The Radio Times Guide to Science Fiction:

With his first feature - an arresting poetic vision of post-apocalypse Paris after an unspecified cataclysm has reduced the Earth to a desolate wasteland - director Luc Besson laid the groundwork for The Fifth Element and began his long relationship with actor Jean Reno. Four survivors battle for the future of mankind in this stark alternative to Mad Max, which conveys its raw emotions in carefully orchestrated, black-and-white visuals without any dialogue (poisonous gases having rendered the characters' vocal chords useless). It's a remarkable achievement that deals with hackneyed holocaust cliches on a compelling, humanistic and touching plane.