|
The Story
Bruce Willis stars as Korben Dallas, a retired military
soldier and taxi driver, in this futuristic science fiction action thriller. A
mysterious and evil power is threatening life and mankind in the
twenty-third century, and the only weapon against this terrible evil is the
Five Elements. Originally brought to Earth as a gift to protect
mankind, the Five Elements had to be removed by the friendly aliens in 1914 when
a scientist nearly discovers its secrets. The friendly aliens promised to
bring it back in 500 years, when the terrible evil force is predicted to
threaten
mankind. So 500 years later, in their quest to bring it back to protect mankind,
the friendly aliens were attacked and the Five Elements is compromised. The Fifth Element,
known as "The Supreme Being" or Leeloo, happens to stumble across Korben.
And later, as luck would have it, the military urges Korben to embark on a mission
to find the other four elements and put the Five Elements together to work
against the evil force. Will Korben find the other four elements in
time and figure out the secret of the Five Elements in order to use it
against the force of evil and save mankind?
This Luc Besson sci-fi action-thriller is quite a ride for
viewers, with stunning cinematography and excellent sound design, which are
both captured superbly on this Superbit
DVD. The picture and sound are treats for the eyes and ears.
The Extras
Because this is a Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
Superbit™ DVD series, there are no bonus features.
Video & Audio
The
"The Fifth Element" Superbit DVD looks exceptionally
good. The colors are very rich, doing justice for the dazzling cinematography style. The picture clarity and brightness
of this anamorphic
widescreen DVD are stunning. For example, look at the opening scenes
in Chapter 2 (starting at time
counter 2:57) as it shows the friendly aliens coming down to remove the Five
Elements. The brightness of the reflected natural light
and later the spaceship's light, the rich and vibrant colors, and
the contrast and shadow details with the alien's dark outer shell
are remarkable. The picture
detail is consistently good throughout the film, thanks to the
consistent use of at least 4.5 Mbps. DVD picture quality never
looked better.
As I had expected, the DTS
5.1 soundtrack is sensational,
and likewise does the awesome sound design of this movie justice. A Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack is also available for those of you who do not
have a DTS compatible home theater system. Both 5.1-channel mixes are
well balanced, with aggressive use of the surround sound channels. The
action sequences sounds incredible and the immersive sound field makes you
feel as part of the action. The dialog in both soundtracks comes
across clearly. As good as the Dolby Digital track is, I
personally prefer the DTS soundtrack.
Conclusion
Of the
three original Superbit titles we reviewed, "The Fifth Element"
is by far my favorite Superbit. Not only did I thoroughly
enjoyed the movie, the Superbit quality i's like
candy for the eyes and ears. How should I put it... Hmmmm, I
know, it's "perfect!" (borrowing the description of "The
Supreme Being" in "The Fifth Element").
|
|
Visit the Superbit DVD web
site, and the Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment web site.
Did you find this DVD movie review helpful? Let us
know your thoughts, send an e-mail to us at Feedback@TimeForDVD.com.
Send this review to a friend: click
here and an e-mail will automatically be composed for you with the link
to this page. Just put your friends' e-mail address and click on the
"send" button.
Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
|
United We Stand
