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Apparently Luc
Besson dreamt up the story line when he was 16 and had in mind two
famous French comic book artists for the visual style. One was Jean
Giraud ('Moebius') and the other was Jean-Claude Mezieres who went to
art school together. Moebius is best know for the Movie "Heavy Metal"
(1981) whilst Mezieres is better know for the "Valerian" series. They
started work on the film in the early 1990's and are responsible for
much of the non-Jean Paul Gaultier look and feel of the vehicles,
spacecraft, buildings and characters. Allegedly the story borrows
heavily from 1960's graphic novel 'The Incal' by Moebius and
Jodorowsky who, ironically, sued Luc Besson on this basis. Quite how
Moebius sued his employer for a movie he worked on is a mystery.
Needless to say, they lost this case. Jodorowsky later claimed that he
considered it to be an honour to have his ideas stolen!
It was a high
for the actors too. Bruce Willis has never done anything quite this
wacky before or since. His line "Whoa lady, I only speak two
languages, English and bad English" was an ad lib. It was pretty much
downhill all the way for Milla too. She pretty much ended her career
right there. I mean "Resident Evil" 1, 2 and 3?! C'mon! Ian Holm comes
out with his head held high. He is a rock - the corner stone of many a
great sci-fi epic such as 'Alien' and 'The Day After Tomorrow". And if
you only ever see one movie with Gary Oldman in make it this one.. "If
you want something doing - do it yourself!"
There is also a
quite kooky bunch of support characters. It is great to see a link to
the 'Bladerunner' with the appearance of Brion James as 'General
Munro'. We also have Tricky as 'Right Arm' - sure, no Oscar winning
performance but he does look suitably anxious all the time. Then there
is Lee Evans as 'Fog' who just about plays it as himself and is
perfect in the role. For some reason Luke Perry gets a high listing in
the caste of characters (as 'Billy') but this is based purely on his
Hollywood fame than any genuine contribution to this movie. Blink and
you miss him. He is only the first ten minutes.
In criticism of
the movie (if there can be any) then there is the creaking corniness
of the ending. Leeloo becomes so disenchanted with mankind's
capability for War that she loses the will to fight evil. Hence Korben
has to step in and love her. He is her inspiration. He gives her
something to live for. Ooooh. Slightly naff. However, there is great
poetry and humour elsewhere in the plot that we can forgive this
awkwardness.
Of course there
are those out there who just don't 'get' this movie. Thankfully they
are a minority. Then there is equal minority who are so scarily into
this movie that they dye their hair orange. Cool. As for the rest of
us mortals... We thought it was great. We'll happy slap this in the
DVD player on a wet Sunday afternoon and get lost in the thrill and
fantasy of it all. To be honest, work like this is few and far
between, so relish what we have. |
