Remastered Fifth Element Blu-ray disc finally shines

by Darren Murph posted Jul 18th 2007 at 9:57PM

We can imagine quite a few Fifth Element faithful were ready and willing to hand over MSRP in order to take home one of the first Blu-ray copies of the quasi-cult classic, but the overwhelming response from those hoping for the best was nothing short of unpropitious. Thankfully for those still hanging on for some type of retribution, Sony announced that it would be exchanging the original copies out with fresh, remastered iterations just as soon as the cleaner, smoother, and more BD-worthy version went gold. Of course, it'd be awfully good to know whether to waste your time with such a process if the new flavor was just a minor upgrade, and we're quite relieved to hear from HighDefDigest that Sony nailed it this time around. From the overall image quality improvement to the unexpected addition of a Dolby TrueHD audio track, the differences were more than noticeable to the discerning eye, so if you managed to save yourself from snagging the subpar edition the first go 'round, it looks like the updated cut may actually be worth your while.

Filed under: Reviews, Blu-ray, Sony

Tags: fifth element, FifthElement, remastered

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highest Ranked

Alex @ Jul 19th 2007 1:01AM

The first blu release looked so bad I bought an HD DVD player instead. Glad they got their head out of their ass finally.

Neutral

Britboyj27 @ Jul 19th 2007 1:32AM

Good now could someone PLEASE find me the link to actually exchange the bloody thing???

Neutral

B.D. Ize @ Jul 19th 2007 10:10AM

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/705

Neutral

Jay @ Jul 19th 2007 7:25AM

this motherfuckers at sony corp. love to follow suite compared to the old sony that led the way in so many areas. first the ps3 now they tryin to lower the price cuz they realized that nintendo did it right from the start. then redesign the psp to make it more like a psp lite. way after nintendo reaped the benefits. then the xbox live ripoff. then the late entry to the lcd market. i mean seriously shoudltn i mean if blu ray is the future, all these features have been in it in the first place? god i think they need to bring the old management of sony corp. back cuz seriously these money hungry cheap bastards dont realize that sellin 600$ consoles and 200$ handhelds and releasin bullshit movies just wont make good for them. dumb mother fuckerss. they keep playin like that and by the time blu ray gets adopted if ever it will be bested by digital tv downloads.

Highest Ranked

joe @ Jul 19th 2007 10:26AM

jay, get a life and calm down.

sony have redesigned every single one of their consoles to make a lighter cheaper more advanced version, its not like they are copying nintendo or summin. what and you are having a go at them for lowering the price of the ps3?!
lmao, everyone lowers the price of everything at some point.

Neutral

Anirudh @ Jul 22nd 2007 6:09PM

First a bit bout Blu-Ray vs HD DVD; its goin to b d next technology shift an it wont matter which company is backin wat, wat matters is wat v r goin to buy. An d shift is goin to take place so fast dat d loser wont even realise wat hit him. poof .
Wat matters is stuff like quality (yea Blu-Ray has got serious issues dere) with d kind of spots showin up on d disc an stuff.

Moreover d success of blu-ray is goin to determine d success of PS3 an Sony in d long term. Dude, if dey pull off Blu-Ray successfully who knos ...........
But rem Microsoft is waitin for them to mke a mistake.

As far as i see it, Blu-Ray has a definite edge over HD DVD (Capacity Counts) . The prob's r
Quality
Price
Availibility

PS3
Hey guys its not dat the ps3 sucks an stuff, it is one of the most advanced gaming consoles ever built. The question v hav to deal wid is - is t worth it ? coz all u play on the ps3 is on blu-ray discs(all d new games) and dey r damn expensive. Price cuts will give it a boost but seriously u gotta sell software wid ur hardware an it shd b affordable.

Let's see who gets d cake. HD DVD;s r availible for
$9-$18 while Blu-Rays r frm $11-$24.

Neutral

Rene @ Jul 19th 2007 11:53AM

Could someone tell me how to distinguish the remastered version from the first one, I want to make sure I buy the new release?

Neutral

Romulox @ Jul 19th 2007 12:51PM

Rene, according to dvd empire, the remastered upc code is 043396215207. Verify that # before purchase. I also read somewhere that the remastered says "copyright 2007" on the back, but I don't know if that's correct

Neutral

Paul Fernandez @ Jul 19th 2007 2:42PM

Maybe it's just me, but I fail to see the fascination with this movie. It certainly isn't Willis, Holm, or Oldman's best, and Chris Tucker's performance was so painfully stereotypical and annoyingly over the top that it's a wonder the NAACP didn't have something to say about it. Those wide, bulging eyes are directly from the Stepin Fetchit school of acting (if you don't know, look it up).

For a while there, I thought I was watching "Birth of a Nation" or something. The Blu-ray folks can have this one, thank you. I'll be watching "The Manchurian Candidate" on HD DVD, with an INTELLIGENT and provocative Denzel Washington instead.

Neutral

AdAstrum @ Jul 20th 2007 5:47PM

Paul, turning everything into "blu-ray vs hd-dvd" is getting old. Your denial only hurts yourself.
The Fifth Element has a very strong following and it fully deserves it. This new relese boasting AVC encode on a 50Gig disc with a new TruHD track is undoubtedly a keeper. Congratulations to everone who was eagerly awaiting this remastered edition. Good job, Sony!

Neutral

Nick @ Aug 15th 2007 6:53PM

I just received my copy from Amazon, and I got curious if there was a way to confirm that it was the new remastered cut? It says 2007 in the copyright, so I am assuming I have no issues. But just in case, was the print cover different from the old version to confirm it is the new cut?
Thanks!

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