THE DAULPHIN:

heralding and leading

the dread allegorical Zone Wars

in the Franco-American film art

of Luc Besson

 

by Gary W. Wright

 

        Like most film artists who were established or emerging in the early Eighties, Luc Paul Maurice Besson was as implicitly shocked and outraged as audiences were by the helicopter crash that killed actor/writer/director Victor “Vic” Morrow and illegally hired and employed child extras Renee Chen and Myca Le around 2:20 am in early morning of July 23, 1982 on the George Folsey jr. produced John Landis set of the Kathleen Kennedy associate produced, Frank Marshall produced and Landis and Steven Spielberg executive produced Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller docufeature film TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE [1983].  Unlike most film artists, however, Besson also understood that the TZ disaster was so traumatic that it had ended the daylit and increasingly blockbuster, beastly, and commercial New Hollywood film art era and kicked off the dread, embattled, low budget, indie, righteously furious, twilit and allegorical Zone Wars that have raged ever since in fiction and film, an implicit understanding on full view when Besson donned the co-writer/director/co-producer hats to create his first cinematic Zone War salvo, the ironically titled, low budget, twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film LE DERNIER COMBAT aka THE LAST BATTLE [1983], fittingly released in January of 1983 to kick off a whole new year and era of twilit and allegorical film art.

        Curiously, after seven opening titles, four of which affirmed the names of the four main male actors, followed by “…un film de Luc BESSON” to implicitly affirm his pride in his first cinematic creation.  Significantly, the film then began in black and white, a twilit black and white world midway between light and darkness and life and death that evoked the equally black and white world of the original TWILIGHT ZONE telefilm series to make it immediately and implicitly clear that Besson understood that the TZ disaster had created a twilit new era of allegorical film art.  Panning slowly around a beat up office turned into a makeshift, messy and dust or sand filled apartment, we found ourselves with a dark haired, dark eyed, dark bearded and moustached, bored, brooding, lonely, short, slim, sexually frustrated and George Lucas resembling and implicitly linked bachelor with no name-played by Pierre Jolivet-living all alone in the off-apt and furtively, frantically and despondently humping a blonde blowup doll. 

Significantly, when he was not releasing his sexual tensions with a luv doll, the man with no name made solitary forays outside the abandoned and derelict office building, looking for parts and a battery for the plane he was building in his off-apt.  Curiously, we discovered in these scenes that the man with no name struggled but was unable to speak, implying that Besson believed or anticipated that Lucas had to struggle to find his cinematic voice again if he was to succeed in the post-TZ disaster world.  Soon the man with no name or voice made a daylit foray into a nearby and Tatooine evoking desert, a foray into an implicitly twilit post-apocalyptic desert world that included allusions to the film art of Akira Kurosawa and the allegorical, computer generated imagery [CGI] enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Spielberg roasting Lucas indie docufeature film STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE [1977] to affirm the implicit link of the man with no name or voice to Lucas, an implicit link enhanced by the spare but evocative and memorable soundtrack composed by Eric Serra. 

On this foray, the man with no name or voice successfully raided the abandoned and junked car filled hideout of a ginger haired and Sir Ridley Scott resembling and implicitly linked gang leader in a dirty white suit-played by Fritz Wepper.  Indeed, one of his gang resembled and was implicitly linked to Rutger Hauer, who played renegade Replicant leader Roy Batty in the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas addressing Sir Scott indie docufeature artbuster BLADE RUNNER [1982], affirming the implicit link of Mr. Ginger to Sir Scott and of LE DERNIER COMBAT to the fateful and fatal July of ’82.  Significantly, the rest of his gang was comprised of members who resembled and were implicitly linked to other film artists such as Spielberg-played by Maurice Lamy-Ron Howard, Stanley Kubrick and Roger Vadim.  Waiting for nightfall to sneakily attack out of nowhere like a Tusken raider, the man with no name or voice grievously injured Mr. Ginger and stole a battery from his car, its license plate including the fateful and Skyrocking number “77” to reaffirm the implicit link of the man with no name or voice to Lucas.  Significantly, during this foray we discovered that Mr. Ginger and the rest of his gang were also unable to speak, reminding us that, like Lucas, the rest of the mostly male film artists of the era, shocked into silence by the TZ disaster, now had to find new voices to cope with and exist in the new post-TZ disaster apocalypse film art era.  Chased back to his office apartment by a fittingly Foursfull quartet from the white suited leader’s gang, the man with no name or voice used the stolen battery to desperately complete and escape from the determinedly and furiously pursuing quartet in a homemade plane, soaring and Skywalking over the Tatooine evoking desertscape to safety.

Curiously, at this point the scene shifted to a desolate, ruined and rubble strewn city, and a short vignette that saw a big, brawny, brooding, bearded, and glasses wearing Dark Knight-played by Jean Reno-bring a small cardboard box containing food and supplies to an older man-played by Jean Bouise-hidden and locked inside the fittingly named Clinique Chirurgicale Marceau.  Just as curiously, while the hidden man opened the door of the Clinique to accept this offering, he also closed the door on the Dark Knight after doing so, clearly not trusting him.  With good reason, for while this huge Dark Knight evoked the equally huge and implicitly Kurosawa and Nikko the flying monkey king linked Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader-played by David Prowse-in the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, he had the beard, features and glasses of Landis, an implicit link to Landis affirmed by the fact that this scene evoked one of the scenes set at Joliet Prison in Chicago at the beginning of the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical Landis docufeature film THE BLUES BROTHERS [1980], and by the fact that the Dark Knight later appeared in scenes that eerily anticipated the Landis prologue of TWILIGHT ZONE:THE MOVIE.

Then the scene shifted back to the mute Skyrocker, flying until his battery or fuel ran out and he landed near the ruined city.  Fleeing from two mysterious figures dressed in hazmat suits who were spraying the landing area with a presumably sterilizing gas, the mute Skyrocker fled into the crumbling streets and catacombs of the devastated city.  Here he found a new apartment in an abandoned hotel to live in, decorated it with a painting he found, and struggled to survive, fleeing a dianoga evoking underwater creature while exploring a flooded subway station at one point to reaffirm his implicit link to Lucas. 

Significantly, soon after this frantic escape, the mute Skyrocker was badly beaten in a quick and brutal encounter with the huge Dark Knight.  Stumbling away from the fight badly wounded, the man with no name or voice was luckily befriended and healed by the kindly and Harry D. Stanton resembling and implicitly linked man met earlier at the Clinique Chirurgicale Marceau, who turned out to be a painting luving Doctor who affirmed the implicit link of the gang leader to Sir Scott via Stanton’s ragged, baseball hat wearing and implicitly Scarecrow linked spaceship engineer Brett in the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas roasting indie docufeature artbuster ALIEN [1979]. 

When enough time had passed for the good doctor to feel he could trust the man with no name or voice, a trust increased by the help that the man with no name or voice gave the doctor in more tragicomic encounters with the pesky Dark Knight that also evoked THE BLUES BROTHERS to reaffirm the implicit link of the Dark Knight to Landis, the good and painting luving Doctor put a mask over the eyes of his newfound compadre and led him to a beautiful and equally mute young woman-played by Petri Muller-that he had hidden away, a beautiful young woman that the mute Skywalker was immediately smitten with.  Alas for this new twilit trio of one female and two males, the Dark Knight soon managed to kill the doctor and the woman.  However, he was soon hunted down by the righteously furious and makeshift armour wearing mute Skyrocker in the final desperate duel of the film, a final desperate duel that evoked the final determined light saber duel between Evil Sith Lord Darth Vader and the Good and implicitly John Ford linked Jedi Master Ben Obi Wan Kenobi-played by Sir Alec Guinness-at the end of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE to again affirm the implicit link of the man with no name or voice to the short and slight Lucas. 

Significantly, after this final battle, the mute and triumphant Skyrocker then returned to the Tatooine evoking desert and triumphed over the Ginger gang leader as well to become his gang’s new leader, and get the old leader’s beautiful young blonde girlfriend-a real life blonde luv doll at last, and played by Christiane Kruger-implying the hope of Besson that Lucas would be the first film artist to regain his voice, win the determined battle needed to regain the faith and confidence of audiences, and triumph over Landis and the TZ disaster, perhaps with the release later that year of the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, implicitly Spielberg roasting and Lucas executive produced Richard Marquand indie docufeature film STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN  OF THE JEDI [1983], released on May 25, 1983, and perhaps even find a new luv to replace his then recently divorced wife, Marcia.  At any rate, the film’s many allusions to the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy and THE BLUES BROTHERS gave a Franco-American spirit to LE DERNIER COMBAT, a Franco-American spirit that remained forever after in the film art of Besson.

        Alas for Lucas, by the time of the release of LE DERNIER COMBAT, it was already highly unlikely that Marquand and himself would triumph, lead film art out of the Twilight Zone, and bring daylit health and harmony back to audiences, film art, film artists and the Temple Theatre with STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI.  For soon after the TZ disaster, Lucas had shocked and outraged young audiences even more by confirming that he would still collaborate with Kennedy, Marshall and Spielberg on the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie docufeature film INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM [1984], a sequel to their eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly William Friedkin addressing indie docufeature film RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK [1981].  The shocked outrage of young audiences that Lucas would work with two of the people most responsible for the TZ disaster had increased in October of ’82 when Lucas revealed that the initial title of the trimax of the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy was STAR WARS EPISODE VI: REVENGE OF THE JEDI, for ardent young fans knew that Jedi Knights used the mystic Good Force only for “…knowledge and defense”, as Jedi Master Yoda-played by Frank Oz-instructed the ardent and implicitly Lucas linked young Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker-played by Mark Hamill-in the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Spielberg roasting Irvin Kershner indie docufeature film STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK [1980].  In fact, young J.D. Jedi fans were so outraged by the implication that Jedi Knights would seek revenge that a worldwide letter campaign had erupted to persuade Lucas to change the name of STAR WARS EPISODE VI: REVENGE OF THE JEDI, a letter campaign in full Force throttle swing at the time of the release of LE DERNIER COMBAT.

        Luckily for Besson, however, the same young audiences directing worldwide outrage at Lucas eagerly embraced LE DERNIER COMBAT, ironically turning THE FINAL COMBAT into a popular and award winning success.  A success not shared by Lucas and Marquand, for young audiences, triumphant in their efforts to get Lucas to change the title of the trimax of the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, still hated and poured their scorn on STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI, which came across as a remake of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE and as an unoriginal filmmercial for Ewok dolls, affirming that Lucas had indeed, transformed into Lord Stinkious, the stinkiest and Darkest of the Dark Lords.  Turning young audience hopes to David Lynch, the idiosyncratic and indie creator of “moving paintings”, who by the release of STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI had begun work on an indie moving painting of the allegorical and implicitly Philip K. Dick toasting and Robert A. Heinlein roasting Frank Herbert indie docufiction novel Dune [1965].  Alas for Lynch, the twilit and allegorical Lynch indie moving painting DUNE [1984] was a Great Flawed Film that also failed to please young audiences, liberate film art from the Twilight Zone, end the dread allegorical Zone Wars, and bring daylit health, harmony and happiness back to audiences, film art, film artists and the Temple Theatre.  A failure that Besson implicitly addressed when he donned the co-writer/director/co-producer hats and collaborated again with Bouise, Jolivet, Reno, Serra-back for another lean and bass driven soundtrack-Pierre Carrive and Jean-Michel Castanie-who played two of the desert gang members in LE DERNIER COMBAT-Constantin Alexandrov, Sophie Schmit, and Carlo Varini-executive producer, editor, and director of photography [DOP], respectively, of LE DERNIER COMBAT-Gaumont and Les Films du Loup to implicitly address Lynch in the daylit, allegorical, Franco-American and Ozian themed indie docufeature film SUBWAY [1985], released on April 10, 1985.

 

“Pourquoi vous m’avez invite

a cette soiree?”

       

        Curiously, the film began with “…To be is to do  Socrate  To do is to be  Sartre and Do be do be do  Sinatra” arranged across a black screen, playfully affirming the Franco-American spirit of Besson.  Then full colour and a cheerful, exuberant and handsome young man with wild peroxide blonde hair-played by Christophe Lambert-wearing a toney tuxedo and roaring full throttle down a Paris highway in a 1984 Peugeot 205 GTI to the sound of a rockin’ tape filled the screen, with a Benz driven by a Lucas resembling and possibly linked driver with a fitting trio of male passengers in the Foursfull car with him in hot pursuit.  Indeed, the fact that the license plate of the pursuing Benz was 7038-OE-78 affirmed the implicit link of the driver to Lucas, for ’73 was the year of the release of the allegorical and implicitly Walt Disney toasting and Ralph Bakshi roasting Lucas docufeature film AMERICAN GRAFFITI [1973], ’77 was the year of the release of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE; ‘80 was the year of the release of STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK; and ’83 was the year that the Skyrocking dreams of audiences-particularly young audiences-and Lucas crashed and burned with the release of the infuriatingly lame and disappointing STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI. 

This allusion to Lucas was reaffirmed by the fact that the sight and sound the car chase also evoked the sight and sound of the implicitly Lucas linked man with no name or voice frantically fleeing his office-apartment in his home-made plane as another Foursfull quartet of four determinedly besieging and vengeful thugs smashed their way into his decrepit digs at the beginning of LE DERNIER COMBAT.  Indeed, the sight of an actor-either Carrive or Castanie-who played one of the four determined thugs at the beginning of LE DERNIER COMBAT back again in a tux and writhing in fear and loathing in the back seat of the Benz at the high speeds of the rocketing car openly linked the beginning of SUBWAY to the beginning of LE DERNIER COMBAT.  Curiously, this full throttle car chase also evoked the sight and sound of the implicitly Lynch and Mel Brooks linked Elwood and Jacob “Jake” Blues-played by Dan Akroyd and John Belushi, respectively-roaring full throttle through the streets of Chicago with the police in hot pursuit at the end of THE BLUES BROTHERS, reaffirming the link of SUBWAY to LE DERNIER COMBAT.

        Significantly, this pedal to the metal car chase was intercut with the sight and sound of an older and Freddie Francis resembling and implicitly linked Parisian man in an orange and white track suit-played by Lucien Fleurot-listening to a Walkman as he warmed up prior to a run, reminding us that Francis was the DOP of DUNE, implicitly linking the exuberant, carefree and peroxide blonde driver being pursued to Lynch and the Great Oz in a hurtling careening symbolic hot air balloon.  This implication was reaffirmed after the chase ended with the blonde driver crashing his car through the doors of a subway station, fleeing into the station and onto a subway car with the frantic foursome on foot behind him as the opening titles appeared on the screen, the second to last reading “…un film de LUC BESSON” to reaffirm the implicit pride he had in his second cinematic creation.  For in the labyrinthine depths of the Paris subway system, we soon learned that that the irrepressibly exuberant and cheerful young blonde man’s name was Fred, a name that openly evoked Freddie Francis. 

We also soon discovered that the Great Fred was on the run and forced to hide out in the Paris subway system after breaking into a safe at a toney party he had been invited to by the beautiful, bewitching, chic black gown clad, diamond sparkling and implicitly Dorothy linked brunette Helena Kerman-her first name reminding us that Helena was the state capital of Montana, the birth state of Lynch, to reaffirm the implicit link of Fred to Lynch, and played by Isabelle Adjani.  Indeed, a black and white photo of Helena as girl that Fred treasured revealed her to have been the twin of the lonesome, song and dance luvin’ and implicitly Canadian Prime Minister William King linked orphan Kansas waif Dorothy Gale-played by Judy Garland-in the equally black and white prologue of the allegorical and implicitly Prime Minister King and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler roasting Victor Fleming film THE WIZARD OF OZ [1939] to affirm the implicit link of Helena to Dorothy. 

Curiously, Fred’s tragicomic plight reminded us that Lynch had been invited to the toney and Academy Award tuxedo wearing Hollywood party by the indie and iconoclastic actor/writer/director/producer Brooks, who had been so impressed by the allegorical, dream-like and implicitly Kubrick addressing Lynch indie moving painting ERASERHEAD [1977] that he had persuaded the equally indie and iconoclastic Lynch to team up with him to create the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Sir Scott and David Cronenberg toasting and Nicholas Meyer and Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau roasting indie moving painting THE ELEPHANT MAN [1980] for his Brooksfilms production company, a film alluded to in SUBWAY. 

Alas, while the moving and memorable THE ELEPHANT MAN was a huge hit for Brooks and Lynch, DUNE was a big and expensive flop that was the cinematic equivalent of an infuriating safe robbery.  Thus, it was fitting that the phlegmatic and Brooks resembling and implicitly linked and implicitly Wicked Warlock of the West linked subway police Inspector Gesberg-played by Michel Galabra-led the tragicomic castle soldier police manhunt for the Great Fred-sometimes seen with his black tux jacket and black bowtie off and his white dress shirt buttoned securely at the neck, reminding us that Lynch was famous for always wearing a white dress shirt with the top button just as securely fastened to reaffirm the implicit link of Lynch to the Great Fred.  Significantly, his implicit link to Lynch and the Great Oz also implied that his equally elusive, irritating, crime luving and subway dwelling friends were also linked to film artists who had fallen out of favour with audiences at the time, like the ragged, roller skating and implicitly Landis and Scarecrow linked Jean-Louis aka “the Roller”, and the muscle bound and implicitly Coppola and Cowardly Afro-Lion linked Bob-played by Jean-Hughes Anglade, and Christian Gomba, respectively-and no doubt the stationary and implicitly Tin Man linked flower seller-played by Richard Bohringer.

Curiously, as he evaded the Wicked Insp. Gesberg and his castle police officers, and the goons led by chief goon Jean-who resembled Robert De Niro, and was played by Pierre-Ange le Pogan-sent by Helena’s ambiguously linked husband Raymond Kerman-played by Alexandrov-the sight and sound of the Great Fred doing all he could to rustle up a rockin’ Subway Brothers band and the money to pay for them evoked the sight and sound of Elwood and “Joliet” Jake Blues doing everything they could to rustle up a Blues Brothers Band and the money to pay for them in THE BLUES BROTHERS, affirming the implicit link of Inspector Gesberg and Fred to Brooks and Lynch.  Fittingly, the lead singer of the Subway Brothers was Paul-played by Arthur Simms-whose name evoked ESP aided, vision and visionary dream haunted and implicitly Cronenberg linked galactic messiah Paul Atreides aka “Maud’dib”-played by Kyle MacLachlan-in DUNE to reaffirm the implicit link of Fred to Lynch.  Thus, the sight and sound of the Great Fred being shot dead by Jean just as his rockin’ band was on stage fittingly tearing through the twilit, allegorical and Serra and Corine Marienneau written Subway Brothers tune “Guns And People” [1985], and then returning to iconoclastic life with his usual carefree grin, in the end, implied the hope of Besson that Lynch would also return to carefree, exuberant, iconoclastic and indie moving painter life and win back audiences to his moving painting cause with his next work, an implicit hope that Lynch fulfilled the following year with the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly Coppola and Tim Burton roasting indie moving painting BLUE VELVET [1986]. 

As for Besson, if he was worried that there was no place for new film artists like him, and French ones too, to boot, in a film world dominated by American anglophone film artists in 1985, his fear was baseless.  For audiences were too outraged and embittered by the TZ disaster, by the failure of STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI to bring the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy to a truly triumphant and satisfying trimax, and by the all too obvious and infuriatingly inane attempts by film artists to win them back at the time with moving paintings like DUNE and the even more outraging and insulting INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, which saw the eponymous Temple of Doom’s enslaved Indian boys and girls liberated and saved by the implicitly Friedkin linked Doctor Henry “Indiana” Jones jr.-played by Harrison Ford-at the end of the film, so Renee Chen and My-Ca Le were also implicitly and symbolically saved, so everything was okay people, just relax, eat your salty popcorn, sip your soothing pop nipple, and buy all our movie tie-in merchandise, okay?  So enraged that audiences turned eagerly to talented new film artists like Besson and his Franco-American films, a Franco-American style affirmed in SUBWAY by the sight and sound of Paul singing in English, a fauxhawk sported by a bored and rebellious Helena at one point, and the film’s allusions to STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, THE BLUES BROTHERS, THE WIZARD OF OZ, the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical Landis indie docufeature film AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON [1981] and the allegorical and implicitly Kubrick roasting Lucas indie docufeature film THX 1138 [1971].  So outraged that they eagerly embraced fine feature films like LE DERNIER COMBAT, SUBWAY, and the righteously furious twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas and Lynch roasting Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster THE TERMINATOR [1984].

        Significantly, the first films of Besson did not go unnoticed, for John Glen implicitly roasted Besson in the form of the devious and duplicitous Koskov-played by Jeroen Krabbe-latest enemy of the implicitly Lucas linked Agent 007 James Bond-played by Timothy Dalton-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced docufeature film THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS [1987], a film released on June 27, 1987 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by its Serra evoking soundtrack composed by John Barry.  Steve De Jarnatt also implicitly roasted him in the form of post-apocalyptic Zone 7 gang leader Lester-played by Tim Thomerson-in the twilit and allegorical docufeature film CHERRY 2000 [1987], a film released on November 10, 1987 that implicitly hoped that Lucas would give up on his quixotic quest to create CGI enhanced film art and embrace real and vitally human film art again like the implicitly Lucas linked Sam Treadwell-played by David Andrews-gave up on his equally quixotic quest to find a new Cherry 2000 android wife-played by Pamela Gidley-to replace his old model-also played by Gidley-and embraced real, sexy, spunky, indomitable, neon red haired and perhaps Kathryn Bigelow linked tracker E. Johnson-played by Melanie Griffith-after he triumphed over Lester at the end of the film, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by the film’s allusions to AMERICAN GRAFFITI, LE DERNIER COMBAT and SUBWAY.  As for Besson, he implicitly addressed Landis again when he donned the co-writer/director hats and collaborated again with Alexandrov, Bouise, Reno, Serra, Varini, Gaumont and Les Films Du Loup on the daylit, allegorical, and Franco-American indie docufeature film LE GRAND BLEU aka THE BIG BLUE [1988], released on May 11, 1988.

 

“!It’s shining!”

 

        Curiously, the film began in black and white with the camera flying over water towards a beautiful island as a few tropical ocean blue opening titles listed the main cast and crew members, starting with Rosanna Arquette, but not the director, immediately linking the film to the opening black and white prologue in Kansas in THE WIZARD OF OZ to establish the implicit Ozian theme of the film and to evoke LE DERNIER COMBAT to prepare us for more determined combat with another large and intimidating character played by Reno.  Arriving at the beautiful island of Amorgos in Greece in 1965, a three part prologue began that evoked the wistful and sepia tinged prologue set on a ferry off Cape Cod during a Bauer family vacation in 1964 that kicked off the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly Spielberg toasting and Landis roasting Howard docufeature film SPLASH [1984], immediately implying that Besson was addressing Howard and SPLASH in THE BIG BLUE.  Here on Amorgos, the first part of the prologue kicked off with the arrival of the dimunitive boy Jacques Mayol-played by Bruce Guerre-Berthelot. 

Significantly, despite his small size, we immediately discovered that the boy Mayol was already a seasoned and confident free diver who needed no adult supervision and could hold his breath and stay under water for long periods of time like a merboy, unlike the implicitly Spielberg linked boy Allan Bauer in SPLASH-played by David Kreps-who had to be rescued by an adult tourist when he dove off that Cape Cod ferry into the water looking for the young blonde mergirl-played by Shayla MacKarvich-who had caught his eye at the beginning of SPLASH.  Indeed, young Mayol was more than seasoned and confident, he was accepted by the underwater inhabitants of the Mediterranean Sea like the moray eel that eagerly came out of its hidden cave at his approach in order to be fed by him, evoking the equally ravenous moray eel in the allegorical Peter Yates docufeature film THE DEEP [1977].  Clearly, in THE BIG BLUE, the boy was the merperson, not the girl, setting us up for the blonde woman falling madly in luv with the adult merman later in the film in a reversal of the adult Bauer-played by Tom Hanks-falling madly in luv with the adult, blonde and implicitly Dorothy linked Madison the mermaid-played by Daryl Hannah-in SPLASH.

        Just as curiously, after some stationary establishing shots of the picturesque and white walled town on the Greek island that reminded us that the early films of Landis like AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON often began with stationary establishing shots, the second part of the prologue introduced us to Mayol’s arch nemesis Enzo Molinari-his first name an anagram for “Zone”, and played as a big boy by Gregory Forstner-who fancied himself a better free diver than Jacques.  Significantly, the boy Enzo resembled the adult and implicitly Landis linked Dark Knight of LE DERNIER COMBAT, preparing us again for the return of Reno as the adult Molinari and for more battles between implicit film artists to come.  However, in this case Molinari was implicitly linked to Kubrick rather than Landis.  For allusions to the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical and implicitly Richard Donner roasting Kubrick docufeature artbuster THE SHINING [1980] were made in the first diving battle between the boy Mayol and the boy Molinari that Mayol allowed Molinari to win.

        Allusions to THE SHINING that made it fitting that part three of the prologue began with the sight and sound of young Mayol waking up from a nightmare of being approached underwater by a dolphin, evoking the sight and sound of the implicitly Kubrick linked werewolf victim David Kessler-played by David Naughton-waking up from monstrous nightmares while recuperating in a London hospital from an attack by a werewolf-played by Paddy Ryan-at the beginning of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, affirming the implicit interest in Kubrick and implicitly linking Mayol to Landis in THE BIG BLUE.  Indeed, this implication that Mayol was linked to Landis was reaffirmed by the death of Mayol’s Morrow resembling French father-played by Besson’s father, Claude-in a diving accident that ended the prologue with the death of a symbolic Wicked Warlock of the West soon after Mayol woke up from his nightmare.  For the elder Mayol’s death reminded us not only of the tragic death of Morrow, Chen and Le, but that Landis lost his father as well when he was a boy.  And so the prologue ended, but not before Mayol’s Uncle Louis-played by Bouise-revealed that the divorced mother of Jacques was American, making Mayol the literal embodiment of the Franco-American film style and spirit of Besson.

Significantly, the implication that Mayol was linked to Landis was reaffirmed after a full colour vignette set in Sicily in 1988 introduced audiences to the older and implicitly Kubrick and Great Oz linked Molinari-played by Reno-and his implicitly Lucas and Spielberg linked brothers Roberto and Alfredo-played by Marc Duret and Patrick Fontana, respectively-had some fun with the implicitly Alex Cox linked Trans. Co. Inc. Supervisor-played by Geoffrey Carey-and made clear that Enzo was still eager to beat “…the little Frenchman” in a world record free dive.  For after this vainglorious vignette, we found ourselves on a train with the beautiful, blonde, implicitly Dorothy linked and Madison the mermaid evoking New York insurance agent Johana Baker-played by Arquette-whose surname reminded us that Richard “Rick” Baker was the make-up effects man on AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. 

The sight and sound of Baker getting off the train in a tiny village called La Raya 14172 feet above sea level in the desolate and mountainous Andean highlands of Peru also affirmed the implicit link of Landis to Mayol, for the desolate Andean highlands recalled the equally desolate northern English moorlands encountered at the beginning of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, and the lonely Oregon mountaintop location of the haunted and haunting Overlook Hotel in THE SHINING.  The fact that Baker was met by Franck-played by Pierre Semmler–and driven by him to the American Foundation Diving Research Station also affirmed the implicit link of Mayol to Landis, reminding us that Frank Marshall was the producer who helped Landis illegally hire and employ Chen and Le for his episode of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE.

Wandering into the frozen and isolated station, Baker met an implicitly Tin Man linked American researcher who was studying the effects of freezing temperatures in a nearby icebound Andean lake on the astounding free dives of the adult merman Mayol-played by Jean-Marc Barr-scenes that evoked the scenes with the man with no name or voice and the good doctor in LE DERNIER COMBAT.  Significantly, this American researcher also affirmed the implicit link of Mayol to Landis, for the Cronenberg resembling and implicitly linked Doctor Laurence-played by Paul Shenar-reminded us that Canadian film artist Cronenberg was one of the few film artists who openly supported Landis after the TZ disaster, making it fitting that Baker worked his makeup magic on the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical Cronenberg indie docufeature film VIDEODROME [1983].  Making it also fitting that when Baker met Mayol, he was wearing a red and white diving suit, for the colours evoked the red, white and true Maple Leaf colours of Canada. Significantly, Dr. Laurence explained to Baker that a naturally lowering heartbeat accompanied by a shift of blood to Mayol’s brain more common with dolphins was allowing him to pull off his astounding free dives, lonely solitary dives that evoked the equally lonely and solitary life of Landis after the TZ disaster.  A startling revelation that Baker shared with Duffy-played by Griffin Dunne, who linked the film openly to Landis via his unfortunate character Jack Goodman, the first werewolf victim in AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON-her boss back in New York when she returned to the Big Apple, scenes in New York that also affirmed the Franco-American style and spirit of the film art of Besson.

Significantly, after tracking down Mayol at the World Free Diving Championships in Taormina, Sicily, Baker spent the rest of the film pondering Mayol’s Western evoking diving duels with Molinari in the Mediterannean Sea that implied that Besson was also using the film to respond to the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Landis roasting Kubrick docufeature artbuster FULL METAL JACKET [1987].  Significantly, these diving duels climaxed when the film returned full circle to the island in Greece encountered in the film’s prologue and Molinari killed himself trying to best a Fourcefull 400 feet world champion free dive previously made by Mayol, allowing the merman to triumph over the Great Molinari by having his opponent destroy himself in classic Lucasian tradition.  Thus, Besson implied the generous and sympathetic hope that Landis would be able to triumph over Kubrick with a good film and leave behind the Twilight Zone now that he and his four co-defendants had been found not guilty of manslaughter at the end of the TZ trial in 1987.  Intriguingly, the sight and sound of Mayol taking Molinari’s body down into the big blue and releasing it, causing it to slowly sink and disappear like the implicitly Chancellor Hitler linked Wicked Witch of the West-played by Margaret Hamilton-at the end of THE WIZARD OF OZ, perhaps also implied that Mayol was finally releasing his father, the Holy Ghost of the film, and the guilt he felt about not being able to prevent his death as a boy.  The sight and sound of the intelligent, curious, mischievous and wary dolphins who watched over Mayol at a safe but interested distance throughout the film finally embracing him as a Merman after the triumph over Molinari, in the end, also implied the hope of Besson that equally intelligent, curious, mischievous and wary audiences would embrace Landis and his film art again and evoked the Star Child ending of the allegorical and Ozian themed Kubrick docufeature artbuster 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [1968] to reaffirm the implicit link of Molinari to Kubrick. 

An ending that also implied the hope of Besson that he and his Franco-American style of film art-affirmed by Mayol’s Franco-American heritage, the film’s English dialogue, the scenes set in New York, the sound of Serra crooning the daylit, allegorical and Besson written tune “My Lady Blue” [1989] in English over the closing titles, and the allusions to AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, SPLASH, STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI, THE DEEP, THE SHINING, the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical and implicitly Brian De Palma roasting Cronenberg indie docufeature film SCANNERS [1981] and the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Lynch addressing Cronenberg indie docufeature film THE DEAD ZONE [1983]-would also be embraced by wary, watchful, intelligent, curious, mischievous and fickle audiences, allowing him to become not another beastly blockbuster fortune and glory lusting film artist, but a heady and transcendent neo master of J.D. Jedi world film art with a fused Franco-American style best described by fusing the English word dolphin with the French word dauphin to proclaim him “the Daulphin”.  And one whose latest film and the deep, dark, vast and lonely depths of the Mediterranean Sea that Mayol and Molinari dived down into, the helmeted and diving suit wearing dive officials who watched over them, and the intelligent and mischievous dolphins and dolphin merman who inhabited them, evoked the equally deep, dark, vast and lonely depths of space, the spacesuit wearing astronauts who braved them, and the intelligent and mischievous aliens who inhabited them, fittingly preparing us for the spacefaring and truly fantastic sly fi films of Besson to come.  Indeed, the presence of an Arthur C. Clarke resembling and implicitly linked official-played by A.I. Smithee-at the World Free Diving Championships in Taormina at the beginning of the film fittingly anticipated the deep space adventures to come and reaffirmed the implicit link of Molinari to Kubrick, reminding us that Clarke co-wrote 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.

Curiously, and despite the implicit Landis intent of THE BIG BLUE, the film was a surprisingly popular, moving and inspirational experience that affirmed that Besson was indeed le Daulphin.  However, not all audience members appreciated the film, for Cameron implied that he was furious that the Daulphin would implicitly toast Landis and implicitly roast him in the form of a free diver-played by Besson-who failed to beat Molinari in a free dive late in the film by implicitly roasting Besson in the form of the increasingly insane, twitchy and unbalanced U.S. SEAL Coffey-played by Michael Biehn-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie docufeature Zonebuster THE ABYSS [1989], a film released on August 8, 1989 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to LE DERNIER COMBAT, SUBWAY and THE BIG BLUE.  A nasty implicit blast of le Daulphin that perhaps explained why he soon surprised audiences with a dramatic change of tone when he donned the writer/director hats, collaborated again with Anglade, Bouise, Duret, Fontana, Reno, Serra, Gaumont, and producer Patrice Ledoux, editor Olivier Mauffroy, and production designer Dan Weil-all also from THE BIG BLUE-and left behind English dialogue and the light, heady, mystic, and sly fi evoking oneness with the dolphin filled depths of the Mediterranean Sea and with the implicit depths of space and its intelligent, mischievous and dolphin evoking non-human life for French dialogue and the dark, dirty, nasty and diseased depths of life on Earth in the ultraviolent, twilit, allegorical, Franco-American and Ozian themed indie docufeature film LA FEMME NIKITA [1990], released on February 21, 1990.

 

“Mon nom, c’est cocotte!”

 

        Dark, indeed, for the film began at night with the camera zooming over wet and streetlight lit pavement, evoking the sight of the camera flying over the Mediterranean Sea in the twilit beginning of THE BIG BLUE, linking the two films.  This link was reaffirmed by the film’s opening titles, which evoked those for THE BIG BLUE except for the fact that they were in blood red rather than tropical ocean blue and that a second opening title read “…un film de LUC BESSON” before the names of the main cast and crew members, with the name of Anne Parillaud appearing first, reminding us that the name of Arquette appeared first in THE BIG BLUE.  Then the camera panned up to reveal the tragicomic sight and sound of a drugged up gang of Ozian themed youth comprised of the implicitly Lucas and Scarecrow linked Rico, the implicitly Spielberg and Cowardly Lion linked Antoine/Coyotte, the implicitly Dorothy linked Nikita, the axe wielding and implicitly Cameron and Tin Man linked Zap and their unconscious and implicitly Wicked Witch of the East linked female companion-played by Duret, Fontana, Parillaud, Alain Lathiere, and Laura Cheron, respectively-walking down a deserted and non-Yellow Brick Road evoking street late one night in Paris.  Soon the tragicomic Ozian compadres were breaking into the drugstore of Antoine’s father-played by Jacques Boudet-in search of drugs, leading to an ultraviolent and raging tornado of a shootout between the Ozian “outlaws” and the Parisienne police. 

        Significantly, this ultraviolent shootout evoked an equally ultraviolent shootout between the Kansas police and an equally Ozian themed outlaw vampire gang comprised of the implicitly Dante and Cowardly Lion linked Homer, the implicitly Kennedy and Wicked Witch of the West linked Diamondback, the implicitly Marshall and Great Oz linked Jesse Hooker, and the implicitly Spielberg and Tin Man linked Severen-played by Joshua Miller, Jenette Goldstein, Lance Henriksen, and Bill Paxton, respectively-midway through the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas addressing Bigelow indie docufeature film NEAR DARK [1987], implying that the Daulphin was addressing the tall and fearless Bigelow in LA FEMME NIKITA.  Indeed, the blue light that this ultraviolent prologue was often shot in evoked the blue light seen throughout NEAR DARK, implicitly affirming that le Daulphin was responding to that film in LA FEMME NIKITA.  However, unlike the Kansas police in NEAR DARK, the Paris police won this ultraviolent tornado of a shootout, killing everyone except the Bigelow resembling and implicitly linked Nikita, reaffirming that Bigelow was indeed being addressed in the film in the implicit form of nineteen year old Nikita.

        Arrested by the police, Nikita was jailed, tried, convicted, imprisoned, sentenced to death for the twilit trio of police officers-played by A. Smithee, Al Smithee and Alain Smithee, respectively-killed in the shootout, and executed by lethal injection.  Curiously, however, Nikita eventually woke up, surprised to find that her “execution” was faked and that she was still living, a symbolic “undead” status that evoked the vampire gang of NEAR DARK to reaffirm the implicit link of Nikita to Bigelow.  Just as curiously, Nikita found herself hidden away in a secret location of an ultra top secret French government agency, an ultra secret agency that offered her the chance to redeem herself and eventually escape imprisonment by being trained as an assassin and working for them for a while.  Interestingly, this ultra secret government assassin training noticeably anticipated a future film from the Daulphin, for on the white wall of her windowless cell of a room was a peerless poster that was painted by HEAVY METAL artist/writer Grandmaster Richard Corben for the cover of the allegorical Meatloaf recording BAT OUT OF HELL [1977].

        Humourously, the lean, mean, wild, primal, violent and ultra indie Nikita was patiently weaned off her rough and ready masculine ways and transformed into a sleek, sexy and fashionable femme fatale assassin by the implicitly Great Oz linked Bob-also implicitly linked to Oliver North, one of the producers of NEAR DARK, and played by Tcheky Karyo-and the blonde and implicitly Glinda the Good linked Amande-played by Jeanne Moreau-implying that le Daulphin did not approve of the violent and “masculine” indie docufeature film art of Bigelow, and felt that she needed to become more feminine in order to truly succeed as a female film artist and a woman.  In fact, given that the last ultraviolent assignment was botched and led to the perhaps Jean-Luc Godard and Wicked Warlock of the West linked Victor-played by Reno-to be called in to clean it up, only to make it even more of a fustercluck, leading to Nikita fleeing the Great Bob, her violent secret agent job, and her perhaps Lucas linked luver Marco-played by Anglade-and possibly returning to Kansas, in the end, the Daulphin implied his hope that Bigelow would give up on film art and leave the Temple Theatre to “real” masculine film artists like Landis, Lucas, Lynch and himself. 

        An implicit message that was ignored by Bigelow, as the tall, commanding, fearless, creative, original, iconoclastic and indie Bigelow fittingly and confidently proclaimed her determination to continue as a film artist the year of the release of LA FEMME NIKITA in the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Landis and Ivan Reitman roasting indie docufeature film BLUE STEEL [1990], released on January 26, 1990.  For the film saw the implicitly Reitman linked New York Police Department [NYPD] Officer, and Detective, Megan A. Turner-played by Jamie Lee Curtis-remaining in the NYPD despite the stress of the job and the misgivings of male officers, implying that Bigelow was just as committed to remaining in the ranks of elite film artists come hell or high water regardless of what her male colleagues or audiences thought about anything.  Curiously, however, and as if to implicitly affirm that le Daulphin and Bigelow were operating on the same wavelength in 1990, an overlooked gun that was sneakily snatched by a main character and then used to kill featured prominently in BLUE STEEL and LA FEMME NIKITA.  At any rate, to make it implicitly clear that she had no intention of abandoning film art, Bigelow followed BLUE STEEL with her biggest and most ambitious film yet, the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas toasting and Lynch roasting indie docufeature artbuster POINT BREAK [1991], released on July 10, 1991. 

        Significantly, the same year as the release of POINT BREAK, Spielberg strongly and infuriatingly implied in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced docufeature film HOOK [1991], released on December 8, 1991, that he had indeed been on the Landis set on the night of the TZ disaster and did nothing to stop the use of Chen and Le.  Not surprisingly, this implication turned film artists and the more knowing audience members against him and caused them to sympathize with Lucas and feel that his life and film art career had been destroyed by mistakenly sympathizing with a lying and backstabbing “friend”.  Curiously, one of the first film artists to respond to the infuriating implication in HOOK was Lynch.  Alas, however, and as with DUNE, Lynch also managed to disappoint and offend everyone with the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Spielberg roasting indie moving painting TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME [1992], released on May 16, 1992.  Developments that were implicitly addressed by the Daulphin when he donned the writer/director hats, returned to New York and collaborated again with his father, Ledoux, Reno, Serra, Weil, LA FEMME NIKITA DOP Thierry Arbogast, Gaumont and his new Les Films Du Dauphin film production company on his most Franco-American film yet, the daylit, allegorical, Franco-American and Ozian themed indie docufeature film LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL [1994], released on September 14, 1994.

 

“You saved my life,

so you must have saved it

for a good reason.”

 

        Significantly, after a third opening title proclaimed “…a LUC BESSON film”, the film began with the camera flying over water and then Central Park, evoking the sight of the camera flying over the Mediterranean Sea toward Amorgos at the beginning of THE BIG BLUE, the camera drifting over wet nighttime pavement beginning of LA FEMME NIKITA and the flying children of HOOK.  Soon the camera flew into New York City and through the streets, eventually ending up at the Supreme Macaroni Co. in Little Italy.  Here the illiterate, film and plant luvin’, and implicitly Spielberg and Scarecrow linked cleaner Leon-whose name evoked Marco’s unseen friend Leon in LA FEMME NIKITA, linked him to the fateful and fatal July of ’82 via Leon [played by Brion James] in BLADE RUNNER, and was played by Reno-met with the implicitly Great Oz linked Tony-played by Danny Aiello-and efficiently pulled off a job for him like a human ghost that involved killing the armed guards of the implicitly Coppola linked Mr. Jones-played by Frank Senger-and then returning to his lonely apartment in solitary scenes that curiously evoked DUNE and the equally lonely, solitary and implicitly Kubrick linked Henry Spencer-played by Jack Nance-in his apartment in ERASERHEAD. 

Thus, it was fitting that the Evil and implicitly Lynch and MacLachlan linked DEA Agents, the Wicked Stansfield and the implicitly Nikko linked Malky-the former fittingly fond of cigarettes, and played by Gary Oldman and Peter Appel, respectively-showed up to have a tense meeting with the implicitly Lucas and Tin Man linked Mr. Lando-played by Michael Badalucco.  A tense meeting that led to Malky and the Wicked Stansfield returning the next day and killing Lando and his wife, eldest daughter and son-played by Ellen Greene, Elizabeth Regen and Carl J. Matusovich, respectively-but missing his other daughter, the attractive, confident, intelligent, indie, precocious, unusually mature and implicitly Dorothy linked girl-woman Mathilda Lando-played by Natalie Portman-who also implicitly symbolized the film art of Lucas.

Significantly, after the massacre, Mathilda managed to persuade Leon to let her into his apartment and protect her, eventually leading to showdowns that saw Leon kill Malky, and then Stan’s other henchman, the implicitly Bigelow linked Willi One Blood-played by himself-and then take on the Wicked Stansfield and his castle police protectors.  And so, in the sight and sound of a dying Leon blowing himself up to kill Stansfield in order that Mathilda would live and luv and clean another day, le Daulphin implied that Spielberg and Lynch had killed themselves and their film art careers with HOOK and TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME, freeing Lucas to return to form and success with a Skyrocking new STAR WARS trilogy.  Lucas implicitly agreed, for he tried to do just that, even going so far as to use Portman as the implicitly Sofia Carmina [SCC] Coppola and Dorothy linked heroine Padme Amidala in the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy. 

Significantly, Lucas was perhaps inspired to create his new STAR WARS trilogy by the surprising popularity and success of the slightly CGI enhanced “special editions” of the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy when they were re-released in January and February of 1997 to kick off the twentieth anniversary year of the release of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE on May 25, 1977.  He may also have been inspired by an even more implicit and exuberant toast of Lucas and his indie docufeature film art from the Daulphin when the latter donned the co-writer/director hats and collaborated again with Arbogast, Goldman, Serra, Les Films Du Dauphin, Sylvie Landra-editor of LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL-and Maiwenn-who played the Babe in LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL-to create a one way ticket from twilight and wrap up a New York Trilogy with his most wholly remarkable film to date, the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Franco-American, Ozian themed and implicitly Cameron roasting and Lucas toasting indie docufeature film THE FIFTH ELEMENT [1997], fittingly released on May 6, 1997 only weeks away from the twentieth anniversary of the release of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE on May 25, 1997.

 

“Perfect.”

 

        Curiously, after several opening titles, the trimactic third of which proudly proclaimed “…A FILM BY LUC BESSON”, we found ourselves hurtling through CGI space towards what appeared to be the asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter as the fittingly Fourcefull and last opening title proclaiming “…THE FIFTH ELEMENT” appeared on the screen, evoking the sight of the camera zooming over wet nighttime Parisian pavement at the beginning of LA FEMME NIKITA and flying over water towards and then over Central Park at the beginning of LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, linking the two previous Ozian themed films with THE FIFTH ELEMENT to implicitly affirm the Ozian theme of the latest film from le Daulphin.  Then we found ourselves spinning in weightless orbit over a brave new CGI world called Earth like the Star Child at the end of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, where a huge black biomechanical Mondoshowan spaceship soon arrived, affirming the prescience of that BAT OUT OF HELL poster by HEAVY METAL magazine contributor Grandmaster Corben briefly seen on the wall of Nikita’s room at the ultra secret French government agency at the beginning of LA FEMME NIKITA. 

For the arrival of the spaceship reminded us that also began in orbit around Earth did the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed, Montreal created and Ivan Reitman executive produced Gerald Potterton indie hand animated film HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE [1981], linking the film to the Last Good Year of film before the TZ disaster to implicitly affirm the Daulphin’s new hope that he would kick off a New Good Year of daylit and CGI enhanced film art with THE FIFTH ELEMENT.  A fitting allusion, indeed, given that THE FIFTH ELEMENT came across as a CGI enhanced live action remake of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  In fact, THE FIFTH ELEMENT also came across as a CGI enhanced live action tale straight out of the peerless pages of HEAVY METAL and METAL HURLANT, the original French magazine that inspired the American version, a link to the memorable magazines openly affirmed by the presence of legendary METAL HURLANT/HEAVY METAL artist/writer and uncredited HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE production artist Jean “Moebius” Giraud as a production designer of THE FIFTH ELEMENT.  Thus, it was just as fitting that HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE and THE FIFTH ELEMENT were both released by Columbia Pictures.

        From orbit, we fell down through the atmosphere and sky to an Egyptian Temple Theatre in 1914, a Temple Theatre standing all alone in the Egyptian desert that evoked the lone desert temple in the second and implicitly William Friedkin and Terry Gilliam addressing “Neverwhere” episode of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE, immediately affirming the film’s interest in HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  Significantly, the lone Temple Theatre also evoked the Well of Souls and the Temple holding the lost Ark of the Covenant in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, immediately affirming the film’s implicit interest in Lucas, Marshall, Spielberg and the TZ disaster and reaffirming its link to the Last Good Year of film before the TZ disaster, and also setting us up for the sight and sound of the film’s two main groups of quarrelling baddies frantically trying but failing to acquire the film’s four powerful relics like the Nazis failed to acquire the Ark of the Covenant in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. 

Soon a young Egyptian boy rode up to the temple on a donkey with flasks of water for five other Egyptian boys fittingly waiting for him, before taking one flask inside the temple.  Inside he met a sleepy Lucas lookalike Egyptian boy with big Lucas ears named Aziz-played by Said Talidi-who reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in the equally big eared Lucas and provided mirror reflected light from outside so that the Peter Ustinov resembling and Dr. Jones jr. evoking Professor Pacoli-his surname evoking that of the old and wise J.D. Jedi Master Ben Obi Wan Kenobi in another nod to Lucas, and played by John Bluthal-could better study and understand some intriguing hieroglyphics on one of the inner walls deep inside the Temple Theatre, ancient hieroglyphics that evoked the neo-cave paintings created by the unnamed Doctor in LE DERNIER COMBAT to link the two films together and implicitly affirm that Besson and company were helping to kick off a new era of CGI enhanced film art in THE FIFTH ELEMENT. 

Significantly, Prof. Pacoli soon translated the intriguing hieroglyphics as “…when the three planets are in eclipse, a black hole like a door is opened, Evil comes, spreading terror and chaos”, reminding us of the three victims of the TZ disaster, and that Evil, chaos, shock, confusion, outrage and righteous fury had been gripping audiences, film art, film artists and the Temple Theatre since July 23, 1982.  Indeed, the implicit link of the hieroglyphics to the TZ disaster and the dread allegorical Zone Wars it had unleashed was affirmed by the fact that the hieroglyphics evoked a similar mysterious and prophetic inscription on a wall in the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical Frank Oz and Jim Henson film THE DARK CRYSTAL [1982], an inscription that prophesied that “…when single shines the triple sun, what was sundered and undone shall be whole”, openly linking THE FIFTH ELEMENT to the twilit and disastrous year of 1982. 

Of course, Prof. Pacoli’s translation also evoked “…a shadow shall fall over the universe, and Evil will grow in its path, and death will come from the skies”, the eerily and presciently twilit and possibly Percy Rodrigues spoken voiceover [VO] heard at the beginning of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  A fitting allusion, as it reminded us that soon after the opening VO, the carnol Loc-nar, an insidious ball of gloating, innocence corrupting, and mayhem obsessed beastly blockbuster Evil that modestly insisted that it was the “…sum of all evils”, was discovered in another desert by another professor-played by A.I. Smithee-in the outrageously entitled and implicitly Martin Scorsese toasting “Harry Canyon” episode at the beginning of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  Significantly, the carnol Loc-nar was eventually faced down and destroyed by a silent, indomitable, legendary and implicitly Glinda linked female warrior named Taarna the avenging Defender-played by Carole Desbiens-in the implicitly Spielberg roasting “Taarna” episode at the end of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE, thus preparing audiences for the arrival of another insidious ball of beastly blockbuster Evil faced down and destroyed by another legendary female warrior at the end of THE FIFTH ELEMENT. 

Indeed, the intriguing hieroglyphics translated by Prof. Pacoli also mentioned the existence of a “super being” that would be centred between the four Ozian elements of Earth, Fire, Air and Water every five thousand years so as to destroy Evil, openly setting the stage for the arrival of a legendary new female warrior who would free film art of twilit Evil.  A legendary and implicitly film linked Fifth Elemental being whose existence was quickly affirmed by the arrival at the Temple Theatre of the huge, black, biomechanical Mondoshowan spaceship above the temple, evoking the sight and sound of another huge extraterrestrial spaceship hovering above the Pentagon in the implicitly Lucas roasting “So Beautiful, And So Dangerous” episode of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  A biomechanical spaceship and its occupants that were openly linked to the twilit and disastrous year of 1982 by the faithful and implicitly Kubrick linked temple Priest-played by John Bennett-who heralded the arrival of the Mondoshowans with the words “…they’re here!”, the most famous line of the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Spielberg co-produced and co-written Tobe Hooper docufeature film POLTERGEIST [1982].

Soon the massive ship disgorged its crew, the equally huge, bronze, blocky, biomechanical and extraterrestrial Mondoshowans, their name evoking world cinema, their heads and faces evoking a biomechanical fusion of duck and insect, and their huge biomechanical bodies evoking the equally huge, H.R. Giger designed and implicitly Wicked Witch of the West linked black biomechanical blockbuster alien beast in ALIEN, and the hordes of equally black biomechanical blockbuster alien beasts and their Queen in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Dante roasting Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster ALIENS [1986].  In addition, their brown, blocky, pot bellied bodies and shambling, side to side gait also evoked the equally brown, blocky, pot bellied and shambling extraterrestrial E.T. in the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and implicitly Gilliam roasting Spielberg docufeature film E.T., THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL [1982], reaffirming the film’s implicit interest in Spielberg and openly reaffirming the film’s link to, and interest in, the fateful and fatal year of 1982. 

Upon arrival inside the Temple Theatre, one of the Mondoshowans opened a secret door in the back wall of the temple with a key hidden within its right forefinger, a right forefinger that evoked the healing right forefinger of E.T.  The opening of the secret door revealed a hidden chamber containing four small and equidistant sandstone altars with four stones containing the power of the four healing and harmonizing Ozian elements on top of each and the embodied bronze statue of the Fifth Element, its head turned back and up on its neck, its eyes wide and staring over an open mouth, fittingly standing centred between the four elements on a small, square sandstone stage located in the middle of the secret chamber.  Curiously, these four sacred stones were boxed up and with the embodied Fifth Element all taken for safekeeping by the Mondoshowans with a promise that they would be returned for use in three hundred years when they would be needed by the embodied Fifth Element to fight and defeat Evil in a prescient memory of the daylit future. 

Curiously, the departure of the Mondoshowans with the sacred statue of the Fifth Element and the four elemental stones, stones that evoked the equally legendary five Sankara stones of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, again evoked E.T., THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL.  For one Mondoshowan was accidentally trapped and left behind like E.T. in the hidden chamber when the secret door closed before it could escape, implicitly linking the biomechanical laggard to the Wicked Witch of the East and leaving only the Mondoshowan’s finger sticking out to give up its right forefinger key to the temple Priest who promised to pass it on to other priests so as to be ready to reopen the hidden chamber when returned did the embodied Fifth Element.  The camera then focussed on a part of the mysterious hieroglyphics that featured an intersection of circles and triangles, a sight that implicitly symbolized the twilit eclipse of the three planets translated earlier by Prof. Pacoli.

Suddenly, the hieroglyphics turned into a similar digital graphic on a computer screen that was monitoring something circular, a primitive graphic that recalled the similarly primitive CGI seen throughout the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy and the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas and Spielberg addressing Steven Lisberger docufeature film TRON [1982], reaffirming the film’s implicit interest in Lucas, Spielberg and the twilit and disastrous events of 1982.  Shifting to a point of view [POV] near Jupiter, a location that evoked the mission to Jupiter in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, outside a Star Destroyer evoking Earth Federation spaceship, the one presumably containing the computer monitors that we had just been looking at, an intertitle told us that we were now three hundred years in the future in the twilit twenty-third century, immediately affirming that the Mondoshowans had correctly and presciently foreseen the coming in three hundred years of an Evil so insidious that it would necessitate the return of the stones containing the four sacred Ozian elements and the arrival of the promised and the legendary Fifth Elemental warrior so as to combat and defeat that Evil.  On cue, we noticed that the neo-Star Destroyer was moving in on and monitoring an insidious, ambiguous, indefinable, elusive, apparently sentient, possibly prescient or even psychic and implicitly Wicked Witch of the West linked ball of pure CGI enhanced Evil floating in space near Jupiter like a huge CGI Loc-nar.

The allusion to the carnol Loc-nar reminded us that the insidious, malicious and usually much smaller floating ball of green and gloating Evil was defeated in the triumphantly healing and harmonizing end by the pure and legendary heroine Taarna, the descendant of the equally legendary Taarak the Defender-played by August Schellenberg-the last of the Tarrakians and the literal embodiment of hand animated film art with an “art” hidden within her name to affirm it, who was summoned from the realm of legend to a distant planet where life had lost its value, alas anticipating that life would soon lose its value on the Landis set of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, to avenge its slaughtered citizens, and presciently avenge Chen, Le and Morrow, and free their planet from the Evil grip of the carnol Loc-nar in the climatically concluding “Taarna” episode of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  A triumphantly healing and harmonizing end that implied that Potterton and Reitman wanted to free New Hollywood film artists from the equally carnal, commercial and blockbuster lusts that began taking over New Hollywood film art in the late Seventies and early Eighties, so as to keep film art on the heady and artistic path that it had embraced in the late Sixties and early Seventies.  Thus, by creating a new, larger and even more Wicked CGI Loc-nar, the Daulphin not only set us up for the arrival of another legendary heroine who would take it on and take it out in another triumphantly healing and harmonizing end, but implicitly affirmed that he was on a similar quest to free film artists of the nasty Nineties of carnol and commercial lusts for beastly CGI enhanced blockbuster profits so as to keep the new eon of CGI enhanced film art on a more heady and artistic path.

        Shifting inside the neo-Star Destroyer, we found a bridge filled with computers whose screens displayed ironically primitive CGI straight out of the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy rather than the 23^rd century.  Here, a worried but determined and possibly Lynch linked General Staedert-played by John Neville-directed his crew to blast the Wicked ball of Loc-nar evoking Evil with the ship’s missiles, while he communicated his actions and their effects to the duly elected and implicitly Coppola linked leader of the Federated Territories of Earth headquartered in New York, President Lindberg-his implicit link to Coppola affirmed by his ever present and implicitly SCC linked aide [played by Sonita Henry], and played by Tom Lister jr.-a planetary Federation that evoked the Federation mentioned in the implicitly Smilin’ Stan Lee and Jolly Jack Kirby roasting “Captain Sternn” episode of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE. 

Fittingly, the President was surrounded by his military, political and spiritual advisors, which included amongst their numbers General Munro-played by James, who on top of openly linking THE FIFTH ELEMENT to BLADE RUNNER via the renegade Replicant Leon Kowalski in that film, also openly linked the film to CHERRY 2000 via his implicitly Cameron linked Evil tracker Stacy in that film, and to Lucas via his grim, unsmiling and perhaps Sir Scott linked WBN radio station sponsoring character Bernard “Bernie” King in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, Lucas executive produced and implicitly John and Deborah Landis roasting and toasting Mel Smith indie docufeature film THE RADIOLAND MURDERS [1994].  Also present were the old but devout, determined, indomitable, all too knowing, Ben Kenobi evoking and implicitly Sir Scott and Tin Man and Water linked Temple Theatre Father Vito Cornelius-ironically played by Ian Holm, who openly linked the film to ALIEN via his role as the implicitly Spielberg and Tin Man linked Ash the android in that film-and his young protégé, the young, pure, innocent, devout, hat wearing and implicitly Scarecrow and Earth linked Temple Theatre Priest David-played by Charlie Creed-Miles-who understood the danger and Evil power of the Wicked ball in space.

Alas, the missiles only increased the size of the insidious and Wicked ball of Loc-nar evoking Evil, particularly a twilit trio of missiles, much to the consternation of Gen. Staedert, his crew, the President and his advisors.  Significantly, just as the Wicked ball of Loc-nar evoking Evil engulfed the neo-Star Destroyer with its Evil essence, evoking the sight and sound of the powerful, sentient and luminescent power field called V’ger engulfing a Klingon cruiser before heading equally relentlessly for 23^rd century Earth at the beginning of the allegorical, CGI enhanced and implicitly Lucas addressing Robert Wise docufeature film STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE [1979], a jumpcut introduced the young, muscular, blonde haired and implicitly Lucas, Cowardly Lion and Fire linked Korben Dallas-played by Bruce Willis-fittingly waking up from an equally dark and terrible nightmare at two in the early morning of March 18, 2263 in his tiny walk-in closet apartment #1281-35 in South Brooklyn of the implicitly Emerald City linked future New York. 

Here we soon discovered that Dallas was not just a flying taxi driver who evoked the world weary, laconic, shrewd, experienced, knowing and implicitly Scorsese linked flying taxi driver Harry Canyon-played by Richard Romanus-of a future New York where the World Trade Center towers still stood in the “Harry Canyon” episode of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE, and the implicitly Lucas linked New York Vietnam War vet taxi driver Travis Bickle-played by De Niro-in the allegorical and implicitly Lucas addressing Scorsese indie docufeature film TAXI DRIVER [1976], a film that was alluded to in “Harry Canyon”.  For a phone call with his ex-commander Finger-played by A.I. Smithee-revealed that Dallas was an ex-Major and space fighter pilot in the planetary Federation space force and lonely despondent bachelor whose wife had run off with his lawyer, reminding us that at this point in his journey Lucas was an ex-J.D. Jedi film artist famous for a space fighter pilot filled STAR WARS Classic Trilogy and lonely despondent bachelor whose wife Marcia had run off with a stain glass artisan named Tom Rodriguez who had helped create the stained glass windows in his private Skywalker Ranch film facility outside San Francisco, affirming the implicit link of Lucas to Dallas.  Indeed, the blonde hair of Dallas evoked the blonde hair of the earnest and young Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker in the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, reaffirming his implicit link to Lucas.  The surname of Dallas also reminded us of the implicitly Lucas linked Captain Dallas-played by Tom Skerritt-in ALIEN, also affirming the implicit link of Dallas to Lucas.  In addition, his first name, Korben, not only evoked Grandmaster Corben, but Jedi Master Ben Kenobi in the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy.  Thus, it5was fitting that the number of the apartment of Dallas was 1281-35, a number that evoked the years of the release of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE, BLADE RUNNER, E.T., THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL, POLTERGEIST, THE DARK CRYSTAL, STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, as well as the year of the TZ disaster.

        Curiously, after making his lonely, miserable and implicitly Lucas linked appearance and flying out in his Yellow Brick Road coloured flying taxicab via his unit’s single vehicle wall garage into the flying traffic for another dull day as a flying taxi driver in the future New York, the future city evoking a daylit version of the L.A. of the future in BLADE RUNNER and the city of the future in the allegorical Fritz Lang feature film METROPOLIS [1927], the POV shifted back to the HQ of the Federated Territories where President Lindberg, following the reassuring counsel of Father Cornelius, approved the admission of a much smaller Mondoshowan spaceship into Earth space so as to allow the Mondoshowans to return as promised with the four Ozian elemental stones and the embodied Fifth Element in order to fight and defeat the Wicked ball of Loc-nar evoking Evil.  Alas, and to the shocked horror of the President, Father Cornelius, and Priest David, two Colonial Viper evoking space fighters piloted by mischief and mayhem luving alien warriors called Mangalores, who evoked the equally destructive and violence and mayhem luving gremlins of the twilit, allegorical and implicitly John and Deborah Landis addressing and Kennedy, Marshall and Spielberg executive produced Dante docufeature film GREMLINS [1984], appeared out of nowhere and blasted the Mondoshowan ship gleefully with their laser cannons, causing the ship to crash into the moon and disappear in a huge CGI explosion at the fateful and twilit 23^rd minute of the film. 

        Significantly, a Federated Territories expedition to the moon recovered the righteous right hand of the embodied Fifth Element, which was brought back to a Nucleolab in New York supervised by Doctor Mactilburgh-played by Christopher Fairbank-where the solitary hand was quickly turned into the implicit embodiment of CGI enhanced film art as well as the divine Fifth Element supreme being.  Indeed, Leeloo’s implicit additional status as the embodiment of CGI enhanced film art was affirmed by the fact that the Fifth Element was recreated in humanoid form in an elaborate CGI sequence in a chamber in the Nucleolab in a scene that fittingly evoked TRON, the first major CGI enhanced film and ended at exactly 27:30, openly linking the divine Fifth Element supreme being and ultimate warrior to the 237 date of the TZ disaster to implicitly affirm that the recreated and embodied Fifth Element and the film were both going to exorcise the TZ disaster at last and kick off a bold, creative, original and vitally human new era of CGI enhanced film art.  Fittingly, given that film art like all of the other arts was seen as feminine, the Fifth Elemental warrior embodiment of CGI enhanced film art was the young, beautiful, incredibly strong, fit, muscular, orange haired, and implicitly Dorothy, Leia and Taarna linked Leeloo Minai Lekarariba-Laminai-Tehai Ekbat De Sebat aka Leeloo-played by Milla Jovovich.  Not surprisingly, Leeloo’s initially naked and nubile form, and the scanty and sexy white horizontal thermal bandage wraps that served as her first clothing also evoked the equally scanty and sexy white clothing that the beautiful and implicitly Dorothy linked Barbarella-played by Jane Fonda-wore in the gleefully satirical, allegorical and Ozian themed Vadim indie feature film BARBARELLA [1968]. 

In addition, Leeloo’s top physical shape, strength and athleticism also evoked the renegade Replicants of BLADE RUNNER, particularly the beautiful and peroxide blonde Pris-played by Hannah-while her orange hair, youth and beauty evoked the equally young, red haired, beautiful, blue eyed, statuesque and nameless damsel in distress-played by Susan Roman-in the “Harry Canyon” segment of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  Curiously, Leeloo also evoked orange haired House Harkonnen in DUNE, the equally young, beautiful, red haired and indomitable bounty hunter E. Johnson in CHERRY 2000, and the equally young, beautiful, red haired and feisty Niki-played by Molly Ringwald-in the twilit and allegorical Lamont Johnson indie docufeature film SPACEHUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE [1983], a film that also featured a despondent ex-Major in the Space Corps named Wolff-played by Peter Strauss.  Last but not least, Leeloo’s initial inability to talk evoked the initial inability to talk of the implicitly Dorothy linked Madison the mermaid in SPLASH.

        Significantly, after being recreated, Leeloo broke out of the Nucleolab, fled via a ventilation shaft to a ledge outside the building, and soon threw herself off the ledge into the flying New York traffic to escape police pursuit and fell through the roof of the Yellow Brick flying taxi cab of Dallas and into the back seat of his flying taxi.  Curiously, orange haired Leeloo was quickly and openly linked to the beautiful red haired girl in the “Harry Canyon” sequence of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE soon after she fell into the taxi.  For Leeloo’s desperate and faltering plea for help from Dallas, a “…Please help” taken from an ad on the back of Korben’s seat for helping orphans like Leeloo with the twilit and disastrous contact number 800 019322, evoked “…help me!  Please!”, the first equally desperate words that Red spoke to Canyon in HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  A desperate plea to save CGI enhanced film art and the world in 48 hours that worked, and led to Dallas and Leeloo first escaping the bumbling keystone NYPD in their pursuing flying cars, a tragicomic sequence that evoked the equally bumbling robot police officers of THX 1138 and the equally bumbling human police officers of AMERICAN GRAFFITI to reaffirm the implicit Lucas addressing intent of THE FIFTH ELEMENT, and them hunting down Father Cornelius and Priest David. 

A fateful and blessed meeting that was marred by the realization that the favourite simpering human puppet of the Wicked ball of cosmic Evil, the money and power obsessed, violence and destruction luving and implicitly Cameron and Nikko the Flying Monkey King linked New York based uber-corporatist Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg-played by Oldman-his ditzy and implicitly Bigelow linked secretary-played by Sibyl Buck-their Zorg Corp. thugs and the madcap and mayhem luvin’ Mangalore warriors that tried and usually failed to help Zorg acquire the four stones were all after them in New York.  Leading to Priest David being sent to watch over the Egyptian elemental temple while Dallas, Leeloo and Father Cornelius left Earth on a desperate mission to acquire the four elemental Ozian stones, a departure accomplished by eluding the grip of Gen. Munro and the tall and alarmingly statuesque officer with the chestnut brown hair braided into Princess Leia evoking side buns, Major Iceborg-played by Julie T. Wallace-affirming the implicit link of Dallas to Lucas, and fittingly affirming that this desperate off Earth mission would be as completely indie and free of Establishment control as the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy.  Curiously, the daylit trio blasted off Earth via space shuttle resembling spaceship, a spaceship that evoked the space shuttle orbiting Earth seen dropping off a 1960 corvette for a rockin’ fall through the atmosphere down to Earth in “Soft Landing”, the first half of the prologue sequence that kicked off HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE and, once the corvette had landed safely on Earth, led to the implicitly Coppola and SCC addressing “Grimaldi” prologue of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  Significantly, this space shuttle spaceship took them on a madcap and tragicomic intergalactic quest to a space cruise ship that orbited the vacation world of Fhloston Paradise to meet and acquire the four elemental Ozian stones from their guardian, the tall, blue skinned, intimidating, mysterious and implicitly Glinda the Good linked extraterrestrial opera singer Diva Plavalaguna-who resembled a cross between a dolphin, the black biomechanical alien in ALIEN, and Oola the Twy’lek dancing girl [played by Femi Taylor] in STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI, and was played by Maiwenn-whose status as an opera singer openly linked the four elemental Ozian stones to art. 

Fittingly, the desperate, tragicomic, hip, cool and Ozian themed battle of Korben and Leeloo was not only aided by Father Corneilus but also by the final Ozian companion met in the space cruise ship orbiting Fhloston, the madcap, hyperactive, exuberantly garrulous, self-centred, sexually ambiguous, over the top, Wolfman Jack evoking and implicitly Great Oz and Air linked Radio Cosmos J.D. DJ Ruby Rhod-complete with Wolfman Jack evoking wolf howls, and played by Chris Tucker-whose fondness for the allegorical and Lionel Richie written Richie tune “All Night Long” [1983] openly linked the film to 1983, the first year of the dread allegorical Zone Wars and the year of the release of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE.  Lucky for the four elemental Ozian heroes, they retrieved the four elemental Ozian stones from deep inside the Diva before they were captured for the huge and Wicked black ball of Loc-nar evoking Evil by the madcap Mangalores.

        Significantly, after defeating the Mangalores, and after the simpering and greedy Zorg killed himself when he tried to acquire them by himself and died when his own blockbuster bomb destroyed the Fhloston cruise ship, the elemental Ozian heroes literally brought the film full healing and harmonizing circle by bringing the four elemental stones back to the brave new CGI enhanced world of Earth and the patiently waiting Priest David in the hidden chamber in the Egyptian Temple Theatre in order to centre Leeloo between them and channel the power of the four elements to destroy the carnol and Wicked ball of Loc-nar evoking Evil, which had left its stationary position near Jupiter and was heading relentlessly towards Earth, before it could engulf and consume the Earth and its planetary Federation.  Here the four healing and harmonizing Ozian elemental stones were placed on top of their four individual stone altars and activated by the elemental Ozian character that personified that element, finally and openly affirming for the first time that the four helpful companions of Dorothy had always been linked to the four elements, going back to the allegorical L. Frank Baum children’s story The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz [1900] which partly inspired the film. 

At this point, Korben, holding Leeloo in his arms as they stood on a platform between the four Ozian elements, convinced a despondent Leeloo of his true and real luv for her, an exultant crazy luv that ignited the awesome power of the four individual Ozian elements and poured that CGI enhanced and lightsaber evoking Fource of the four elements into Leeloo, the supreme and ultimate warrior who raised her head back and up like the bronze statue of the Fifth Element seen in the Temple Theatre prologue of the film and channelled that elemental Ozian Fource and divine Light of Creation up through her mouth and through a hole in the ceiling of the Temple Theatre into the atmosphere above Earth in a CGI enhanced blast of awe inspiring and liberating power, evoking similar eruptions of awesome and sometimes equally elemental Ozian power at the end of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in the Last Good Year of film art, THE DARK CRYSTAL in the twilit and disastrous year of ’82, and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Reitman docufeature film GHOSTBUSTERS [1984], allowing the Good embodiment of CGI enhanced film art to stop the Evil embodiment of beastly blockbuster loot lusting CGI enhanced film art, a new and implicitly Dorothy linked Taarna to triumph over a new carnol Loc-nar, and a new implicit Dorothy to triumph over a new implicit Wicked Witch of the West before the Wicked ball of Loc-nar evoking Evil engulfed Earth and its Temple Theatres and filled them forever with brainless, movie tie-in merchandise promoting and product placement filled blockbuster beasts, transforming the Wicked ball of Loc-nar evoking Evil into a second dead moon in orbit around Earth-hopefully, a second dead moon that would not play double trouble havoc with the tides of Earth!

        Thus, given that Korben and Leeloo were implicitly linked to Lucas and his CGI enhanced film art throughout THE FIFTH ELEMENT, the sight and sound of the luv of Korben inspiring Leeloo to use her Ozian Fifth Elemental power to stop the Wicked ball of Loc-nar evoking Evil in its path to save the brave new CGI world of Earth and the planetary Federation implied the hope of le Daulphin that Lucas would soon return to the Temple Theatre with another truly fantastic and Ozian themed CGI enhanced film that would stop the dread allegorical Zone Wars dead in their tracks, exorcise the TZ disaster, bring health and harmony back to audiences, film art, film artists, and the Temple Theatre and kick off a daylit and Skyrocking new era of CGI enhanced film art.  Then THE FIFTH ELEMENT ended with Korben and Leeloo a luving couple back in the rejuvenating Nucleolab chamber where Leeloo was recreated in CGI embodied form, closing luvmaking to the sweetly swelling sound of the daylit, allegorical and Serra written Serra tune “Little Light Of Love” [1997] that evoked similar ambiguous and androgynous luv scenes between LUH 3217 and THX 1138-played by Maggie McOmie and Robert Duvall, respectively-in THX 1138-to reaffirm the film’s implicit interest in Lucas, an implication also affirmed by the fact that THE FIFTH ELEMENT ended close to the two hour mark like all of the films of the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy.  The closing luvmaking of THE FIFTH ELEMENT also evoked the traditional endings of any James Bond film, including the allegorical and implicitly Lucas toasting and Spielberg roasting Lewis Gilbert docufeature film THE SPY WHO LOVED ME [1977], and the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Lucas toasting and Folsey jr. and Landis roasting John Glen docufeature film OCTOPUSSY [1983].

        Significantly, this new hope that Lucas would return to cleanse the cinematic universe with a truly fantastic film was not uncommon at the time, for Bigelow and Cameron implied the same new hope in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas toasting and Coppola and Lynch roasting indie docufeature artbuster STRANGE DAYS [1995]; Roland Emmerich implied the same new hope in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas toasting and Spielberg roasting docufeature film INDEPENDENCE DAY [1996]; and Tim Burton implied the same new hope in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas toasting animaction artbuster MARS ATTACKS! [1996].  A brave new and TZ disaster free era of CGI enhanced film art that Besson would be a significant part of, as THE FIFTH ELEMENT was a truly fantastic and wholly remarkable film that amply affirmed that he was now indeed the Daulphin of world film art and fully deserving of three Cesars for Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Production Design. 

Lana and Lilly Wachowski also implied that they were impressed with THE FIFTH ELEMENT, were hopeful that Besson would play a big role in the brave new world of CGI enhanced film art and agreed with Besson, Bigelow, Burton, Cameron, and Emmerich that Lucas should get his film art game on again and return to the Temple Theatre with a healing and harmonizing new CGI enhanced docufeature film that would exorcise the TZ disaster, end the dread allegorical Zone Wars, heal audiences, film art, film artists and the Temple Theatre and free them from the TWILIGHT ZONE forever and kick off a bold neo eon of CGI enhanced film art by having the mysterious, vitally human and implicitly Besson and Great Oz linked Morpheus and the beautiful, bewitching, equally vitally human and implicitly Bigelow and Dorothy linked Trinity-played by Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss, respectively-find and teach the implicitly Lucas and initially frozen Tin Man and eventually virile Scarecrow linked Thomas J. Anderson aka “Neo”-played by Keanu Reeves-how to recover his lost humanity and Skyrock in the cyber Matrix and defeat its most nefarious, implacable, Evil and implicitly Morrow and Wicked Witch of the West linked Agent Smith-played by Hugo Weaving-its biomechanical squid beasts and their equally Evil, weak, cigar luvin’, vital humanity betraying and implicitly Sir Scott and Nikko linked human traitor Cypher Reagan-played by Joe Pantoliano-at the triumphantly healing, harmonizing and eucatastrophic end of the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Besson, Bigelow and Lucas tasting and Morrow and Spielberg roasting indie docufeature film THE MATRIX [1999], a film released on March 24, 1999 whose implicit interest in Besson, Bigelow, Lucas, Morrow, Sir Scott and Spielberg was affirmed by allusions to ALIEN, ALIENS, LA FEMME NIKITA, LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, STRANGE DAYS, SUBWAY, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, THE WIZARD OF OZ, THX 1138, TRON, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE and the TZ disaster.  Curiously, Kubrick implicitly did not share the implicit fondness of the Wachowski Sisters for THE FIFTH ELEMENT, for two years later he implicitly warned le Daulphin that Hollywood was too established and powerful to take on and defeat in his last film, the twilit and allegorical docufeature artbuster EYES WIDE SHUT [1999], a film released on July 13, 1999 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL and THE FIFTH ELEMENT. 

        The following year, Lucas implicitly affirmed that he was indeed partly inspired by the Daulphin to create his new STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy, for the flying traffic filled skies of the world city of Coruscant evoked the flying traffic filled skies of twenty-third century New York in THE FIFTH ELEMENT in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Cameron and Spielberg roasting indie docufeature film STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE [1999], a film that failed to impress audiences when it was released on May 19, 1999.  Later that year, le Daulphin, perhaps inspired by the failure of THE FIFTH ELEMENT to succeed in Canada and the United States, and by the two occasions when the determined and indomitable SEAL trainee, Lieutenant Jordan O’Neil-played by Demi Moore-was sarcastically compared to Joan of Arc in the daylit, allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly SCC toasting and Cameron roasting Sir Scott indie docufeature artbuster G.I. JANE [1997], again flipped from heady cinematic heights to dark cinematic depths and exchanged a legendary extraterrestrial heroine for a legendary human heroine when he donned the co-writer/director/co-producer hats and collaborated again with Arbogast, Jovovich, Karyo, Landrie, Ledoux, Serra, Gaumont, Columbia Pictures and Richard Leaf-who played a hapless neighbour of Dallas in THE FIFTH ELEMENT-to implicitly address Lynch again in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Franco-American indie docufeature film THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC [1999], released on October 18, 1999.

 

“I was taking a shortcut home through the forest

when a strange wind began to blow.

It was such a strange sound,

almost like words,

calling me.”

 

        Curiously, after only two opening titles, the second proclaiming “Joan of Arc” instead of THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC, the opening moments of the film, which found the young, pretty and unusually and irritatingly devout Jeanne d’Arc or Joan of Arc-played by Jane Valentine-enjoying life in her beautiful, idyllic and sunswept French village evoked a more devout and mystic Walt Disney film.  This immediately affirmed the implicit link of Joan to an anglophone film artist, an implication reaffirmed by the fact that most of the actors and actresses in the film were English.  This implicit allusion to Disney film art also affirmed that Lynch was being addressed in the film, reminding us that Disney and Lynch collaborated on the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Landis and Morrow addressing indie moving painting THE STRAIGHT STORY [1999], released earlier that year on May 21, 1999.  The surreal and dreamy Catholic visions that Joan experienced in the midst of this idyllic beginning, visions filled with her Conscience as a young man and as a boy-played by Leaf and Timothee Grimblat, respectively-reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Lynch, reminding us that dreams, nightmares and visions were common in the dream-like and surreal indie moving paintings of Lynch and were frequently experienced by Maud’dib, mystic military messiah of DUNE. 

Alas for Joan, this idyllic, mystic and visionary Disney beginning was soon rent asunder by an English attack on her village that led to the murderous rape of her sister Catherine-played by Framboise Commendy-an attack that evoked the opening attack on the Cimmerian village of the young and implicitly Kubrick linked Conan-played by Jorge Sanz-by the Dark Forces of the Evil led by the implicitly Lucas and Wicked Warlock of the West linked Thulsa Doom-played by James E. Jones-at the beginning of the eerily twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas roasting John Milius indie docufeature film CONAN THE BARBARIAN [1982], linking THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC to the year of the TZ disaster.  An English attack on her village and her mystic visions that combined to convince the young adult Joan-as illiterate as Leon in LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, and played by Jovovich-that she was sent by God to inspire the armies of France to defeat the English, liberate the country and install the implicitly Lynch linked Dauphin, Charles VII-fittingly played by American actor John Malkovich, given the implicit link of his character to Lynch-as the new King of a Catholic France. 

This Joan proceeded to do, after first winning the Dauphin over to her own mystic military messiah cause in a crowded castle chamber in Chinon that had waited with some trepidation for her to arrive looking, with her long blonde locks, like Laura Palmer-played by Sheryl Lee-in TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME.  Significantly, this moving sequence evoked the crowd that awaited with equal trepidation the arrival of a Third Stage Spacing Guild Navigator in the throne room of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV-played by Jose Ferrer-in the imperial palace on Kaitain at the beginning of DUNE.  Indeed, the stillsuit evoking coat of Charles VII and the resemblance of the mother-in-law and adviser of Charles VII, Yolande of Aragon-played by Faye Dunaway-to the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam-played by Sian Phillips-the Bene Gesserit adviser to Emperor Shaddam IV, affirmed the implicit link of this sequence to DUNE and reaffirmed the implicit link of Charles VII to Lynch.  The fitting appearance of Joseph Merrick as Regnault de Chartres amongst the Dauphin’s entourage also affirmed the film’s implicit interest in Lynch, reminding us of the horribly deformed James “John” Merrick in THE ELEPHANT MAN.

Thus, the sight and sound of King Charles VII callously betraying Joan after she inspired his troops, led by his “dogged” half-brother, the fittingly surnamed Lord Jean de Dunois-played by Karyo-to victory, including over the army of the implicitly Cameron and Kubrick linked Redbeard and Glasdale-played by Phil McKee and Carl McCrystal, respectively-and giving her to his Burgundy and English enemies, the latter led by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV resembling Duke of Bedford-played by David Gant-who, after a nasty and prolonged trial for heresy, and despite the best efforts to save her by the implicitly Gilliam linked Bishop Cauchon-played by Timothy West-burnt her at the stake, reminding us that Lynch had failed with DUNE, implied that the Daulphin believed that Lynch had betrayed the purity and innocence of his indie moving painting path by making DUNE and by collaborating with Disney on THE STRAIGHT STORY, and also perhaps implicitly struck back at Lynch for implicitly roasting Lucas in the twilit and allegorical indie moving painting LOST HIGHWAY [1997].  Indeed, the sight and sound of Joan being tormented by her thoughtful and doubt sowing Conscience in the form of an older man-played by Dustin Hoffman-as she endured her trial affirmed the film’s implicit interest in LOST HIGHWAY, for the mysterious and tormenting figure evoked the equally tormenting Mystery Man-played by Robert Blake-in LOST HIGHWAY.

        The following year, Darren Aronofsky implicitly roasted le Daulphin and THE FIFTH ELEMENT in the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film REQUIEM FOR A DREAM [2000], released on May 14, 2000.  For his part, Sir Scott also implicitly roasted Besson in the implicit form of Commendatore Rinaldo Pazzi-played by Giancarlo Giannini-of the Questura De Firenze, one of the victims of the brilliant, macabrely vengeful and implicitly Cronenberg linked Doctor Hannibal Lector-played by Sir Anthony Hopkins-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature artbuster HANNIBAL [2001], released on February 9, 2001.  Alas, later that year, on September 11, 2001, the world and its film artists and film art were shockingly changed forever by the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, stripping away the bright hopes of the neo millennium and replacing them with dark anger and despair.  A dark anger and despair that had worldwide audiences rushing to the Temple Theatre that winter to, amongst other things, watch Sir Peter Jackson implicitly reward the Daulphin for his implicit fondness for Lucas by having the implicitly Besson linked Boromir of Gondor-played by Sean Bean-riddled with more arrows than Jeanne d’Arc at the end of the twilit, allegorical, and CGI enhanced indie docufeature artbuster THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING [2001], released on December 10, 2001.

        The following year, dark anger and despair continued to slowly engulf the characters of the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Cameron and Spielberg roasting Lucas indie animaction film STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES [2002], a film released on May 12, 2002 that also implicitly roasted le Daulphin in the form of bounty hunter Zam Wesell-played by Leeanna Walsman-an implicit roast affirmed by the film’s allusions to THE FIFTH ELEMENT.  The following year, the Wachowski Sisters implicitly linked Besson to the Cowardly Lion linked Morpheus-played again by Fishburne-and had him team up with the equally vitally human and implicitly Bigelow and Dorothy linked Trinity-played again by Moss-and the implicitly Lucas and Scarecrow linked Neo-played again by Reeves-to battle the cyber Matrix, its biomechanical squid beasts, and its even more powerful, indie, nefarious, implacable, Evil and implicitly Morrow linked Agent Smith-played again by Weaving-throughout the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Besson, Bigelow and Lucas toasting and Morrow roasting indie animaction film THE MATRIX RELOADED [2003], released on May 7, 2003, and to defeat the cyber Matrix, its biomechanical squid beasts, and the even more powerful, indie, nefarious, megalomaniacal, Evil and implicitly Morrow linked Agent Smith-played again by Weaving-in order to set off a brave neo eon of CGI enhanced film art at the healing, harmonizing and triumphantly eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Besson, Bigelow and Lucas toasting and Morrow roasting indie animaction film THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS [2003], released on October 27, 2003, their implicit interest in Besson, Bigelow, Lucas and Morrow affirmed by allusions to LA FEMME NIKITA, LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, the STAR WARS Classic and Tragic Trilogies, STRANGE DAYS, SUBWAY, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, THE WIZARD OF OZ, THX 1138, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE and the TZ disaster.

As for the Daulphin, he donned the writer/director hats and collaborated again with Arbogast and for the first time with his new EuropaCorp film production company to implicitly address the dark, sombre, unexpected and terrorism battling new direction of the neo millennium along with the failure of Lucas to impress with the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy, which was brought to a despondent conclusion on May 12, 2005 with the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Cameron and Spielberg roasting indie animaction film STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH [2005], in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Franco-American indie docufeature film ANGEL-A [2005], released on December 21, 2005.

 

“Je t’aime.”

 

Indeed, after only one opening title reading “…EUROPACORP PRESENTE”, the unusually black and white film stock after the exuberant full colour of THE FIFTH ELEMENT and THE MESSENGER and the sombre, dispirited and elegiac tone of the film immediately affirmed that le Daulphin understood only too well that the 911 terror attack had shockingly begun an outraged, troubled and haunted new era of film art that Forced film artists to find their voices and win over audiences again just as the black and white film stock and the voiceless and embattled denizens of the post-apocalyptic world had implied that the Daulphin understood that the TZ disaster had also shockingly begun an outraged, troubled and haunted new era of twilit film art that also Forced world film artists to find their voices and win over audiences again throughout LE DERNIER COMBAT.   Global voices in the languages of their birth countries first before American English, for the French language film began with a voiceover [VO] by the down and out and Lucas resembling and implicitly linked petty Franco-Algerian American criminal Andre Moussah-played by Jamel Debouze-that played over a still photograph of Moussah, reminding us that THE FIFTH ELEMENT ended with a still photograph of Korben and Leeloo making luv in the Nucleolab chamber to affirm the implicit link of Moussah to Lucas.  Indeed, later in the film we found out that Moussah had an apartment in Brooklyn, reminding us that Dallas lived in South Brooklyn in 23^rd century New York, openly linking Moussah to Dallas to implicitly affirm the link of Moussah to Lucas.  Suddenly the VO ended and the still photo sprang to violent motion picture life as Moussah was punched by a jaded and unimpressed thug-perhaps played by Akim Chir-and threatened with death if he did not pay off his debts, immediately affirming that le Daulphin was implicitly addressing Lucas and his failure to win over equally jaded and unimpressed audiences with the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy. 

Curiously, however, just when all was lost and Moussah decided to throw himself off a bridge over the Seine to his doom, wondering aloud why God had abandoned him like Jeanne wondered aloud why God had abandoned her at the end of THE MESSENGER, Moussah instead leapt into the Seine to try to rescue a suicidal female jumper, who leapt off the bridge like Leeloo left off a skyscraper ledge into the flying traffic high above the streets of twenty-third century New York in THE FIFTH ELEMENT, reminding us of the implicit Lucas toasting intent of that film to affirm the implicit Lucas addressing intent of ANGEL-A.  Significantly, the young woman turned out to be both his tall, slim, leggy, beautiful and blonde guardian angel and his inner tall sexy blonde Angela-played by Rie Rasmussen-whose resemblance to the equally beautiful, slim and otherworldly Leeloo reaffirmed the implicit link of Moussah to Lucas.  An angel determined to save his life despite his best efforts to thwart her, evoking the allegorical Frank Capra docufeature film IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE [1946] to reaffirm the Franco-American style of the Daulphin and to also affirm the implicit Lucas addressing intent of ANGEL-A, as IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE was alluded to in AMERICAN GRAFFITI. 

Thus, after all sorts of tragicomic adventures around a fittingly quiet and deserted Paris facing down Moussah’s gangster adversaries, including the perhaps Marshall linked Franck-played by Gilbert Melki-and his so called and implicitly Spielberg linked “friend” Pedro the Spanish bar owner-played by Serge Riaboukine-the sight and sound of Andre preventing Angela from returning to heaven on angel wings after saving his life implied the hope of le Daulphin that Lucas would not give up on film art despite the abuse heaped on the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy by audiences, an implicit interest in Lucas affirmed by the film’s allusions to AMERICAN GRAFFITI, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, and THX 1138.  That implicit point made, the Daulphin then did his best to soothe the outraged, troubled and haunted new era of life and film art that had arrived with 911 with another beautiful and implicitly Lucas supporting and luving blonde when he donned the writer/director/co-producer hats and collaborated again with Arbogast, Serra, EuropaCorp and Hughes Tissandier-production designer of THE MESSENGER-on the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed animaction film ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES [2006], released on November 29, 2006.

 

“Your heart is your strongest weapon.”

 

        Indeed, after two opening titles, neither of which mentioned le Daulphin, another opening VO-from David Suchet-introduced a beautiful, sweet, kind, supportive, luving and implicitly Glinda the Good linked blonde grandmother Daisy Suchot-played by Mia Farrow, linked forever to the year of the release of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE via her role as Doctor Eudora Nesbitt in the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Landis roasting Woody Allen indie docufeature film ZELIG [1983]-who made her appearance calling for her eponymous, exuberant, imaginative, viaduct luving and implicitly Lucas and Dorothy linked grandson Arthur-played by Freddie Highmore.  Alas for grandma, she was not able to stop Arthur from being transported down into an all CGI world and transformed into one of its insect size and gelfling evoking all CGI Minoy citizens.  Here he found himself the only one who was able to wield a legendary sword, which he used to team up with another indomitable female warrior in the form of the red haired and implicitly Lana Wachowski linked Princess Selenia-played by Madonna-and her equally red haired and implicitly Andy Wachowski linked brother Prince Simono Matradoy de Betameche aka “Beta”-played by Jimmy Fallon-to take on and take out the tall, gaunt, wizened and implicitly Cronenberg linked Maltazard the Evil-played by David Bowie-save the Minoys, rescue his grandfather Archibald Suchot-played by Rob Crawford-and return to docufeature reality with a fortune in red rubies that evoked the ruby red slippers in THE WIZARD OF OZ to pay off the money obsessed Davido-played by Adam Lefevre-and save the family house and farm in a film that often evoked THE DARK CRYSTAL.

        Thus, the Daulphin implied his hope that CGI enhanced film art in general and his CGI enhanced film art of Lucas and himself in particular would still triumph over the TZ disaster and the 911 disaster and kick off a neo eon of daylit film art that would break free from the Twilight Zone and the terrorist zone and bring health and harmony back to audiences, film art, film artists, and the Temple Theatre, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by allusions to AMERICAN GRAFFITI, the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas toasting hung fu animaction Matrix Trilogy [1999-2003].  Indeed, by using CGI to literally transform Arthur into a dimunitive all CGI Minoy avatar named Art during his triumphant time in the land of the Minoys, le Daulphin openly affirmed his hope that the CGI enhanced film art of Lucas and himself would triumph over all other film artists and reaffirm that he was indeed the Daulphin, in the defiant end. 

For his part, in the sight and sound of the implicitly Kubrick linked boy Marcus-played by Frankie and George McLaren-bringing together the implicitly the Daulphin and Lynch linked Marie Lelay and George Lonegan-played by Cecile de France and Matt Damon, respectively-after they died and returned to life, Clint Eastwood implicitly urged le Daulphin and Lynch, both of whom had returned to life and popularity after failed films, to end their feuding at the end of the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced docufeature film HEREAFTER [2010], a film released on September 12, 2010 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to EYES WIDE SHUT, THE MESSENGER and THE STRAIGHT STORY.  As for the Daulphin, he left blockbuster CGI enhanced film art behind when he donned the director hat and collaborated again with Arbogast, Serra and Tissandier to implicitly address Lynch again in the midst of another film about a legendary heroine in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film THE LADY [2011], released on September 12, 2011.

 

“The fight goes on.”

 

        Curiously, the film began with the first viewing of a CGI Europa Corp intro that saw CGI dolphins swimming and jumping in a dark expanse of water that reflected the cloudy and starswept nighttime sky above so that it looked like they were swimming in a cloudy and starswept nighttime sky before the white words of EUROPA CORP and a beautiful, blonde and Angela-A evoking angel rose up from the dark and starstudded depths of the water and fluttered its wings between the two words.  Then, after no opening titles that mentioned le Daulphin, the film revolved around the resolute and determined political, legal, sociocultural and spiritual battles of Aung San Suu Kyi-played as a girl by Soraya La-ong Ake and as an adult by Michelle Yeoh, respectively-to unite the people of Burma/Myanmar and free them of the country’s succession of despotic military rulers and their white cowboy hat and red neck kerchief wearing Myanmar army thugs who misruled Burman/Myanmar with the same cruel brutality as the Harkonnens misruled Arrakis in DUNE and establish a freedom luving democracy, a battle that evoked the equally resolute and determined military and spiritual battles of Joan of Arc to unite and free her country of English military thugs in THE MESSENGER. 

A fitting link to that implicitly Lynch addressing film, for Suu Kyi’s Lynch resembling and implicitly linked English Oxford professor husband Doctor Michael Aris-played by David Thewlis-initially helped her win her battle, reminding us that King Charles VII initially helped Jeanne win her battle to liberate France before betraying her to the Burgundians, an implicit interest in Lynch affirmed by the film’s allusions to THE ELEPHANT MAN, THE STRAIGHT STORY and the twilit and allegorical Lynch indie moving paintings MULHOLLAND DRIVE [2001] and INLAND EMPIRE [2006].  However, while Dr. Aris did not abandon Suu Kyi like King Charles VII abandoned Jeanne d’Arc, the good doctor did die of prostate cancer before he could see his beluved wife freed from the family home in Burma/Myanmar by victory in a democratic election and peacefully lead her country to freedom.  A stirring sight and sound that reminded us that embattled but indomitable Hollywood starlet Nikki Grace-played by Laura Dern-freed a beautiful and mysterious young Eastern European woman-played by Karolina Gruzska-from confinement in a hotel room at the end of INLAND EMPIRE, implying that the Daulphin believed that Lynch did not free film art in general or his film art in particular from the Twilight Zone with INLAND EMPIRE.

        Curiously, and as he had abandoned heady heights for darker depths after THE BIG BLUE and THE FIFTH ELEMENT, le Daulphin then exchanged heady cinematic heights and a peace luving family of four for dark cinematic depths and a violence luving family of four when he donned the co-writer/director hats and collaborated again with Arbogast, De Niro, Rey, Tissandier, EuropaCorp, his wife Virginie Besson-Silla-co-producer of THE LADY-and Julien Rey-editor of THE LADY-on the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film THE FAMILY [2013], released on September 10, 2013, inspired by the twilit and allegorical Tonino Benacquista indie docufiction novel Malavita [2004], and with a soundtrack by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine this time instead of Serra.

 

“!Your the best Dad anybody could ever ask for!”

 

        Curiously, after a few opening titles that again made no mention of the Daulphin, the film began with a short and violent prologue that saw Mafia goon Rocco-played by Jon Freda-gun down an Italian family, evoking the sight and sound of Stan and his DEA gang gunning down the Lando family at the beginning of LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL.  Then the film revolved around the complacently and habitually violent Giovanni and Margaret “Maggie” Manzoni, their beautiful blonde daughter Belle and smart son Warren-played by De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron and John D’Leo, respectively-who were implicitly linked to the gleefully and habitually macabre David and Carolyn Cronenberg, their beautiful brunette daughter Caitlin and smart son Brandon.  An implicit link affirmed by the fact that the sight and sound of the Manzoni family on the run from the mob and hiding in witness protection with new names in the town of Cholong sur Avres in Normandy, France evoked the sight and sound of the ex-gangster Joe “Joey” Cusack aka Thomas “Tom” Stall-played by Viggo Mortensen-on the run from his gangster past and hiding in witness protection with a new name and another three member family in a small in the United States in the twilit and allegorical Cronenberg indie docufeature film A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE [2005]. 

The fact that the mob family that was after the Manzonis was led by the William S. Burroughs resembling and implicitly linked Don Luchese-played by Stan Carp-reaffirmed that the Cronenberg family was being addressed in the film, for Luchese reminded us that the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Lynch roasting Cronenberg indie docufeature film NAKED LUNCH [1991] was inspired by the allegorical and gleefully obscene Burroughs compilation Naked Lunch [1959].  The film’s allusions to the twilit and allegorical Cronenberg indie docufeature film EASTERN PROMISES [2007] also affirmed the implicit Cronenberg addressing intent of THE FAMILY.  The fact that the license plate of the family car was 964 EZ 06 reaffirmed the film’s interest in Cronenberg, reminding us of his first indie docufeature short films TRANSFER [1966] and STEREO [1969], and of the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film CRASH [1996].

        Thus, the sight and sound of the Manzoni family individually trashing various pesky locals, including the pesky and implicitly Norman Jewison linked plumber-played by Tonio Descanvelle-and then working together with family dog Malvita to wipe out Rocco and the gang of cleaners sent to terminate them in an explosion of brutal and bloody ultraviolence at the end of the film implied that Besson was fond of the mischievously macabre and indomitably indie Cronenberg family and wished them all of the best in their cinematic adventures, and continued triumph over their many critics.  An implicit fondness for Cronenberg that returned when le Daulphin quickly donned the writer/director hats, teamed up again with Arbogast, Besson-Silla, Rey, Serra, Tissandier, and EuropaCorp and returned to the Temple Theatre with another character implicitly linked to Cronenberg who helped out another unusually powerful and resolute heroine linked to France in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film LUCY [2014], released on July 25, 2014.

 

“Ignorance breeds chaos,

not knowledge.

I’ll build a computer,

and download all my knowledge.”

 

        Indeed, while the film began, with no opening title mentioning the film artist again, in Taipei, Taiwan, the city was shot in such a way as to evoke Toronto and its film art and film artists like Cronenberg.  The film’s implicit interest in Toronto and its film art and its film artists was reaffirmed when we found ourselves in a Yonge-Dundas square evoking area outside the Tai Pan Hotel with red and white Maple Leaf flag evoking signs behind the eponymous Lucy Miller and her cowboy hat wearing “friend” Richard-played by Scarlett Johansson and Pilou Asbaek, respectively-for Richard resembled and was implicitly linked to the cowboy hat wearing “outlaw” Toronto film artist Bruce McDonald.  Unfortunately for Lucy, Richard took advantage of her naivety to get her to take a briefcase containing an elemental and Ozian quartet of four plastic pouches containing a neon blue synthetic version of an extrasensory power [ESP] enhancing drug called CPH4 to a Mr. Jones evoking gang leader named Mr. Jang-played by Choi Min-Sik-at his Royal Suite in the Tai Pan Hotel. 

Curiously, these opening scenes were intercut with scenes of two cheetahs stalking and killing a wildebeest on the African veldt, scenes that evoked a similar scene involving one cheetah stalking prey at the beginning of the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed Sir Scott indie docufeature artbuster THE COUNSELOR [2013], thus implicitly linking the sad eyed and unsmiling Mr. Jang to the equally sad eyed and unsmiling Sir Scott.  Indeed, allusions to BLADE RUNNER, the twilit and allegorical Sir Scott indie docufeature artbuster BLACK RAIN [1989], and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Sir Scott and Tony Scott executive produced Kevin Macdonald indie documentary film LIFE IN A DAY [2010] reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Sir Scott.

        Significantly, the allusions to THE COUNSELOR not only reaffirmed the implicit link of Mr. Jang to Sir Scott, but also implied an interest in Toronto film “scholars”.  For THE COUNSELOR was a nasty and cynical film that implicitly roasted Cronenberg and McDonald in the implicit forms of Reiner and Westray-played by Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt, respectively-and implicitly warned the poor ol’ Gardevil that he was as naïve and foolish to get involved in a tiff with Hollywood and the Toronto International Film Festival [TIFF] as the eponymous and implicitly Wright linked Counselor-played by Michael Fassbender-was to get involved with a Colombian drug cartel and the malignant and implicitly TIFF and Wicked Witch of the West linked Malkina-her name evoking “bad kino”, and played by Cameron Diaz.  Thus, as Lucy’s initial naivety evoked the initial naivety of the Counselor in THE COUNSELOR, the implication was that Lucy was implicitly linked to Wright like the Counselor.  Indeed, the name of Lucy evoked the allegorical and John Lennon and Paul McCartney written Beatles tune “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” [1967], openly linking her to the year of my birth in another affirmation of her implicit link to me.

However, and unlike the Counselor, Lucy did not lose her fight with her thugs, and ultimately triumphed over Mr. Jang and his Jangalore gang, two of whom resembled Adam Beach and Keanu Reeves to reaffirm the film’s implicit interest in Toronto and Canadian film art and film artists.  For the embattled Lucy was aided by one of the four plastic pouches of CPH4, which in its natural form was created inside a woman in her sixth week of pregnancy and which had a powerful and transformative effect on the baby in her womb, that Mr. Jang had had sewed inside her belly inside his hotel suite for transport as a drug mule.  Indeed, to the increasing dismay of Mr. Jang and his Jangalores, the drug began to evolve Lucy, transforming her into an ESP aided woman who could see and understand the links between everything, allowing her to understand how all of the films of the dread allegorical Zone Wars fit together and become one with the brave neo world of CGI enhanced film art.  Significantly, audiences were prepared for the transformation of Lucy into a superhuman Force of nature who evoked a fusion of Angela, Joan, Leeloo and Nikita by the fact that the CPH4 was stored in the four plastic packages in the briefcase, reminding us that the four Element stones were stored in a case in THE FIFTH ELEMENT.  Indeed, the briefcase opened with the three number combination 140, a combo that fittingly added up to five, affirming the implicit link of the four neon blue plastic packages of CPH4 to the four Elements and the implicit link of Lucy to the Fifth Elemental Leeloo. 

Just as significantly, this life changing operation that transformed her into a superhuman Force of nature evoked the equally life changing operation that transformed motorcycle accident victim Rose-played by Marilyn Chambers-into a roving, attacking and vampiric monster in the allegorical Cronenberg indie docufeature film RABID [1975].  A fitting evocation of Cronenberg, for Lucy was also helped to defeat Mr. Jang and his Jangalores by the implicitly Cronenberg linked Doctor Samuel Norman-his name evoking the Normandy town where the implicitly Cronenberg linked Manzoni family were hiding in THE FAMILY, and played by Morgan Freeman-an American lecturer in neuroscience and evolution at a Paris university, three of whose students resembled my parents and then Liberal MP Justin Trudeau.  A fitting implication, indeed, for Dr. Norman’s wistful obsession with evolved human beings capable of astounding feats of ESP and his helpful mentoring of Lucy evoked the interest in equally evolved and ESP mastering “omnisexual” humans in the film art of Cronenberg, particularly the “Super Scanner” Cameron Vale-played by Stephen Lack-who was mentored by Dr. Paul Ruth-played by Patrick McGoohan-in SCANNERS. 

In fact, CPH4 evoked the scanner inducing drug ephemerol, implicitly linked to the ephemeral fortune and glory lusted after by lesser film artists, in SCANNERS, affirming the implicit interest in that film in LUCY.  The ability of Lucy to see into the past or future of other people as the film wore on, particularly when she touched them, reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Cronenberg, for it evoked the sight and sound of the implicitly Lynch linked high school English teacher John “Johnny” Smith-played by Christopher Walken-also seeing into the past or future of other people when he grabbed their hand after a tragicomic car accident gave him ESP in THE DEAD ZONE.  In addition, her ability to take over electronic and digital devices and appear anywhere she wanted, including on television, computer, laptop, and smartphone screens, evoked the ability of Nicki Brand-played by Debbie Harry-to take over and appear on television screens in VIDEODROME [1983].

Significantly, tracking down the other three packages of neon blue CPH4 and the three other male drug mules who had them sewed into their stomachs by Mr. Jang’s “surgeons”-one ambiguously linked, one implicitly linked to Lucas, and one implicitly linked to Lynch, and played by A.I. Smithee, Luca Angeletti, and Jan O. Schroeder, respectively-with the help of Parisian police Captain Pierre Del Rio-played by Amr Waked-allowed her to get Dr. Norman to give her an infusion of the four bags of CPH4.  A Parisian ending that reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Cronenberg, for the heady and memorable sight and sound of Lucy becoming more human than human, as befitting a person with an elemental and Ozian four letter first name, when she reached her 100% evolved potential over the course of 24 tumultuous hours with the intravenous help of all four of the elemental Ozian bags of CPH4 jacked into her system at once, leaving her centred between them like a new Fifth Elemental being like Leeloo was centred between the four elements and transformed into the Fifth Element at the end of THE FIFTH ELEMENT, and triumphing over Mr. Jang and his Jangalores with CGI enhanced ESP, in the end, evoked the triumph of Vale over the implicitly De Palma linked Darryl Revok-played by Michael Ironside-at the equally climatic and extrasensory end of SCANNERS.  This ending also reaffirmed the implicit link of Lucy to the poor ol’ Gardevil, as it evoked the sight and sound of the troubled and implicitly Gary Wright linked psychic teenage girl Carrie White-played by Chloe G. Moretz-using her ESP to vengefully wipe out the implicitly Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman linked Chris Hargensen and Billy Nolan-played by Portia Doubleday and Alex Russell, respectively-at the also climatic and extrasensory end of the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Kimberly Peirce docufeature film CARRIE [2013].

The sight and sound of Lucy becoming one with the knowledge of the multiverse and downloading all of her insights onto a black USB key that could be used to upload these insights onto the internet before she disappeared like Nikita, in the transcendent CGI end, also reaffirmed her implicit link to the poor ol’ Gardevil, as it evoked the “insights” into the fiction and film art of the dread allegorical Zone Wars that Wright regularly uploaded onto the internet.  As the triumph over Mr. Jang and his Jangalores was accomplished with the help of CGI, Lucy, like Leeloo, also symbolized the brave neo world of CGI enhanced film art triumphing over the TZ disaster and freeing audiences, film art, film artists and the Temple Theatre from the Twilight Zone.  A heady, transcendent and triumphant CGI enhanced ending that reaffirmed that the Daulphin was also at one with the brave neo world of CGI enhanced film art and was indeed a French Lord of Film, making it fitting that Walt Disney Studios, Marvel Studios and James Gunn continued the mischief and mayhem luvin’ chronicles of the merry marchin’ Marvel Cinematic Universe [MCU] by implicitly roasting and toasting le Daulphin in the form of the half-human/half-alien and implicitly Air and Great Oz linked Peter Jason “Pete” Quill aka “Star Lord”-his fused half-human/half-alien self fittingly evoking the distinct Franco-American style of the Daulphin, and played as a boy by Wyatt Oleff, and as an adult by Chris Pratt, respectively-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed super satirical animaction film GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY [2014], a film released on July 21, 2014 and based on characters created by Kirby, Lee, Bucolic John Buscema, Sweet Steve Englehart, Snazzy Steve Gan, Kuddly Keith Giffen, Doughty Don Heck, Laughin’ Larry Lieber, Brilliant Bill Mantlo, Jocular Jim Starlin and Rowdy Roger Stern for Marvel Comics.

 

“Who?”

 

        Curiously, the film began on Earth in 1988 with the boy Quill sitting morosely with a black left eye in a hospital waiting room chair listening to the allegorical and Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart written 10CC tune “I’m Not In Love” [1975] on the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 tape on his Sony Walkman, a sight and sound that reminded us that le Daulphin grew up listening to the pop music of the Seventies as a youth.  Soon his Lynch resembling grandfather-played by Gregg Henry-led him into a nearby hospital room to experience the final moments with his bald, pale, emaciated, dying, music luving and Portman resembling and implicitly linked and also implicitly Wicked Witch of the East linked mother Meredith Quill-played by Laura Haddock-a scene which evoked the final moments between Dallas and the dying opera singer Diva Plavalaguna on the space cruise ship orbiting Fhloston Paradise in THE FIFTH ELEMENT, immediately affirming the film’s implicit interest in the Daulphin. 

Fleeing the hospital in tears after the death of his mother, a disconsolate Pete ran sobbing out into the dark and foggy night with his last present from her in his backpack.  Suddenly, he was lit up by a huge spaceship that unexpectedly arrived and spirited Pete away from Earth like the huge spaceship that arrived to spirit away Doctor Arnak and the beautiful, buxom, bespectacled and intrepid secretary Gloria-played by Rodger Bumpass and Alice Playten, respectively-in the “So Beautiful, And So Dangerous” episode of HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE, reaffirming the film’s implicit interest in le Daulphin and THE FIFTH ELEMENT, for the sight and sound also evoked the equally unexpected arrival and departure of the Mondoshowan Guardians of the Four Element stones and the Fifth Element in their biomechanical spaceship during the RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK evoking Egyptian temple prologue of THE FIFTH ELEMENT.  A fitting reminder of the RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK evoking Egyptian temple prologue of THE FIFTH ELEMENT, for the film then went off on its own RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK evoking Egyptian temple prologue when it jumped twenty-six years into the future into spinning orbit around an ironically abandoned and desolate brave neo CGI world called Morag, a sight that reminded us that THE FIFTH ELEMENT began in spinning orbit around the brave new CGI world of Earth in 1914 before jumping three hundred years into the future in 2214. 

Here a spaceship was seen passing down through the atmosphere and then landing on the planet, and soon after we found an occupant from the spaceship, the adult Quill in a Scarey helmet with glowing red-eyes exploring a world as dark and foggy as that outside the hospital on Earth in 1988, the dark, desolate, deserted, foggy, geyser spouting, misty, silent and spooky surface of Morag and pondering the digital ghosts of its ex-inhabitants with a hand scanner that looked straight out of GHOSTBUSTERS.  Taking off his Scarey helmet, he put his Sony Walkman headphones back on and danced around to the annoyance of rat resembling CGI creatures as he listened to the allegorical and Lolly Vegas written Redbone tune “Come And Get Your Love” [1973], carefree dancing and singing that evoked the dancing and singing of the implicitly Earth linked Scarecrow-played by Ray Bolger-in THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Soon Quill’s dancing steps took him to the tall doors of a dark and forbidding Temple of Gloom where, after opening the doors, he used a device to free a small, mysterious and Loc-Nar evoking Orb from its barred blue energy cage on top of an altar, evoking the sight and sound of Doctor Henry “Indiana” Jones jr.-played by Harrison Ford-taking a small golden maternity idol from an altar in an underground Temple Theatre in the steamy jungles of South America at the 1936 beginning of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, setting us up for the madcap and usually futile film long quest to acquire and retain the Orb that evoked the equally madcap and futile film long quest to acquire and retain the Ark of the Covenant in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.  Alas, for Quill, as he raided the temple and acquired the Orb, two glowering Evil eyeball spaceships landed on Morag, and disgorged their occupants.  Soon a twilit trio showed up in the temple to take the Orb from Quill and, after a short skirmish with them that left only one alive, Quill roared out of the temple on boot rockets, returned to his buzzard resembling and Great Oz hot air balloon evoking spaceship and blasted frantically off Morag to the annoyance of a small group attempting to stop him and to the surprise of a pink, Maiwenn resembling and implicitly linked female humanoid companion named Bereet-played by Melia Kreiling-a tragicomic sight and sound that evoked the sight and sound of Captain Han Solo-played by Ford-also successfully fleeing impious Imp attempts to stop him and the Millenium Falcon on Tatooine and on the Death Star in STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE and in the hangar of the Rebel base on Hoth at the beginning of STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. 

Easily escaping, Quill soon received a cranky vidscreen message from the alien who had picked him up as a boy, the irascible, blue skinned, whistling, arrow luvin’, grandfather resembling and implicitly Lynch linked Yondu Odonta the mercenary Ravager-his blue skin reminding us of the fondness for blue ladies, blue roses and blue velvet in the indie moving paintings of Lynch, an implicit interest in Lynch affirmed by the film’s allusions to DUNE, and played by Michael Rooker-who revealed how unhappy he was that Quill had taken the Orb.  Humourously, Yondu was even more unhappy when Quill peremptorily ended the transmission, immediately placing a fittingly Forceful, elemental and Ozian 40,000 unit bounty on him.  At this point the POV switched to the interior of a huge blockbuster CGI beast of a bat evoking spaceship called the Dark Aster, where, alas for Quill, we discovered that the Orb was also desired by the renegade, power mad, blue skinned and implicitly Wicked Warlock of the West linked Kree, Ronan the Accuser, and the Nikko the Flying Monkey King linked Khorath, his head lackey and the sole survivor of the twilit trio who ambushed Quill on Morag-implicitly linked to Roland Emmerich and his spouse, Omar De Soto, and played by Lee Pace and Djimon Honsou, respectively-in a scene that evoked a similar scene in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and implicitly Lucas toasting Guillermo Del Toro indie super satirical animaction film HELLBOY [2009] to affirm an implicit interest in Del Toro in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.  

Even worse, Ronan the Accuser soon furiously and dutifully showed up in Sanctuary for a talk with the being who had persuaded Ronan to acquire the Orb for him, the mad, all CGI and ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner resembling and implicitly linked and also implicitly Wicked Warlock of the West linked Titan, Thanos-the allusions to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK reminding us that the film was released by Paramount Pictures when Eisner was head of the studio to affirm the implicit link of Thanos to Eisner, and played by Josh Brolin.  Curiously, in his swiveling and throne-like chair Thanos also evoked the Evil and implicitly Wicked Warlock of the West linked Emperor Palpatine aka “Lord Sidious”-played by Ian McDiarmid-in STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI.  Not pleased with Ronan’s failure to acquire the Orb for him, this truly Dark Father sent his two assassin daughters, the green, Leeloo evoking and implicitly Lilly Wachowski and Dorothy linked orphan Gamora and her sister, the blue, cyborg, Nikita evoking, Sinead O’Connor resembling and implicitly Lana Wachowski and implicitly Nikka the Flying Monkey Queen linked Nebula-an implication affirmed by the film’s allusions to the Matrix Trilogy, complete with slow mo bullet-time evoking scenes, and played by Zoe Saldana and Karen Gillan, respectively-to aid the Wicked Ronan and help him acquire the Orb for the mad Titan, reminding us that the equally nasty Zorg did his best to hunt down and acquire the four elements for the Wicked ball of Loc-Nar evoking alien Evil in THE FIFTH ELEMENT. 

And so Quill had the Orb and Thanos and his two daughters, Ronan the Accuser, his fellow renegade Krees and Khorath, and Yondu and his fellow mercenary Ravagers all wanted it from him, setting audiences up for the madcap mayhem to follow for the rest of the film.  Madcap mayhem that erupted soon after Quill tried and failed to sell the Orb to a quavering broker-played by Fairbank, who played the lead scientist Mactilburgh who supervised the CGI restoration of Leeloo in the Nucleolab in New York at the beginning of THE FIFTH ELEMENT to openly link that film to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and affirm the implicit link of Quill to Besson-on Xandar, capital planet of the Nova Empire, and home of the implicitly Glinda the Good linked Nova Prime-played by Glenn Close.  As if this mess was not bad enough, two new characters, the tall, Earthy, implicitly Scarecrow linked, Chewbacca evoking and all CGI plant creature Groot-played by Vin Diesel-and the small, Fiery tempered, Han Solo evoking implicitly Zack Snyder and Cowardly Lion linked, genetically enhanced and all CGI raccoon Rocket-played by Bradley Cooper-complicated matters by noticing the bounty placed on Quill by Yondu and deciding to collect it for themselves by capturing Quill after he failed to sell the Orb to the broker, right at the moment that Gamora arrived to steal the Orb.  Leading to a tragicomic fight sequence that saw all of the characters briefly possess Quill or the Orb before losing him or it, reminding us that the main characters of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK also briefly possessed the Ark of the Covenant and Indiana Jones before losing both in that fine film, before Quill, Gamora, Groot and Rocket were all arrested by the Nova Corps and sent to a high security prison satellite called the Kyln.

After breaking free from prison with the help of the implicitly Del Toro, Tin Man and Water linked Drax the Destroyer-played by Dave Bautista-in a riotous sequence that evoked THE FAMILY and a similarly riotous albeit more ultraviolent and bloody prison breakout in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Snyder super satirical animaction film WATCHMEN [2009] to affirm the implicit link of Rocket to Snyder, the elemental Ozian “Guardians” took the Orb to lawless Knowhere, an outlaw mining colony and illicit market hidden in the severed head of a Celestial being drifting in the dark and mysterious depths of space, to the sound of the allegorical and David Bowie written Bowie tune “Moonage Daydream” [1971], a fitting tune given that the fun luvin’ film would soon freak out with an exuberant CGI enhanced explosion of merry Marvel mayhem.  Here they started to sell the Orb to the Jim Jarmusch resembling and implicitly linked Taneleer Tivan aka “the Collector”-played by Benicio Del Toro.  Curiously, Quill’s open allusion to the twilit and allegorical Herbert Ross docufeature film FOOTLOOSE [1984] during a romantic scene with Gamora before their meeting with the Collector openly linked the film to one of the first years of the dread allegorical Zone Wars and reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Eisner, as FOOTLOOSE was another film released by Paramount during Eisner’s watch.

Just as curiously, after the Collector revealed that the Orb was actually the purple Power stone, one of the six “elemental crystals” called Infinity Stones that contained the six Forces underlying the entire universe and that evoked the four stones containing the power of the four elements in THE FIFTH ELEMENT, Gamora decided that the Power stone was too powerful to leave with the Collector where it could be stolen by Ronan the Accuser, and persuaded the others to take it back to Xandar and the safer keeping of the benevolent Nova Prime.  Alas, before they could leave Knowhere for Xandar, Yondu and his Ravagers and Ronan the Accuser and his malevolent minions accompanied by Nebula showed up, leading to an over the top CGI battle between everyone for the possession of the Power stone that almost killed Drax and Gamora, and ended with Nebula taking the stone and giving it to Ronan.

Leading to an even more over the top CGI showdown when Quill, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Groot and Rocket escaped from Knowhere, returned to Xandar, and teamed up with Yondu, the Ravagers and Nova Prime and the Nova Corps to fight Ronan the Barbarian Accuser and his malevolent minions in an ultimate climactic space battle in orbit above Xandar that evoked the CGI enhanced space battles in orbit above Yavin, Endor, Naboo and Earth, respectively, that ended STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE, STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI, STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas toasting and Spielberg roasting Emmerich docufeature film INDEPENDENCE DAY [1996] to affirm the film’s implicit interest in Emmerich and Lucas .  A climactic space battle that led to the Guardians infiltrating Ronan’s blockbuster spaceship beast, the Dark Aster, to battle him, and Gamora and Nebula to battle each other in a bitter fight that evoked the Good Jedi versus Evil Sith Lord light saber battles that ended the STAR WARS Classic and Tragic Trilogies, before the Dark Aster crashed on Xandar, evoking the sight and sound of Darth Vader’s disabled and out of control Super Star Destroyer, Executor, crashing into the half completed new Death Star at the end of STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI.

Surviving the blockbuster crash, the Guardians took the purple people eatin’ Power stone from Ronan, and then Quill, Gamora, Drax and Rocket put aside their differences to reach out to each other and link together, allowing Quill to ironically channel their Good, luving and Fourcefull purple elemental Ozian Power with his sinister left hand and destroy the Wicked Ronan before he could destroy Xandar, in the end, like Leeloo channelled luv and the equally Fourceful and Ozian four elements to destroy the Wicked and Loc-nar evoking ball of Evil threatening to destroy Earth at the end of THE FIFTH ELEMENT.  Significantly, Quill was not destroyed by the Good and luving Force of that elemental Ozian purple Power, a lack of destruction that was passed on to the other Guardians as they linked up with him, affirming that Peter was indeed the Great and powerful Quill and Star Lord to boot rather than the goofy and dancing Scarecrow as he appeared to be on Morag, implying that there was more to him than met the eye and the hope of Dis, Marv and Gunn that the Daulphin would continue to lead the way in creating CGI enhanced indie film art to advance higher goals than the acquisition of power and wealth, a mordantly ironic implication, indeed, given that the beastly blockbuster loot lusters led by CEO Bob Iger at Disney and Lee at Marvel were using GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and the rest of the films of the MCU to fleece as much money out of global audiences as possible.

        At any rate, it was fitting that the allegorical and Norman Greenbaum written Greenbaum tune “Spirit In The Sky” [1969] was not in the film but included on the soundtrack, given that the indomitably devout Jeanne d’Arc had a lifelong friend in Jesus and longed for eternal union with the Great Spirit in the sky.  Fitting indeed, for a supremely self centred, macabrely mischievous and implicitly Lucas linked extraterrestrial Celestial spirit from the sky featured prominently three years later along with more lust for beastly blockbuster profits when Dis, Marv and Gunn implicitly roasted Lucas in the fortieth anniversary year of the release of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE and also implicitly roasted and toasted le Daulphin in the twentieth anniversary year of the release of THE FIFTH ELEMENT when the half-human/half-alien and implicitly Daulphin, Great Oz and Air linked Peter “Pete” Quill aka “Star Lord”-played again by Oleff and Pratt, respectively-returned for more argumentative adventures with his fellow grouchy Guardians and more madcap and merry marchin’ Marvel mayhem in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed super satirical animation film GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 [2017], a film released on April 10, 2017.

 

“Showtime, a-holes.”

 

        Indeed, an implicit interest in Lucas was immediately affirmed, for the film began with a LUCY evoking prologue on Earth in Missouri in 1980 that saw Quill’s amorous, and implicitly Lucas linked alien Celestial father Ego-played by Kurt Russell-wooing Quill’s young mother Meredith Quill-played again by Haddock-while driving around in a 1978 Ford Mustang II King Cobra listening to the allegorical and Elliot Lure written Looking Glass tune “Brandy [You’re A Fine Girl]” [1972], evoking Quill’s fondness for the pop music of the Seventies in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and the fact that the Daulphin grew up listening to the pop music of the Seventies to immediately link the film to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and LUCY and affirm the implicit le Daulphin addressing intent of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2.  Then, after pondering an alien plant created by Ego in the Endor evoking forest behind a Dairy Queen, the film jumped thirty-four years into the future as at the beginning of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY to the sight and sound of Quill teaming up again with the implicitly Del Toro, Tin Man and Water linked Drax the Destroyer, the diminutive, implicitly Scarecrow and Earth linked Groot, and the implicitly Snyder, Cowardly Lion and Fire linked Rocket Raccoon-played again by Bautista, Diesel, and Cooper, respectively-and the implicitly Lilly Wachowski and Dorothy linked Gamora-played again by Saldana-on the Sovereign homeworld.

Here the quarrelin’ Guardians took on and took out a truly blockbuster, multi-tentacled, battery gobblin’ and Sarlaac mouthed inter-dimensional CGI beast that ironically but fittingly evoked the blockbuster, bloated, bug-eyed, slathering, voracious, multi-tentacled and CGI luvin’ multinational beast that Disney had become by 2017 with its gobbling up of ABC, Marvel, Lucasfilm/ILM and Pixar, a beastly blockbuster battle that was mostly captured in one long establishing shot and all to the sound of the allegorical and Jeff Lynne written Electric Light Orchestra tune “Mr. Blue Sky” [1977] to openly link the film to the Skyrocking year of 1977 when STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE exploded upon the screens of the Temple Theatres of the world.  Of course, this tragicomic blockbuster CGI beast also evoked the equally tragicomic blockbuster CGI beasts from another dimension that threatened Earth in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed Del Toro animaction film PACIFIC RIM [2013] to affirm the implicit link of Drax to Del Toro.

Rendezvousing with the spaceship of their employer, the tall, slim, beautiful, commanding, fearless, and implicitly Bigelow and Glinda linked leader of the Sovereign people, High Priestess Ayesha-her gold skin and gold clothing reminding us that Bigelow was the first female film artist to win Best Director and Best Film Oscars for the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and implicitly Lynch addressing indie docufeature artbuster THE HURT LOCKER [2006], affirming her implicit link to Bigs, and played by Elizabeth Debicki-to collect their reward money for besting the beast, Quill and Co. were soon fleeing in their buzzard resembling spaceship for their lives, after High Priestess Ayesha and her equally gold skinned Sovereign people discovered that Rocket had stolen some batteries from them, in an exuberantly eye popping sequence that evoked LUCY. 

Lucky for Quill and Co., they were rescued in the nick of time by the older, unusually powerful and fittingly egoistic Ego, accompanied by the Aung San Suu Kyi evoking but implicitly Sook-Yin Lee or Mina Shum and Glinda linked Mantis-played by Pom Klementieff-who took them back to his isolated, idyllic and Skywalker Ranch evoking planet to the sound of the allegorical and Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine and John McVie, and Stevie Nicks written Fleetwood Mac tune “The Chain” [1977] to openly link Ego to 1977 and affirm his implicit link to Lucas.  Significantly, here Quill openly alluded to the twilit and allegorical telefilm series CHEERS [1982-1993] in another romantic scene between Gamora and himself, reminding us that CHEERS was created and released by Paramount during the Eisner years in another affirmation of the implicit link of Thanos-not seen or heard in the film-to Eisner.

Alas, here on Skywalker Ranch planet, Ego turned out to be not as altruistic as he pretended and tried to persuade Quill to help him literally take over the universe and turn it all into unlimited Ego, recalling the sight and sound of the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, trying to persuade the young and earnest Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker, to join him in defeating the Wicked Emperor so as to rule the galaxy far, far away together at the end of STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK to affirm the implicit link of Ego to Lucas.  An offer that Quill could refuse like Skywalker when Ego revealed that he had given Quill’s mother the cancer that had killed her, instead joining the Guardians and taking on and taking out Ego, and triumphing over High Priestess Ayesha and her Sovereign people again, with the help of Mantis, the implicitly Lana Wachowski and Nikka the Monkey Queen linked Nebula-played again by Gillan-the implicitly Lynch linked Yondu-played again by Rooker-and his implicitly Riley Lynch linked bestie Kraglin-played by Sean Gunn-in the LUCY evoking climax at the end of the film, an implicit allegorical intent that was affirmed by allusions to the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy and the STAR WARS Tragic Trilogy. 

Thus, with the deaths of Ego and Yondu, and the triumph over High Priestess Ayesha and her Sovereign people, and some fun with the implicitly Sir Peter Jackson linked Taserface-played by Chris Sullivan-along the way-Dis, Marv and Gunn implied their hope that the Daulphin would leave behind his obsession with Lucas and Lynch and triumph over Bigelow and Sir Jackson with his indie film art.  An implicit hope that le Daulphin fittingly did his best to fulfill later that year when an implicit interest in replying to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was fused with a continued implicit interest in Toronto, its film art, film artists and film “scholars” when he donned the writer/director hats and collaborated again with Arbogast, Besson-Silla, Rey, Tissandier, EuropaCorp, Olivier Beriot-costume designer on LUCY-Claire Tran-a flight attendant in LUCY-and with visual effects again by ILM, who had provided them for LUCY, and an MCU evoking soundtrack composed by Alexandre Desplat, to prove that he had the heavy mettle indeed and increased CGI powers to top THE FIFTH ELEMENT in its twentieth anniversary year and STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE in its fortieth anniversary year, and implicitly affirm that the daylit and brave neo world of heady, enlightened, liberated and CGI enhanced film art hoped for at the end of LUCY and THE FIFTH ELEMENT had arrived in the daylit, allegorical and CGI enhanced animaction film VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS [2017], released on July 17, 2017 and inspired by narrative art created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres, and also perhaps by the promise that Nebula made to Ronan toward the end of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY that if he killed her father, Thanos, she would help Ronan “…destroy a thousand planets.”

 

“Liho-Minaa chose you to be

the guardian of her soul.”

 

        Curiously, after the CGI enhanced entertainment One and Fundamental Films logos-the latter fittingly having a Forceful and elementally Ozian four Chinese ideogram characters underneath it-and the more elaborate CGI enhanced Europa Corp. intro, and after no opening title mentioning “…a Luc Besson film” again, the film began with the real film footage of American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts meeting in their respective spaceships in orbit over Earth in 1975, creating the first mini-space station.  From this humble beginning, a much larger and more elaborate Alpha inter-galactic space station was created in orbit over a brave neo CGI Earth in a mostly CGI prologue, a space-station city that evoked two equally huge and elaborate hand animated space stations seen in HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE.  Just as curiously, the Alpha space-station city was assembled over the course of decades, first by industrious terrestrials, and then with help from extraterrestrials, including amongst the sometimes all CGI latter a Mondoshowan resembling race called the Mirrors, all to the stirring sound of the allegorical Bowie written Bowie tune “Space Oddity” [1969], a sight and sound that reminded us that THE FIFTH ELEMENT also began in orbit around a brave neo CGI Earth and that the Bowie tune “Moonage Daydream” was heard on the way to Knowhere in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.  Curiously and curiously, after the Alpha space station-city became too huge to orbit the CGI Earth, it was sent off into space in the direction of Magellan by the President of the Central Committee of the United Human Federation [UHF]-played by Hauer, who openly linked the film to the twilit and disastrous July of ’82 via his rogue Replicant leader Roy Batty in BLADE RUNNER-the POV shifted a Fourceful 400 years later to the beautiful, peaceful, mystic, transcendent, and Fhloston Paradise and world of the Minoy evoking tropical island paradise brave neo CGI world of Mul. 

        Significantly, the first of the all CGI Pearl inhabitants of Mul met by audiences was the pretty and illuminating Princess Liho-Minaa-who name looked and sounded like “Leeloo Minai” and “Leeloo-Minoy”, linking her to Leeloo and Princess Selenia, and was played by Sasha Luss-who was immediately linked to Lucy by a close-up of one of her eyes, which evoked similar close-ups of one of the eyes of Lucy in LUCY.  This was a fitting link, for Princess Liho-Minaa was at one with the world of Mul and the brave neo world of CGI enhanced film art as Lucy was with Earth and with the brave neo world of CGI enhanced film art by the time she had reached 100% of her ESP potential with the help of that Foursfull infusion of four Ozian elemental bags of CPH4 at the end of LUCY.  Indeed, the pretty Princess and her fellow Pearl lived in peaceful and non-commercial harmony with their all CGI world with the help of small but powerful and Infinity Stone evoking multi-coloured pearls fished from the sea that evoked the equally powerful Orb containing the purple Power Infinity Stone in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and with the cute and cuddly converters that pooped out showers of the pearls they were fed in order to restore harmony to Mul, with no interest in using these converters or pears for profit on the part of the Pearl.

        Alas, Princess Liho-Minaa was killed soon after we met her when a spaceship battle that evoked the ones at the end of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE, STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI and STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE erupted unexpectedly over the planet, causing a medium sized spaceship to crash on the planet.  Significantly, while Princess Liho-Minaa was not killed by the crashing spaceship, she was killed not long after when she arrived too late to hide in the crashed spacecraft with her family and people in order to escape the planetary destruction caused when a huge, black, biomechanical, Mondoshowan evoking and starfish resembling spaceship crashed onto Mul like Ronan the Accuser’s equally huge Dark Aster crashed on Xandar at the end of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and Vader’s Executor slammed into the partly built Death Star at the end of STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI.  And so the pretty Princess died, a moving sight and sound of a bald, slim, young and all CGI Mul woman dying that evoked the sight and sound of the equally bald, emaciated, young and all real mother of Pete Quill dying of cancer in a hospital at the beginning of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY to reaffirm the interest in that film in VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS. 

Significantly, however, before she was killed by the planetary apocalypse, Princess Liho-Minaa projected her soul across the galaxy, reminding us that Lucy left all of her insights into planet Earth and the universe on a black USB key shortly before she disappeared at the end of LUCY.  Of course, as Lucy was implicitly linked to Gary in LUCY, the implicit link of Liho-Minaa to Lucy also implicitly linked Liho-Minaa to Princess Gary.  Indeed, the fact that VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS was based on an equally allegorical work of narrative art by Christin and Mezieres called Valerian that was like a cross between Asterix and Barbarella and that first appeared in the November 9, 1967 issue 420 of Pilote magazine also supported the implication that the film was addressing me on one level, given that I was born in 1967.

Curiously, the soul of Princess Garo-Minaa was projected into the mind of the Gunn resembling and implicitly linked UHF Major Valerian-played by Dane De Haan-waking him up as he slept in a holo projection of a beautiful tropical paradise that evoked beautiful tropical Mul in a holo chamber on his spaceship Intruder, a spaceship whose A.I. communicated via the female personality and voice Alex-played by Chloe Hollings , implicitly linking him to the poor ol’ Gardevil as well and evoking the sight and sound of Dallas waking up from an Evil nightmare when first met in THE FIFTH ELEMENT.  He was soon joined by his blonde and Sarah Polley resembling and implicitly linked partner Sergeant Laureline, who was as slim, slinky, sensual, graceful and beautiful as the people of Mul-and was played by Cara Delevingne, who openly linked the film to Toronto and its film art via her role as the implicitly Suzy Amis linked Doctor June Moone aka “Enchantress” in the Toronto shot twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced David Ayer super satirical animaction film SUICIDE SQUAD [2016].  Tragicomically, Maj. Valerian immediately began exuberantly and unsuccessfully wooing Sgt. Laureline as soon as she showed up, a sight and sound that evoked the sight and sound of Quill also eagerly pursuing but failing to win over Gamorah to his cause in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and reminded us that Gunn had divorced in 2008 but never remarried.

Significantly, soon after Valerian and Laureline arrived on the scene, their spaceship left hyperdrive evoking exo-space and arrived at the Tatooine evoking desert planet of Kyrian on a mission.  Upon landing on the planet, they met a small and tough group of commandos led by the Reitman resembling and implicitly linked Captain Gibson-played by Ola Rapace-reaffirming the film’s link to Toronto and its film art and film artists, and also evoking Vancouver based Can-Am sly fi writer William “Cyberpunk” Gibson.  Just as significantly, the implication that the film was responding to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was reaffirmed on Kyrian, for Capt. Gibson was ably supported by Sgt. Cooper-played by Gavin Drea-whose surname reminded us that Cooper played Rocket.  Here on Kyrian, we discovered that the mission of Sgt. Laureline and Maj. Valerian involved infiltrating a huge CGI shopping mall called the Big Market-which promised “…one million stores!”-which could only be accessed by wearing virtual reality headsets, taking a mul converter being sold and bought in an illicit deal and the pearl that was being used to pay for it, and leaving the market. 

Curiously, the money obsessed Big Market was implicitly linked to the money obsessed Walt Disney Company, for the sweeping single camera movement that winded through and revealed the all CGI Big Market evoked the equally sweeping single camera movement that winded through the Disney Magic Kingdom in its equally all CGI intro.  Indeed, the sight and sound of the exuberantly eccentric, Captain Jack Sparrow evoking and implicitly Tim Burton linked Thaziit-played by Eric Lampaert-acting as a guide for the shoppers that Maj. Valerian joined affirmed the implicit link of the Big Market to the Mouse House and implicitly affirmed the film’s interest in the film art of the Walt Disney Company.  Thus, it was fitting that to escape the planet Kyrian with the mul converter and one pearl, Valerian and Laureline had to evade the voracious mouth and paws of a relentlessly pursuing and multi-armed and legged blockbuster CGI beast, evoking the equally blockbuster multi-tentacled CGI beast that had to be defeated by the goofy Guardians at the beginning of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, linking the two 2017 films together.

        Significantly, Valerian and Laureline were also implicitly linked to Cronenberg soon after they arrived at the Alpha space station-city to give the mul converter to the authorities in the perhaps Toronto linked city.  For the surviving Pearl and the brave neo world of CGI was recreated in a dead red zone that again evoked THE DEAD ZONE that was discovered in the Fifth Elemental centre of the four sectors of the Alpha space station-city, literally Fifth Elemental as the four sectors of Alpha that were openly linked to Earth, Fire, Air and Water, a dead red zone that turned out to be stealthily occupied by the survivors of Mul and the spacecraft that they had refurbished and used to escape their desolate world, a world as desolate as Morag after the huge black biomechanical spaceship crashed on its surface.  Curiously, a Lynch resembling and implicitly linked General Okto-Bar-played by Sam Spruell, who had also played the pitiless and implicitly Lynch linked Jamie the Wireman in THE COUNSELOR-also helped Laureline and Valerian fight off the insidious and implicitly Disney CEO Iger linked Commander Filitt-played by Clive Owen-and his tall, black and intimidating all CGI K-tron robot soldiers save the surviving Pearl and their brave neo CGI enhanced world and, hence, the brave neo world of CGI enhanced film art. 

A brave neo world of higher minded CGI enhanced film art swept aside by Iger when he became CEO of the Walt Disney Company and accelerated its expansion, gobbling up Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm/ILM and 21^st Century Fox along the way.  Thus, the sight and sound of the Liho-Minaa and Gardevil guided Valerian and Laureline eventually and successfully returning the converter and the pearl to the all CGI Pearl hidden in the dead red zone in the middle of the Alpha space station-city and the Pearl blasting off in their spaceship to recreate their brave neo all CGI world, in the end, implied the hope of the Daulphin that Gunn would leave behind Dis and Marv and go on to make higher minded CGI enhanced film art for film art’s sake like LUCY.  Le Daulphin also implied his hope that Dis would inspire Marv to aspire to higher film art goals again after the inevitable departure of Iger, given that Com. Fillit was defeated and arrested by Gen. Okto-Bar after the departure of the Pearl.

        Curiously, later that same year, DC, Snyder and Warners also implicitly linked le Daulphin to Arthur Currie aka “Aquaman”-played by Jason Mamoa-and had him team up with the implicitly Reitman linked Kryptonian orphan Clark “Kal-El” Kent aka “Superman”-played by Henry Revill-the bitter, brooding and implicitly Wright linked billionaire bachelor Bruce Wayne aka “Batman”-played by Ben Affleck-and the implicitly Angelina Jolie linked Amazon Princess Diana aka Diana Prince aka “Wonder Woman”-played by Gal Gadot-to defeat the implicitly Richard Kelly linked extraterrestrial Evildoer Steppenwolf-played by Ciaran Hinds-and save the world yet again in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced super satirical animaction film JUSTICE LEAGUE [2017], a film released on October 26, 2017 whose implicit interest in the Daulphin on one level was affirmed by allusions to THE BIG BLUE.  The following year, the implicitly Daulphin and Great Oz linked Peter “Pete” Quill aka “Star Lord”, the implicitly Lilly Wachowski and Dorothy linked Gamora, the implicitly Del Toro and Tin Man linked Drax the Destroyer, the implicitly Lana Wachowski and Nikka the Monkey Queen linked Nebula, the implicitly Snyder and Cowardly Lion linked Rocket, the implicitly Scarecrow linked Groot, the possibly Lee or Shum linked Mantis and the implicitly Jarmusch linked Collector-played by Pratt, Saldana, Bautista, Gillan, Cooper, Diesel, Klementieff, and Del Toro, respectively-then returned with more classic Seventies pop music to freak out in another CGI age daydream and team up to help the other heroes in the MCU take on and take out the implicitly Eisner and Wicked Warlock of the West linked mad Titan, Thanos-played again by Brolin-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Anthony and Joe Russo super satirical animaction film AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR [2018], released on April 23, 2018.

 

“Kick names, take ass.”

 

        Indeed, as befitting an MCU that saw Thanos make his first big appearance in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and as befitting a rogue “superhero” group that contained the “daughters” of Thanos, Gamora and Nebula, amongst their members, the Guardians played a prominent role in the huge and eye-popping film.  Starting when the rogue superhero group showed up to the Skyrockin’ sound of the allegorical and Thom Bell and Linda Creed written Spinners tune “The Rubberband Man” [1976] in Quill’s ravagin’ buzzard spaceship just in time to pick up the proud and implicitly Cameron linked Thor, god of thunder-played by Chris Hemsworth-the sole survivor of an attack by Thanos, his implicitly Jeffrey Katzenberg and Nikko the Monkey King linked major domo, Ebony Maw-an implicit link that reminded us that Katzenberg was Eisner’s most infamous major domo during his restructuring and layoff laden years at Dis, and played by Tom Vaughan-Lawlor-and the rest of his malevolent minions on an Asgardian refugee spaceship. 

Conversing with Thor in a sequence that evoked VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS, the goofy Guardians discovered that Thanos had already taken the purple Power Infinity stone from Xandar and made it the first stone in his sinister left handed Infinity Gauntlet collection.  The towering Titan then used the power from the Power stone to acquire the blue Space Infinity stone from the implicitly Spielberg linked Loki, god of mischief-played by Tom Hiddleston-on board the destroyed Asgardian craft, reminding us that the Walt Disney company embarked on its acquisitive path with the purchase of ABC under the watch of Eisner, implicitly linking the Infinity Stones to the various companies like Marvel and Pixar purchased by Dis.  Caught up to speed, the quarrelling Guardians then split up, with Groot and Rocket joining Thor and taking a spacepod to Nidavellir to craft a weapon with the help of the implicitly Sir Jackson linked mighty Munchkin weapons master Eitri-played by Peter Dinklage-that would destroy Thanos.  As the twilit trio headed off on that desperate mission, Quill, Gamora and Drax headed back to Knowhere to get the red Reality stone from the Collector before it was taken by Thanos.

        Alas for Quill, Gamora and Drax, it turned out to be a trap.  For Thanos had already arrived in Knowhere and taken the red Reality stone from the Collector, and was waiting patiently for the Guardians to arrive to kidnap Gamora, as he had discovered by torturing Nebula that Gamora knew the location of the orange Soul stone, and with her in his possession he tortured Neb some more to get Gam to reveal that the Soul stone was located on the planet Vormir.  Using the power of the Power, Reality and Space stones to transport them to Vormir, Thanos was forced by the solitary and forlorn ghost of the implicitly Cox linked Red Skull-played by Ross Marquand-soon after arrival on the dead and desolate planet to kill Gamora to acquire the Soul stone, throwing her to her doom from the lonely heights of an altar high atop a gloomy mountain in one of the most moving moments in the film.  This Thanos did to his sad dismay, acquiring the orange Soul stone for his Infinity Gauntlet but losing his favourite daughter, played as an orphaned girl in a flashback scene by the fittingly surnamed Ariana Greenblatt. 

And so with an ironically elemental, Fourcefull and Ozian quartet of Infinity Stones on his sinister gauntlet, Thanos travelled to Titan to fight off Drax, Nebula and Quill and half of the heroes of the MCU to acquire the green Time stone from the sarcastic and implicitly Screamin’ Stephen King linked Doctor Stephen Strange-played by Benedict Cumberbatch.  Thence it was off to Earth to fight off Groot, Rocket, Thor and the rest of the heroes of the MCU to acquire the yellow Mind stone from the cerebral and implicitly Cronenberg linked android Vision-played by Paul Bettany.  Significantly, when all of the stones were placed in the gauntlet, Thanos caused half of the living beings in the MCU and most of the Guardians of the Galaxy to fade away like the Wicked Witch of the West at the end of THE WIZARD OF OZ and Ego at the end of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, with Nebula and Rocket amongst the exceptions, setting audiences up for the pulse pounding conclusion of the MCU saga.

        Curiously, the same year that the implicitly Daulphin linked Star Lord faded away at the end of AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, DC, Warners and James Wan returned le Daulphin to the Temple Theatre in the implicit form of Arthur Currie aka “Aquaman”-played again by Mamoa-and had him save Atlantis and its film art-!thank God!-with the help of the Leeloo resembling and evoking Princess Mera-played by Amber Heard-in the twilit, allegorical, and CGI enhanced super satirical animaction film AQUAMAN [2018], a film released on November 26, 2018 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to THE BIG BLUE and THE FIFTH ELEMENT.  A super triumph that was repeated when Dis, Marv and the Russo Brothers had the implicitly Daulphin and Great Oz linked Peter “Pete” Quill aka “Star Lord”-played again by Pratt-eventually return and team up with the rest of the Guardians and the heroes of the MCU to finally face down and defeat the implicitly Eisner and Wicked Warlock of the West linked mad Titan, Thanos-played again by Brolin-and his malevolent minions at the end of the most eagerly awaited film of the new millennium, the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed super satirical animaction film AVENGERS: ENDGAME [2019], a film released on April 22, 2019.

 

“So he’s an idiot.”

 

        Indeed, the Guardians all played prominent roles in the final chapter of the Thanos saga, just as they had in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR.  Kicking off when the implicitly Lana Wachowski and Nikka the Flying Monkey Queen linked Nebula-played again by Gillan-quickly showed up drifting through space with the dying and implicitly Jason Reitman linked Anthony “Tony” Stark aka “Iron Man”-played by Robert Downey jr.-in Quill’s buzzard evoking ravager spaceship a Fourcefull twenty-two days after the Wicked Thanos laid waste to half of the beings in the MCU.  Luckily for the dyspeptic duo, the implicitly Polley linked Carol Danvers aka “Captain Marvel-played by Brie Larson-showed up to save them and carry their spaceship back to Earth, where Stark and Nebula met up with the implicitly Snyder and Cowardly Lion linked Rocket-played again by Cooper-at the Avengers HQ in upstate New York.  Here Nebula revealed that she knew what garden world her father, Thanos was hiding on, and blasted off there with Rocket, Captain Marvel and the rest of the marvelous heroes to get the Infinity Stones so as to return the MCU to its original state with another snap of the fingers.  Alas, that was impossible, as the Wicked Thanos had already used the Infinity Stones to destroy the stones, a revelation that caused the implicitly Cameron linked Thor, god of thunder-played again by Hemsworth-to behead the towering Titan with his trusty new battle axe to make up for failing to kill Thanos at the end of AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR before the he could use the Infinity Stones.

Five years later, with the Earth and the rest of the MCU still in the dark depths of despair, the camera POV flew over water towards a grey, gloomy and twilit New York, evoking the sight of the camera POV flying over water towards a daylit New York at the beginning of LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL.  Then the action switched to San Francisco, where the implicitly Kelly linked Scott Lang aka “Ant-Man”-played by Paul Rudd-managed to escape imprisonment in the limbo of the quantum realm with the help of an inquisitive rat.  Soon he showed up at Avengers HQ in upstate New York and persuaded the rest of the heroes to join him on a time travelling “heist” via the quantum realm to defeat Thanos, time travelling jackanapes that evoked the twilit, allegorical and madcap Gilliam indie animaction films TIME BANDITS [1981] and 12 MONKEYS [1995] to affirm the implicit link of Gilliam to James B. “Bucky” Barnes aka “the Winter Soldier”-played by Sebastian Stan.  And so Rocket joined the implicitly Lucas linked Doctor Bruce Banner aka “the Incredible Hulk”-played by Mark Ruffalo-on a tragicomic trip to “New Asgard” to save Thor from himself and persuade him to join the time travelling romp.  A time travelling romp that saw Rocket return in time with Thor to Asgard to grab the red Reality stone, and Nebula join the implicitly Clement Virgo linked Lieutenant-Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes aka “Iron Patriot” aka “War Machine”-played by Don Cheadle-on a raiding trip to Morag to get the purple Power stone before Quill arrived on the scene dancing away again to “Come And Get Your Love”. 

Alas for Neb, while Rhodey successfully went back to the future with the Power stone, she was captured by her sister, the implicitly Lilly Wachowski and Dorothy linked Gamora-played again by Saldana-and Thanos, who managed to play back her memories and learn of the time travelling plot to defeat him.  A plot that eventually worked, and brought back Quill, and the implicitly Del Toro and Tin Man linked Drax the Destroyer, the implicitly Scarecrow linked Groot and the implicitly Shum linked Mantis-played again by Bautista, Diesel and Klementieff, respectively-and the rest of the marvelous heroes that dissolved at the end of AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, allowing them all to gang up and defeat Thanos and his malevolent minions in a fittingly final battle.  And so the Wicked Thanos faded away at the end of the super battle like the Wicked Witch of the West at the end of THE WIZARD OF OZ, taking the rest of his malevolent minions with him, and perhaps Gamora, as well.  And so the Eisner Era [EE] implicitly ended and the Iger Era [IE] implicitly triumphantly began.  And so harmony returned to the MCU, and Thor left with Quill and the rest of the goofy Guardians on a madcap adventure, in the end. 

And so the Daulphin, perhaps disappointed that VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS failed to succeed in Canada and the U.S. like THE FIFTH ELEMENT before it, went from heady and transcendent heights to dark and violent depths as he had done after the release of THE BIG BLUE and THE FIFTH ELEMENT and remade LA FEMME NIKITA when he donned the writer/director/co-producer hats and collaborated again with Arbogast, Beriot, Lampaert, Luss, Rey, Schroeder, Serra, Tissandier and Reginal Kudiwu-who played the doomed Major Samk in VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS-on the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature film ANNA [2019], a film released on June 19, 2019.

 

“The play within the play.”

 

Curiously, while the Europa Corp intro played, there was no opening title proudly noting “…a Luc Besson film” amidst the few that appeared at the beginning of the film, implicitly affirming the Daulphin’s angry frustration with the failure of VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS to succeed in Canada and the United States.  Then the film began in Moscow in 1985 with a series of co-ordinated arrests on American and Soviet agents in the city instigated by the insidious and Cameron resembling and implicitly linked and implicitly Great Oz linked KGB head Vassiliev-played by Eric Godon.  No sooner accomplished and the heads of the nine arrested operatives-including that of the implicitly Wicked Witch of the East linked character-delivered to the implicitly Tin Man linked Leonard “Lenny” Miller, the head of the CIA at the U.S. embassy-played by Cillian Murphy-then the film jumped five years forward to a street market in Moscow and the sight and sound of the tall, slim, beautiful, died blonde, and Mary Harron resembling and implicitly linked orphan Dorothy waif Anna Poliatova-played by Suss as an adult and by Kamila Hovorkova as a girl, respectively-being “discovered” and lured to model in Paris by a Denis Villeneuve resembling and implicitly linked French talent scout named Samy-played by Jean-Baptiste Puech-who affirmed the implicit link of Anna to a Canadian film artist like Harron.  Curiously, Anna’s first photographer for the Paris modelling agency was the implicitly McDonald linked Jimmy-played by Aleksey Maslodudov-linking Anna to Canadian film artists again.

Significantly, however, no sooner did Anna succeed as a peroxide blonde model, than she was seen using a silencer equipped Beretta 92 to shoot dead a fellow Russian expatriate, the Gardevil resembling and implicitly linked “…international man of mystery” Oleg-played by Andrew Howard-while on a date with him.  The mystery was solved when the film then bounced back in time three years earlier to the tragicomic sight and sound of the poor, despondent and down on her luck Anna turning down a dubious offer from her Ryan Reynolds resembling and implicitly linked and implicitly Scarecrow linked “boyfriend” Piotr aka Petya-played by Alexander Petrov-to join him on an implicitly Hollywood fame and fortune linked life of crime and accepting an offer from the implicitly Cowardly Lion linked KGB agent Alex Tchenkov-played by Luke Evans-to be trained as an hardened killer and angel of death for the KGB and then the CIA who only masqueraded as a tall, swingin’ and beautiful peroxide blonde Parisian model in a fusion of Angela from ANGEL-A and Nikita from LA FEMME NIKITA, the latter film alluded to in ANNA.

Curiously, this whole scenario also evoked the sight and sound of poor American waif Margaret-played by Anne Carlisle-working as a drug luving and peroxide blonde New Wave model in New York before turning into a beautiful blonde angel of death who hunted down and killed all of her most nasty luvers and was aided in her killing spree by an extraterrestrial drug fiend in the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical Slava Tsukerman indie docufeature film LIQUID SKY [1982].  Just as curiously, ANNA also evoked the sight and sound of the equally indomitable, peroxide blonde and implicitly Sofia Carmina [SCC] Coppola linked secret British, CIA and KGB assassin Lorraine Broughton-played by Charlize Theron-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced David Leitch docufeature film ATOMIC BLONDE [2017].  At any rate, given that Anna assassinated the insidious Vassiliev, and then outfoxed and broke free from the capitalist CIA and the anti-capitalist KGB with the help of her pragmatically ruthless and implicitly Wicked Witch of the West linked KGB supervisor Olga-played by Helen Mirren-and then vanished into thin air like Nikita at the end of LA FEMME NIKITA, Lucy at the end of LUCY, and even Liho-Minaa at the end of VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS, complete with a shaved head that evoked the latter, in the end-unlike Broughton, who stood revealed as the notorious Cold War triple agent, Satchel, and flew back to the U.S. with her CIA supervisor, the implicitly Coppola linked Emmet Kurzfeld [played by John Goodman] at the end of ATOMIC BLONDE-Besson implicitly urged Harron to break free from desires for beastly blockbuster film fortune and glory and stick to her difficult, embattled, lonesome but higher minded indie film art path, an implication affirmed by the film’s allusions to the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Cameron roasting Harron indie docufeature film AMERICAN PSYCHO [2005], the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Bigelow addressing indie docufeature film THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE [2006], and the twilit, allegorical and implicitly SCC addressing indie docufeature film CHARLIE SAYS [2018]. 

Or was le Daulphin implicitly urging Harron to leave behind film art and go off to a more “feminine” career, like he implicitly urged Bigelow at the end of LA FEMME NIKITA?  A curious query of no interest at all to Disney, Marvel and Gunn, but the accusations of sexual impropriety that surrounded Besson around the time of the release of ANNA and that led to no charges when investigated did seem to interest them for they waited unusually longer than normal perhaps for the charges to die down before they teamed up again with a familiar company to roast and toast Besson again in the implicit form of the Besson, Great Oz and Air linked Peter “Pete” Quill aka “Star Lord”-played again by Pratt-in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed super satirical animaction film GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 [2023], released on April 19, 2023.

 

“He says,

“…everyone deserves a second chance””.

 

Indeed, an unusually subdued, awkward and even embarrassed spirit suffused the entirety of this latest chapter in the usually more gleefully raucous and rowdy Guardians saga from the opening moments when sombre symphonic music played during the prologue that saw a raccoon pup playing in a cage filled with other pups before someone approached, opened the cage door and reached slowly and ominously in to grab one of the pups.  Then the camera slowly moved in to focus on the eyes of the frightened raccoon pup, CGI eyes that transformed to indicate the passage of time as the twilit, allegorical and Colin and Jonathan Greenwood, Albert Hammond, Mike Hazlewood, Edward O’Brien, Philip Selway and Thomas Yorke written Radiohead tune “Creep [Acoustic Version]” [1993]” played, a song that summed up the abashed and embarrassed mood of the film, and the camera pulled back to reveal the implicitly Snyder and Cowardly Lion linked Rocket Raccoon-played again by Cooper as an adult and by Noa Raskin as a pup, respectively-sitting in a crowded square in Nowhere playing one of Quill’s Zune tunes and singing along to the song before getting up and walking around the square meeting the rest of the goofy Guardians-the big, burly and implicitly Del Toro and Tin Man and Water linked Drax the Destroyer [played again by Bautista], the nasty and implicitly Wicked Witch of the East and Wachowski linked Nebula [played again by Gillan], the Earthy and implicitly Scarecrow linked Groot [played again by Diesel], the implicitly Glinda linked Mantis [played again by Klementieff], and two new additions, the implicitly Lynch linked Kraglin [played again by Gunn] and the ambiguously linked Soviet ESP dog Cosmo [played by Maria Bakalova]-and pondering their new headquarters on Knowhere before entering a bar and coming across a drunk Quill slumped in a chair at a table.  A drunk Quill that soon collapsed on the floor in a stupor, leading Neb to pick him up, take him to his room and dump him on his bed to sleep off his latest bender. 

Significantly, as Nebula tucked Quill in, he suddenly reached out in his sleep and grabbed and stroked her right arm and, while he sleepily mumbled that he luved Gamora, it was still a creepy moment worthy of “Creep [Acoustic Version]” that evoked the sexual harassment charge against Besson and implicitly affirmed the subdued and embarrassed mood of the film.  Indeed, after putting Quill to sleep, the Guardians talked about his problems and jokingly noted that since they were caused by missing Gamora, maybe they should sexually touch him to relieve him of his longing for Gam, openly raising the subject of improper sexual touching to implicitly affirm that the charges against Besson were indeed on the minds of Dis, Marv, Gunn and company in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3.  However, just when it seemed that the film would be about the explicit redemption of Quill and the implicit redemption of Besson, the scene shifted to the sight and sound of a caped golden man who vaguely evoked Superman-played by Will Poulter-flying determinedly through space towards the massive head of the dead god known as Knowhere. 

Soon he burst through the window of Rocket’s room at Guardians HQ and tried to capture the irascible raccoon and take him away, leading to a super battle with the caped character and the Guardians that evoked the super battle seen in JUSTICE LEAGUE and the daylit and twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Snyder super satirical animaction films MAN OF STEEL [2013] and BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE [2016] to affirm the implicit link of Rocket to Snyder.  Significantly, during this super battle, Groot’s body was destroyed and he was reduced to the status of a crawling head, evoking a similar crawling head in the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced John Carpenter docufeature film THE THING [1982] to imply that Groot had been linked to Carpenter as well as the Scarecrow all this time.

Alas, while the caped character was defeated by the Guardians, Rocket was badly injured in the melee, and a closer examination of the raccoon in Quill’s vulture ship medical bay revealed a kill switch that would be triggered if they tried to do anything to help him despite the fact that he had only 48 hours to live, 48 desperate hours that evoked the 48 equally desperate hours need to save the brave new world of CGI enhanced film art in THE FIFTH ELEMENT to reaffirm the implicit link of Quill to Besson.  Curiously, the examination also revealed that Rocket had been created by OrgoCorp, and so the Guardians blasted off with Rocket to OrgoCorp to get the passkey that would turn off the kill switch so they could save the life of their furry friend, leading to a confrontation with the exuberantly Evil, callous, megalomaniacal, Counter-Earth creating, reality recreating, Rocket brain lusting, and implicitly Viola Davis and Wicked Witch of the West linked head of OrgoCorp, the High Evolutionary-played by Chukwudi Iwuji-that was won by the Guardians with the reluctant help of the beautiful and implicitly Wachowski and Dorothy linked Gamora the Ravager-played again by Saldana-and the caped character who turned out to be named Adam Warlock, to have also been created by the Wicked High Evolutionary and was also the loyal subject of another Wicked creation, the tall, beautiful, golden and implicitly Bigelow linked High Priestess Ayesha-played again by Debicki-who was openly linked to Bigelow via Poulter’s Detroit Police Officer Phillip Krauss in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Bigelow indie docufeature film DETROIT [2017].  And so the Guardians and Warlock defeated the Wicked High Evolutionary, his flying monkey evoking Hellspawns, and his people, and Rocket and some experimental animals and Star Children were saved, peace and harmony were returned to the galaxy, and the reputation of Besson was implicitly restored, an implicit interest in Besson affirmed by the return of Fairbank as the broker in a small but perfect card playing cameo and by the film’s allusions to the Matrix Trilogy, the STAR WARS Classic and Tragic Trilogies, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, THX 1138 and VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS. 

Curiously, though, and despite his best and heartfelt efforts to woo her to his side, the new/old Gamora was not interested in Quill and left him for the possibly Francis Coppola linked Stakar Ogord-played by Sylvester Stallone-and the rest of the riotous Ravagers, leaving Quill all on his ownsome again as at the beginning of the film.  A departure that led to Quill quitting the Guardians, disappearing on his own like a true Great Oz and heading off to Earth to link up with his grandfather Jason Quill-played again by Henry-in the end.  A lonesome and difficult but rewarding and triumphant indie path that knew well did Besson for the only path he had ever followed it was.  And a good thing, as led to an enthusiastic worldwide embrace of always original and innovative films and success the indie film art path did, and one worthy of being called neither Big Luc or Film Lord but the title that summed up that mastered and fused both the Anglophone and Francophone film art worlds he had to become…the Daulphin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hayward, Susan.  Luc Besson.  Manchester: Manchester Uni-

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Salisbury, Mark.  Valerian And The City Of A Thousand

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