“I had an English teacher in college who was totally in love with this movie and kind of ruined it for everyone.
He HATED Gary Oldman, and I guess must have hated Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He said Gary Oldman wasn’t a villain, he was “just a thug with a gun.” Which I disagreed with, privately, due to the merits of The 5th Element. Although I was pretty sure I was right, I knew enough to suspect my arguments with The 5th Element at their core would not sway this fella.
Anyway, the sets are unbelievably cool, but I could do with less lights shining on Bela’s eyes for long shots. Snooze on that.
Overall, this dude kinda wrecked the whole affair for me by, as Billy Collins would put it, tying the movie to a chair and beating a confession out of it. “