Remastered Blu-ray
Specs:
- Full 1080p High Definition Widescreen 16x9
- 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
- 5.1 PCM uncompressed
- 5.1 French
- Pop-up menus
- Scene Slections
- English Subtitles
- French subtitles
- Chinese subtitles
- Portuguese subtitles
- Spanish subtitles
- Thai subtitles
- Feature-length trivia fact track
Video
This is an unofficial second outting for The Fifth Element on Blu-ray Disc. The original BD was one of the first released. The problem was the print used was in terrible condition with tons of dirt and scratches. Not to mention it looked only slightly better than an up-converted DVD. Now the movie has been restored and all I can say is "perfect!" I have never seen a movie look this good before. King Kong also reaches these heights of perfection. Presented in AVC/MPEG-4, which is different from the original's MPEG-2, this disc reaches up to 40 MBPS during fast motion scenes. Even the end credit sequence was encoded around 17 MBPS. There are no problems at all with this transfer. There is zero dirt and colour is spot on. Every frame pops with detail and it definately has that 3-D look only high definition can provide. I don't think The Fifth Element can look better on Blu-ray Disc. I am very impressed with this release. The Fifth Element has, once again, gained it's status as an excellent "showcase movie."
Audio
Same can be said for audio. Not only do we get a lossless PCM track, but we also get a lossless True-HD track, a first if I'm not mistaken. The original disc only had the PCM track. During the running time, I was totally immersed in the film. Rears are used quite a lot during the gun-battles with Korbin against the aliens. The end credit song provides your sound system quite a work outThe scene when Leeloo escapes and dives off the building is perfect demo material as the msuic provides a lot of bass and crispness. Dialogue is perfect as everything is heard and is placed in the approriate channels. This is one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard.
Extras
So this is where the disc falls short. Even though this disc has 50 gigs of space, we only get the trivia track. We miss out on all the documentaries from the 2nd disc of the Ultimate Edition DVD. Too bad but I guess it leaves more space for the movie to perform.
Final Thoughts
The movie's great. It's an epic feature that takes the viewer on a wild ride to a future world full of quirky characters, action and wonderful visuals. Not only that but we get a decent plot! The new Remastered Blu-ray is definately one to get when starting out in the world of HD. Never have I seen a disc present a film in such a wonderful way. Just make sure to look for the Dolby TrueHD logo on the back so you don't get the inferior Blu-ray Disc.
Blu-ray Disc
Video: 10/10
Audio: 10/10
Extras: 3/10
