The Fifth Prophecy

   I'm convinced that whatever Luc Besson on his team were eating/drinking/smoking/whatever when they started working on "The Fifth Element," it gave them a unique look into the future of humanity.  And I'm not just talking about the general stuff, though there is plenty of that too.

   They completely nailed the political/celebrity hybrid structure that our world is slowly leaning toward.  They nailed the big-business concepts with Zorg and his complete, naive, almost innocent disregard for humanity.  They even got the annoying radio DJ right.  They created a world in this movie that is a farce of itself, and thanks to social media, the entertainment industry, and the political machine, we are very quickly becoming that ourselves.  

   Think about it... we're reaching a world where everything -- everything -- has a name.  hurricanes, winter storms, athlete's body positions, the list goes on.  But, I digress.  As I said they nailed the general concepts... but there are couple of VERY specific ways in which "The Fifth Element" is correctly predicting our future:

   1.  We're living in a "super green" world.  As the great (and greatly annoying) Ruby Rod was so fond of saying, the idea of "super green" is becoming a reality.  Right now it has to do with buildings that are extra protective of the environment, but keep in mind we're not in the future yet.  All it takes is one environmental catastrophe, someone to prove global warming exists, some kind of superstorm/shark attack hybrid, and the next thing you know we'll all be talking about "super green."  It won't be long before the web gets a hold of it, and the next thing you know we'll be calling everything that's good or cool "super green."

   2.  Our living spaces are becoming foldaway storage facilities.  This is a trend that's just catching on, but something tells me as we continue to explode our population without any regard for our world or what it can handle, we're all eventually going to have to come to grips with a solution like this.  And while I wouldn't mind the "autowash" feature that came along with the movie, I don't know how I feel about all of us cramming into these buildings like sardines.  

   If you've never seen "The Fifth Element," I can't recommend it highly enough.  It came out many, many years ago, but it is still very near -- if not at -- the top of my list of all-time favorite movies.  It gets almost every single thing right.  It's hilarious, it has great action, a very attractive heroine, awesome soundtrack, and actually astonishing special effects (especially given when it came out).  There's only ONE spot where this movie drags, and that's in the scene where he's stuck behind the bar.  Watch it and tell me if you disagree.

   I can't wait to see what truth comes out of this movie next.  Intergalactic cruise ships?  Flying cars?  I just hope it's not a giant evil meteor trying to destroy the planet... something tells me Bruce Willis might be too old by then to do anything about it.  Though I could be wrong.