My thought on The Fifth Element is that four different people made different parts of the movie, and it somehow got stitched together. It is somewhat all over the place, but still pretty entertaining.
I just love the contrasting opinions. That is all.
Remind me; what laser reference?
Concern for plot is not expected to survive the aesthetic flash-bang of the visuals, the audio, the cinematography and sets and costumes and world-building.
I love the Fifth Element, it really was a SciFi BD come to life.
I also like Valerian, but don’t really credit Besson with the worldbuilding, most of that stuff is there in the source comics anyway.
I’m definitely a fan. Like the original Star Wars and The Princess Bride, The Fifth Element is a great popcorn adventure movie. Always good for a repeat viewing. They’re simply fun–no thinking needed, just follow along the characters as they go places and do things. The characters are iconic, the places they go are memorable, the things they do are exciting. As far as I’m concerned, movies like these are what make movie-going a pastime. (I’m not a fan of plotting and other critic-driven elements for their own sakes.)
What does “BD” mean here?
Did you think that was obvious enough to most people that the acronym would be clear?
My first thought was Black & Decker.
Thanks, I hadn’t heard that term before. Similar to “sequential art”.
Quite frankly, I didn’t think about it at all.
If you have a problem with me using that term of art in a thread about a film very much derived from that particular comic form, the Pit is thataway.
I appreciated your comment because it is spot-on (it is a live-action SciFi BD) and because it prompted me to learn a new term.
Thanks, I didn’t have a problem with you asking for clarification at all, always happy to pass on new info.
Or, as xkcd put it, you’re one of today’s lucky 10,000
Much better than passive-aggressive complaining about using a term of art in a genre thread.
When I was a teen the sciency magazanies used to have small ads in the back advertising ruby rods for building lasers, and I so wanted one. I wish I knew what happened to my Radio Shack diode laser pointer I bought when they first came out. I was in college, and would jam towels in the gap under the bathroom door, turn the shower on full heat, and watch the beam through the fog.
Add one more to the people who had no idea what the abbreviation or the full words meant.
I’m not even sure how, or if, a BD (Bondage and Discipline?) is different that a regular comic strip, or le strippe du comix, perdon moi french.
I agree that the visuals created for Valerian are amazing, and while I didn’t watch in the theater, I did watch on the medium sized home TV screen. And your last sentence, that the effects are as good, I’ll grant although the world building are derived from the source material so that isn’t a net +/- for me. The problem though is summed up for me by the quote below.
Whether from writing, casting (and agreed poor choices), acting issues against a giant green screen, or other factors, NONE of the characters in Valerian prompted me to give a damn. I did not care, and thus could not engage - which didn’t make it less of a visual wonder, but doesn’t make me want to revisit it.
While one the other hand, I’ll watch (or at least play in the background) Fifth Element at least once a year, own it on DVD, and enjoy my copy of the soundtrack from time to time. But if you enjoy Valerian, it’s fine - it is an amazing piece of SF comic history splashed up to modern big budget extravaganzas, and I was glad to see the source recognized, it just did very little for me as entertainment.
It’s probably a terrible movie, but I love it to pieces.