Fly-by Movie Thoughts

[permetaform]

Have just watched Blade Runner as a supplement for Virtual Realities in Media class.

o.o dude, is it me or is The 5th Element (1997) like a cracktastic, comedic remake of Blade Runner (1982)? (with all the bad parts fixed. And a lot more orange.)

[edit] To explain the 'bad parts' comment...

Initial Qualifiers:
1) I watched the 1st half of the cinematic release, 2nd half of the director's cut. (I downloaded both the Criterion and the Director's cut; the Criterion rip spazzed out on me half-way through, so I switched over to the Director's cut for the ending)
2) I have read so much sci-fi that at no point was I surprised at *all* over the storyline
3) I am a vidder.
4) The 5th Element was a pivotal movie for me, none of the movies I've seen before that movie was memorable, and barely any movie I've seen after did I find the *need* to own. I was in a state of shock for a day or two after I first saw it, I was in love with Bruce Willis for 5 years after that and Leeloo was probably the first female protagonist I ever looked up to. It's the first movie I paid for myself. It's been my favorite movie for forever, and as of now ranks only under PotC for the amount of love I have for it.

Now:
What I really liked about Blade Runner was it's sense of visual style, pictoral composition, the color of it; the visual treatment of the concept of cyberpunk was lovely and some of the scenes in it were breathtaking.

However, (regarding #2) none of the story came as a surprise to me, at times I was playing 'predict the scene', and I've experienced before the sense of alienation? urban-pseudo-apocalyptic angst? cyberpunk disassociation? whatever that mood was, it didn't hit me very hard, because I've experienced it elsewhere in far more concentrated form (via 1st and 2nd person POV) and perhaps have sorta been jaded to it.

Regarding #3, some of the editing was really jarring to me because at times it really REALLY wasn't beat-whored, and it really threw me off. At points, I had to turn the sound really low just to get past it, though granted part of it was because of the music itself such as during the romantic scene.

(Speaking of which, what was up with the shoving her against the window? Totally twigged me out.)

And er...Harrison's Ford's voice was really badly acted during the voice-overs. I get that he was going for "flat"; but he's just really not a voice actor, and it came off sounding (to me) like Tom Welling on a really bad day.

And I appreciate the movie in that it was a fore-runner to many sci-fi movies, but I really only *loved* the visual aspect of it, and as for the rest, it really can't match my adoration of The 5th Element.

Comments

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

Bad parts? Bad parts?

[metamorphogenic.livejournal.com]

I am a meat popsicle

No, it's not just you.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

What bad parts? (Sorry, but Blade Runner is my favourite Sci Fi movie of all time.) And a lot of films ripped off Blade Runner.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

O____O

....h-h-heresy....
O_____________O

[winter]

*twITch*

Bad parts? You must have been watching the cinematic release. Or something.

[vellum.livejournal.com]

i've never seen blade runner. i like the fifth element. "hey, lady, i only know two languages: english and bad english." yup yup.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Sorry, the cinematic release was the only version I saw for years and years, and it doesn't have bad parts, either. It just doesn't. Standing firm on that. ;)

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

As for number 2 - well it is, like almost all sci-fi movies that claim to be clever, based on a Phillip K Dick novel.

BTW, voice overs? Voice overs aren't in the director's cut.... What was the last scene in the movie?

[myniamh.livejournal.com]

I love that film, well both of them. I watched Blade Runner as a kid so it's stuck in my head as not a lot of other films can be.
I have the soundtrack to The 5th Element playing now, <3 it. Loved the orange too!
(If you don't have it and you'd like a few songs I can YSI them in my next post?)

[penelope-z.livejournal.com]

Comparing the 5th Element to Blade Runner...

*shakes head and mutters heresy under breath*

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

The sexuality of that movie is pretty wrong, yeah. But...dude. Blade Runner.

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

I don't know, you know... I'm 35 years old, and Blade Runner was totally a formative movie for me. I think your comments about knowing what was going to happen can hardly be blamed on the movie - certainly when it was made, it was a different story. Can we say that Lord of the Rings is predictable because we know that elves and dwarves always inhabit the same fantasy worlds, and there's usually a broken sword and a magic object of power in the mix?

But all that said... I connected with Fifth Element like it was made for me, and if someone came to my door and told me to give up one of those two movies for the rest of my life, Blade Runner would be in their hand before they finished the question.

So, I guess I'm saying that I both think you missed the point a little, and that I still very much feel the same. *g*

[fuzipenguin.livejournal.com]

I have never much liked Blade Runner, no matter what edition I see. *shrugs* And I'm a big sci fi geek. It just never clicked with me. I'm with that on a lot of "classic" genre movies.
But 5th Element - *love*

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

the visual treatment of the concept of cyberpunk was lovely and some of the scenes in it were breathtaking.

However, (regarding #2) none of the story came as a surprise to me, at times I was playing 'predict the scene', and I've experienced before the sense of alienation? urban-pseudo-apocalyptic angst? cyberpunk disassociation? whatever that mood was, it didn't hit me very hard, because I've experienced it elsewhere in far more concentrated form (via 1st and 2nd person POV) and perhaps have sorta been jaded to it.

The wrong order. Bladerunner didn't "treat the concept of cyberpunk"; it invented it. It was released in 1982 and was a big influence on the sf writers who'd go on to write the fiction ultimately labelled "cyberpunk" in the late eighties and early nineties. This always amuses me as an example of how recycling influences changes them -- because of course Bladerunner was based on a book by Philip K. Dick, to which it is thematically similar but stylistically completely different.

I saw the director's cut when it was rereleased for theaters and adored it. I've never seen the version with voiceovers, although I've heard the theory that Ford deliberately made them as bad as possible in an attempt to sabotage their inclusion, since apparently he was no more thrilled by the studio's order than Ridley Scott was. I suspect this is not true, but it's a lovely urban legend.

What I remember best about this movie is vast night-lit cityscapes spread across the world in absolute silence. That's the part I fell in love with.

Also, thank you for the postcard. :)

[gakifang.livejournal.com]

I first saw Blade Runner on tv when I was 15. My first reaction was 'Oooh, pretty!!' and 'Arg! Voiceover!'. So I watched it on mute with captioning. The 5th Element is one of the few movies that my entire family will put stuff down for. So I really think it's neat that some-one else(that I am not related to) has the same reaction to these two movies.

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

I love 5th Element until the last scene. I dunno, I think it is mostly because I'm the same age as Milla, and got a bit squicked at the age difference between her and Bruce. If I remember to turn the movie off right before that scene, I'm happy.

[jackiekjono.livejournal.com]

I once heard it referred to as "the gay Star Wars." Possibly on the Daily Show.

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

Except, of course, for "multipass!"


Retrospectively, I'm so grateful I saw Blade Runner long before I saw any other dark noir-y Phil Dick-esque films.

[viridian5.livejournal.com]

The Fifth Element was propulsive fun, while Blade Runner is flawed (and its "love" scene with Rachael makes me want to hurl things), but none of the characters in The Fifth Element connected with me the way Priss, J.F., and Roy did. They were so human, so smart, so damaged, so doomed. Zorah's run through the glass windows is a sequence that haunted me, running in my head for days. The fight between Roy and Dekker amazed me because it was so matter-of-factly brutal and the outcome didn't feel predetermined. As it happened, I didn't feel that of course Dekker would win.

So, flawed, yeah, but it has some brilliant pieces.

Some parts of the voiceover annoy the hell out of me, but when I watched the director's cut I couldn't figure out what was going on at some points without it.