The Fifth Element [SteelBook] [4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Blu-ray] [Only @ Best Buy] [1997]

Like the title says, it looks terrible. I have the re mastered bluray version too and tried both my 4k bluray and re mastered bluray on both my Tv's and the 4k version looked very bad on both of them. The player I am using is a Samsung UBD-K8500 and the tv's I have are a Samsung UN65JS8500 and a LG 65 OLED E6 tv which happens to be the main Living room tv. Both of the tvs experience a very dirty sandy look on the actors faces vs the re mastered and cheaper Bluray version I got a year ago. I am very disappointed with this, I did everything I could to clean up the image like reducing the sharpness on both tv's and lowering down the contrast which did help a lot but you could still see this haze of blurryness. On the Samsung I was able to fix the picture a lot better by selecting BD-wise as a video encoding option on my 4k bluray player which unfortunately only works on Samsung tv's that have that feature but the picture was acceptable. On my LG OLED E6 in the other hand with the same player, keep in mind I have two of the same k8500 players one for each tv, getting back to the review, i had to do a lot more work on the TV's end just to make it viewable. I Dont recommend this version to anyone, I love the movie A LOT but I just couldn't stand what Sony did to the 4k disc version, it's like they didn't even try to make it look better. I had The same experience with the 4k ULTRA versions of the Original Ghost Busters movies and the Laberynth movie as well, the Blurays were fine though just like the remastered one I have of the fifth element. Since this is the 3rd time I get a terrible copy of a great movie, I'm personally gonna stay away from the older movies from 1990 and bellow as 4k Ultra "remastered" movies and just buy the cleaner Bluray versions from now on when it comes to those older movies of course. However do not get discouraged with the newer 4k Ultra movies like Enders Game, DeadPool or Assassins creed as those look Amazing on both my Tv's. You can clearly see the costume stitching on DeadPool and you can see Harrison Ford's facial pores and wrinkles on his neck with the 4k Ultra movies lol!

Ah, Fifth Element. A movie that remains among Luc Besson's best (including Leon: The Professional, La Femme Nikita, The Transporter, Taken, and a double whammy of Jet Li in Kiss of the Dragon and Unleashed). It's also my favorite sci-fi movie. While this review is surely skewed in its favor because of that, you have to admit that the movie has heart. We have Bruce Willis during his prime stepping into another actiony role that gravitates to saving all life, along with a pre-Resident Evil Milla Jovovich, a comically flamboyant Chris Tucker, a crazed businessman of a villain as Gary Oldman can pull off (seems off that Dracula, this, and Leon all got 4K treatments of late and they are all Gary Oldman endeavors), and we have cameos from sci-fi veterans Ian Holm of Alien, Brion James of Blade Runner, Tommy "Tiny" Lister as the strong, restrained President of Earth (Deebo from Friday, mind you!), and even Luke Perry and Lee Evans get cameos. I owned the original Blu release of the movie and found it horrible. Exchanged it for the re-release and it was better, but had no effing extras of any note. Really, they couldn't have made such a staple Sony product in this movie? And then we get the 4K release. Which looks and sounds amazing...and the big thing is IT HAS EXTRAS. They are standard definition, but there are extras. Lots of behind the scenes stuff involving the actors, the aliens, the aesthetics, fashion and many others. You still get the trivia track from the original release, but you can spend a couple of hours watching all of the extras and admiring what work went into making the movie. Is this the version you want to own? Well, if you're wanting to get into the 4K/UHD craze, may be best to wait since this title could get another issue. Then again, it may not. We are talking about a film nearly 20 years old now, and it's all a question of how much improvement they can accomplish beyond this (short of supplementing the extras in HD cleanup and tossing in more into a possible UHD release, which I won't be a part of for a while). Otherwise, I say get it. If you're one of those who owns the Steelbook for the movie too, get rid of that older Blu-Ray and toss the disc from this into the mix. You'll have a great collector's item in the form of a Steelbook with a substantially better copy of the movie.

Brief movie analysis: It's awesome. If you don't have it, buy it. Quirky, wonderful effects combine with a lovely and unique undertone to produce an adventurous, philosophical, action-packed, romantic screwball comedy the likes of which we'd never before seen, and haven't seen since. 1: The sound is amazing. That deliberately extends to the outstanding music that gives this movie it's quirky energy. It's a night and day difference in some scenes. The movie is more dynamic now. 2: The film looks different. Normally, we know what a director wants his film to look like. The 5th Element? Nobody has a clue, but we all agree that it gave us the absolute finest "look at my cool TV" freeze-frame of all time. I find it amusing that both Blade Runner and this film (clearly a touch inspired by the former's cityscapes) suffer from being released so many times that nobody knows what they're supposed to look like anymore. This release features altered balances, which lend it a warmer appearance. Reds and yellows are ever so slightly more saturated, but not too far. Detail is actually enhanced in both light and shadow. So, know that it's warmer. If you've been wearing out your first-release copy for all these years, you may feel a bit jolted, but give it a chance. You'll probably like it. At this point, this is one of the few films that comes down to personal opinion and preference until the director tells us different. Should you buy this as a fan of the film or theater in general? Absolutely. It's a must-have; but like Blade Runner, you're never really going to sit down and be able to decide once and for all which is your favorite release. All that said: I could almost swear they left Mila's famous close-up alone. Right on the ledge; where we all pause to photograph a television or show it off. If they touched it, they were careful. LOL

Good and evil battle for the future of 23rd century Earth in this visually striking science fiction cult classic. New York cab driver Korben Dallas didn't mean to be a hero, but he just picked up the kind of fare that only comes along every five thousand years: A perfect beauty, a perfect being, a perfect weapon. Now, together, they must save the world. This "Mastered in 4K" transfer is presented at 1080p and is noticeably warmer and fuller than its predecessor. Skin tones are the obvious beneficiaries, lifting the actors from looking like the walking dead to very much alive. This makes the jump from LPCM 5.1 (both releases) and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (remastered only) to a Dolby Atmos presentation, which also features a "core" Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track for those yet to equip their theaters with Dolby's latest object-based setup. Details are as clear and refined across the back as they are up front, and the low end support structure is potent but never overbearing. Explosions and other deep, penetrating sounds will test the limits of every theater's subwoofer(s). You can hear Atmos effects even without an Atmos receiver in a sound track so good it's like hearing it for the first time.

I bought this film on Blu-Ray, because on a regular DVD, it looks terrible. On a regular DVD player, this seems like an incoherent, wildly careening fantasy about abstractions (like "Evil" and "Love") that are portrayed with all the subtlety we remember from similar films like Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest. The movie starts in Ancient Egypt, when a large pyramid is invaded by men in silly "robot penguin" suits that anyone, even Lady Gaga, would find tacky (see photo). But in Blu-Ray the heroine seemed more fragile, yet more plucky, at the same time. The hero was so flagrantly remastered that I could see each individual growth of stubble on his chin, and the bad guys were clearly very bad. On DVD, unremastered, I thought the hero was played by Jean Claude Van Damme, whereas now I can tell it's Bruce Willis. In fact, it's now possible to see, in high definition, the famous glitch where Bruce Willis is accidentally clean-shaven (for a split second). You get the idea, I'm sure. Buy this movie. If you don't, who will?

...and a better hi-def option for fans who don't yet own The Fifth Element on blu-ray. I double dipped with this one, thanks to the less than stellar transfer quality of a previous edition I own. Being a perfectionist, I had to give this remastered version of one of my favorite movies a shot. Thankfully, I can honestly say I see a noticeable improvement in the video quality of this "mastered in 4k" edition. The new Dolby Atmos track was a nice bonus as well, but I'm mostly happy that this aging catalog title doesn't look as much its age as my previous blu-ray. Epic, fun(ny), sci-fi with a touch of love. Something for everyone gives this movie a lot of replay value, which justified my wanting to own the best version I could.* (*I do not own a 4k display.)

I saw this in the bargain bin at my Best Buy and grabbed it because I remembered the fun of watching Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman and Chris Tucker hamming it up in a fun movie with great special effects twenty years ago! Milla Jovovich is beautiful and plays the quirky alien with enthusiasm. And there are lots of great supporting actors (Luke Perry, Tiny Lister, Ian Holm) but Chris Tucker (pre-Rush Hour days) and Bruce Willis at the height of his action movie career, teamed with the always interesting Gary Oldman will make you want to watch it over and over. Well worth the price!!

Sony is trying to tap into the Criterion audience with their Supreme Cinema Series and the Fifth Element is part of the first wave ( Along with Bram's Stoker's Dracula and Leon: The Professional) that has the film rescanned at 4K resolution and converted to HD and the transfer blows away previous transfers. Also Dolby Atmos for tor improved surround sound for those that have the proper decoder. Most of the extra features were [ported over from the previous edition. All of the SCS titles also come in unique lucite cases with leather binding with the fours symbols from the movie embossed in it. They look awesome, but you need to be careful as they are easily scratched and I have been careful to not open them too wide. This transfer is also available in a non SCS edition in a standard blu-ray case, but this is really the best and if picked up on sale as I did, worth the price.