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All Movie Info
Starring:
Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Milla Jovovich, Luke Perry, Lee Evans, Chris Tucker, Brion James, Tom 'Tiny' Lister Jr., John Neville, John Bluthal, Maiwenn Le Besco, Mathieu Kassovitz, Charlie Creed-Miles, Tricky, Christopher Fairbank, Christopher Fairbank
Directed By:
Luc Besson
Written By:
Luc Besson
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The Fifth Element (1997)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
July 4th, 2008
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Like Star Wars and Blade Runner, 'The Fifth Element' creates a vivid, vibrant, and breathtaking vision of the future, with so many wondrous sights to behold, so many fine details to absorb, that it is possible to get distracted by images one might spot in the background. The plot is preposterous in this Luc Besson foray into science fiction, but that is irrelevant; it succeeds as both a work of art and entertainment, with terrific action sequences that involve martial arts, firearms, and explosions, which are all typical elements of a Besson movie. The story starts in Egypt, 1914, at an archaeological site; bizarre aliens arrive in a ship that looks somewhat like a pineapple and prophetically state that they will return 300 years later, when evil threatens to destroy humanity.
And this evil does emerge three centuries later, in the form of a gigantic ball of fire. A priest named Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) informs the president (whether of the earth or of the galaxy I cannot be sure) that the evil can only be stopped by a ritual involving four stones, representing the four elements (of wind, fire, earth, and water), and, of course, the fifth element, which turns out to be a human entity, known as Leeloo (Mila Jovovich), who speaks an odd, largely extinct language, but struggles to learn English after she ends up crossing paths with taxi driver Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a former army officer. Dallas, against his better judgment, refuses to hand her over to the police (she escapes from a lab), and it is Dallas who takes her to Cornelius, who recognizes her for what she is, and can translate what she is saying. Leeloo must recover the four stones, which have been entrusted to a majestic and strangely beautiful blue female creature known as the Diva, whose haunting, operatic voice is the star attraction at a lush hotel resort. But there are others after the stones, as well, including the sinister Mr Zorg (Gary Oldman), and the porcine warriors he has double-crossed. Chris Tucker plays the supremely annoying celebrity show host Ruby Rhod, who is flamboyant and effeminate (he wears feminine clothing), and yet is also a womanizer, though he expresses a sexual interest in men, as well. It is difficult to stand Ruby for long periods of time; he does not provide much in the way of comic relief, so one must wonder why Besson included him as a character in the first place.
There is one particular fight scene that is masterfully shot and choreographed, where Leeloo lays the smackdown on a gang of Mangalores (those porcine warriors I mentioned earlier), while the Diva performs for a transfixed audience. The way it cuts back and forth between them is mesmerizing. Willis channels his Die Hard persona here; Korben Dallas is a protege of John McClane, but Willis is consistently engaging and fun to watch, as a veteran of the action genre. Holm is actually the one who provides some occasional laughs, as the bumbling and uptight Cornelius. Oldman is a hoot as main villain Zorg, with a ridiculous hairdo, and a weird southern accent of sorts. Jovovich is great, this character is precursor to Alice from the Resident Evil films; she also eventually married Besson, but they got divorced in 1999. Overall, good stuff.
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