sounded a little "thin" for want of a better word, and it defaulted to the French soundtrack, which would be perfectly acceptable for anyone in France who purchased this disc, but not for us in Australia. It is a pity that Columbia Tristar could not have changed the disc defaults to suit Australian conditions.

    A very unusual extra is the Picture Gallery of Worldwide Posters for the movie, about 10 in total, although the Australian poster doesn't get a guernsey at all.

    Limited cast and crew biographies round off the extras on this disc. These lose a little in the translation, with several spelling and grammar errors present. The tense of the prose is also somewhat odd, with it all being set in the present tense rather than in the past tense.

    The Region 1 DVD has no extras whatsoever. It does have a Pan & Scan version of this title, but it would be very hard to watch this movie in any other aspect ratio other than its theatrical aspect ratio.

    The video quality is perfect. A five star rating is insufficient, and I will give this DVD a six star rating.

    The audio quality is tremendous, and provides a torture test for your audio system.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Michael Demtschyna
16th December 1998