In such a perspective, even « Les anges de l’apocalypse » is not an absolute waste of time : the film provides clues about Besson’s amazing success, if not as a scriptwriter or a filmmaker, as a business man.
« Le dernier combat », Besson’s first film despite its title, was already apocalyptic, but also a film about ecology, like, later and more openly, « Le grand bleu » and « Atlantis ».
Though not a film about ecology, « Les anges de l’apocalypse » is a true ecological film : nothing in it is original, everything is recycled, from previous movies, books, History, religions…
« Les anges de l’apocalypse » is a triumph in waste management and sustainable cinema : as raw materials, i.e. original ideas, become increasingly scarce, the film shows how to produce movies which consume none of them.
« Les anges de l’apocalypse » is the economic demonstration that more efficient recycling is the financial future of cinema.
While films have routinely been based on books, one single novel shall now « inspire » at least a trilogy of films ; after producing a ready-made film about a real-life band of urban stunts men, you shall recycle them as a brand of Shaolin-style Christian monks in an unrelated movie ; instead of drilling your brains for original ideas, you shall take public domain myths and religions, twist and copyright them in your own name.
True, the latter strategy has been, for decades, Disney’s, then Spielberg’s, recipe for success, but the first reel of « Raiders of the lost ark » is still packed with enough original action and surprises to overfeed a dozen of Luc Besson’s trilogies.
Luc Besson only throws away a property after he has fully squeezed it : his « Taxi » trilogy has run on increasingly little gas, he shall never produce a Hummer of a film. Luc Besson is where Hollywood meets ecology.
His lack of humour is another key factor in Besson’s success. Whenever « Les anges de l’apocalypse » attempts at comedy, the film manages to sink even lower.
Besson’s lack of humour implies a total absence of self-derision : the self-made-success-story cannot doubt himself ; otherwise, like Jean-Christophe Grangé, he would have admitted his lack of inspiration and given up on « Les anges de l’apocalypse ».
Instead, his ecological sense could not stand that a property with financial potential go to waste and wrote a no-story by which he stood : cinema was one film « richer » and the world creativity reserves none the poorer.
Luc Besson is a remarkable paradox : he achieves the heights of success by exploring the depths of filmmaking. The anti-Icarus, he is not fascinated by the sun and flying, but by the underground and diving. Icarus’s fate suggests this is a sensible choice.
In « Les anges de l’apocalypse », Besson’s taste for underground locations and his recycling urge combine to rehabilitate « la ligne Maginot ».
A costly historical symbol of uselessness, said defensive line had been built in Eastern France against German invasions : it succeeded so well as a deterrent the Nazis instead cut through Belgium.
Thanks to « Les anges de l’apocalypse », the « Ligne Maginot » endless tunnels at last reveal their true purpose : they were meant to be film sets.