The Fifth Element Special Edition DVD
The term ‘Special Edition’ can be misleading. We’ve all bought DVD’s whose ‘Special Edition’ credentials are tenuous at best, sometimes relying on nothing more than a badly made HBO feature to elevate them above a normal release (not sure if these even exist anymore!). Regardless, I remain optimistic as I settle down to enjoy The Fifth Element Special Edition.

Bruce Willis is Major Korben Dallas, recently retired from the military, now making ends meet driving a cab. When Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) crashes into his life he finds himself on a mission of the utmost importance, to save the world. Railing against him is Zorg (Gary Oldman) who has aligned himself with the evil powers embodied by Mr Shadow. Both parties seek the 4 element stones but only though Leeloo, the supreme being, can the stones be used to halt the extinction of life as we know it.

From the Alien-esque understated opening to the James Bond ending you’re left in little doubt that time and effort have been put into realising Besson’s teenage vision. With concept designs by cartoonist Jean-Claude Mezieres and Moebius the world of The Fifth Element is a meticulously realised cartoon vision of the future. The story unfolds beautifully with little baggage attached and sucks you in with the minimum of fuss. How many times in the last 6 years can you say a sci-fi film has done that to you? Honestly?

Willis is back in John McClane mode which works just fine but it’s Milla Jovovich who’s performance really stands out, and not just because of her flaming orange hair or tendency to undress a lot. Gary Oldman plays Zorg as Scrooge with a real chip on his shoulder and a silly plastic thing on his head and, as in Leon, his performance is priceless.

Away from all the whizz-bangs and prat-falls the film lacks any real depth. Leeloo’s brief consideration of the evils of man is simply a device to ramp up the tension at the films climax and nothing more. It works too. Who needs depth anyway when you’ve got the biggest indoor explosion ever in your film (apparently).

Extras
We do pretty well here. The film has a visual effects commentary which is only recommended it you’re really, really interested. The second disc boasts a pretty comprehensive 50 min feature charting the films development from spotty 16 year old Besson’s first scriblings to realisation of the dream. Four 5 min featurettes expand on the Visual Effects, Mezieres artwork, The Diva’s performance and Gaultier’s costumes. The Trailers are all here including the excellent teaser and an MTV special about the 50th Anniversary Cannes Festival where the film opened (not very interesting at all unless you’re a Neneh Cherry fan) A couple of posters and a word about the fact that a sequel is not very likely round out the disc. As far as I know some of these extras are already available on the German deluxe edition released in 2001 but as my German isn’t really up to scratch I can’t be sure.

The picture is superb and if you have the luxury of a DTS decoder then you will find the sound quite awesome. Yeah the menu where the options are flying cars (very droll) is a bit fiddly but weighed against all the stuff I haven’t even mentioned (Ian Holm, the Diva, the funniest mugging on film) it’s a minor quibble. This DVD does deserve the ‘Special Edition’ label and it also deserves to be in your collection.

Cormac