This always used to be one of my favorite movies to watch, which is something different than saying it's one of the best movies of all time as well. But the movie as it is entertains and I also have to say that it still holds up very well, 16-years later.
Thing you need to keep in mind about this movie was that it got made in 1997, when science-fiction wasn't exactly at its prime. It was definitely considered to be a somewhat of a lesser genre and every big, adventurous and action packed science-fiction movie that came out still got compared to the Star Wars franchise and often was considered to be a lesser knockoff of it. Thing that makes this movie different from most other '90's science-fiction is because it's totally being different and original, both visually and approach-wise.
This is simply not a movie you should take very seriously, as the movie itself isn't taking itself serious at all neither. It's just a movie to have some fun with and a movie that loves to exaggerate and to go over-the-top, with basically just about everything. The characters, the dialog, the action, the movie its look, it's all very deliberate and highly exaggerated, to create an unique world of its own, with its own look and 'rules', that in no way ever looks or feels like a real world at all.
its visuals are definitely a thing that this movie has going for it as well. It's a futuristic science-fiction movie but also with a very comic-book like touch to it, with its use of colors, framing and just overall look. The costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier are all great to look at. It works great for the movie its comedy and overall atmosphere as well, as all characters are basically looking very goofy in their unusual, 'futuristic', clothing but at the same time in a still very stylish way.
The special effects are also simply great, even by today's standards. It always amazes me that nowadays I get to see plenty of big budget science-fiction flicks, with some absolutely horrible looking CGI, while back in 1997 there were movies like the "The Fifth Element" that were 10 times better- and far more convincing looking movies, with all of its special effects.
It's also one of those movies that makes you forget its plot. This is simply not a movie that is all about its story but it's more like a ride, that you just have to go along with and completely surrender yourself to. Having said that, once you start paying some more attention to its story, you still can't say about it that it's a poorly- or simplistically written one as well. It's filled with some clever little details and developments, that are often setting things up for sequences that are yet to come later in the movie. You could say that everything happens for a reason in this movie, so nothing ever feels redundant or out of place. The only arguably redundant thing about this movie is the Chris Tucker character but I don't know, he sort of has grown on to me.
All of the other actors are pretty fun and at times even impressive to watch as well. Bruce Willis is of course a great leading man but even more awesome is Gary Oldman as the movie its main villain. Definitely one of his most fun roles as well, from the days that every awesome movie villain got played by Oldman. Fun little detail about the movie is that the main hero and villain in this movie never meet or interact in any way or form with each other.
Absolutely still one of the most entertaining and refreshingly original science-fiction movies out there!
9/10
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I want to bugger Milla Jovovich (as the bird was in 1993 when the bird was 18, not as the bird is now obviously).
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