The Fifth Element

Year: 1997
Running time: 126 minutes
Certificate: PG
Language: English
Screenplay: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, Luke Perry, Brion James, Tommy Lister, Lee Evans, Tricky, Charlie Creed-Miles

Leeloo struggles to come to grips with Luc Besson's
imagination.

In a recent interview, Milla Jovovich, now arguably better known for the Resident Evil movie franchise, was asked what line she gets quoted back to her most often. The answer was one word: "Multipass". Such is the depth of love for this flawed yet fun epic sci-fi mess. The Fifth Element is a fairly unique film, in that it is a big budget Hollywood action movie but, thanks to director and writer Luc Besson retaining full creative control, it has a distinctly European flavour to it. The result is, frankly, weird. Set in the future where all life is periodically under threat from a flaming planet of evil known as Mr Shadow, only ex-military cab driver Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) can save us all with the help of the four elements Earth, Fire, Wind and Water (yes, apparently the ancient Greeks were right all along – anyone with the simplest grasp of modern chemistry will wince at the whole concept) and a mysterious fifth element – a supreme being. Despite sporting a bizarre blonde haircut, Willis is as charismatic a leading man as you’d expect. Two members of an ancient order of monks dedicated to thwarting evil, Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) and David (Charlie Creed-Miles) convince President Lindberg (Tommy 'Tiny' Lister) of the seriousness of the threat, but it all goes horribly wrong when the alien ship containing the titular element is destroyed. Behind this dastardly act is millionaire and all-round bad egg Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman), who is working for Mr Shadow. The fact that it has taken this long to outline the opening and general plot illustrates just what a sprawling mess this is. Somehow, it only adds to the charm. ‘Serious’ actors Ian Holm and Gary Oldman are clearly having a blast and simply going with the ridiculousness. Stealing the film outright, however, is the magnificent Milla Jovovich, as the perfect supreme being Leeloo. Re-created from a piece of DNA recovered from the crashed ship, she soon escapes from her 'unbreakable' cage and goes on the run.

The plot is fluff and nonsense, simply providing an excuse to go from set piece to set piece, while showing off the wonderfully designed visuals. For example, the moment when Leeloo escapes out onto a building ledge and we and her get a first look of the sprawling city, with buildings that stretch beyond the clouds and layer upon layer of flying traffic it is breath-taking, even now, 15 years later. With nowhere to go, Leeloo takes a dive off the ledge, landing in Korben's taxi-cab. Action follows, and the Universe is eventually saved. Despite the expense and beautiful imagery, sometimes the sets appear cheap and cardboard-like – see the supposedly luxurious cruise liner floating above tourist planet Flotsam Paradise, for the most obvious example.

Korben Dallas, busy saving the Universe.

So, Bruce Willis (or Korben Dallas if you prefer) does his thing and saves the day– that part is all pretty standard. It is not quite that simple, though. Added into the mix, for example, are techno-opera performed by a blue alien diva carrying magic stones in her stomach and Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod, a batshit crazy squeaky-voiced over-sexed DJ. Tucker is easily the most criticised thing in this film and for some he ruins the whole movie, while for others he’s only mildly annoying. No-one ever tells you they loved him. For me, the whole thing was already so insane, Tucker’s character made little difference - his obvious frustration at the one-word answers he gets from Dallas is actually quite amusing.

There is something about The Fifth Element that causes me to like it a lot more than perhaps I should. Despite Chris Tucker, the poor dialogue, overly complicated plot (Besson came up with the story as a teenager, and you can surely tell) and mad character and costume design, or even because of these things, it sets itself apart from its peers. Whatever the reason, I count myself a fan.

Score: 7/10

I'm certainly not alone in my slightly perplexed admiration of The Fifth Element - see these reviews by Bryant at Deep Focus and Roger Ebert.