In 1914, aliens known as Mondashawans converge at an ancient Egyptian temple, which is simultaneously the site of an archaeological dig, to retrieve a weapon that can stop a great evil that resurfaces every five millennia. They promise to return the weapon before that evil returns again, with the weapon containing the five classical elements along with a mysterious fifth. Then, in 2263, the Mondashawans are returning to Earth with the weapon when a group of alien mercenaries called Mangalores working for industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman), himself working for the great evil, are ambushed. A severed human hand from the wreckage is then brought to New York City where it's used to create Leeloo (Milla Jovovich), a female humanoid who jumps off a skyscraper and into the flying taxi of Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a retired soldier. After Dallas now takes Leeloo to priest Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) and his apprentice David (Charlie Creed-Miles), she is revealed to be the Fifth Element. Now Korben and Leeloo must take a journey, beginning with a luxury flight where they recruit the reluctant help of drag queen talk show host Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker), across the universe to recover the stones of the other four elements, in order to reforge the weapon with which to save the world.
Today marked the first time I'd seen this cult science fiction classic since I was about ten; all I'd remembered of it was Tucker's hilarious character and the flying cars. French director and co-writer Luc Besson first had the inspiration for it at age 16, but spent 20 years refining the story before finally filming it. The result is a delightfully, unashamedly outrageous and garish slice of pop SF that seems to merge influences as sparse as King Solomon's Mines and Andy Warhol. Upon release it was the costliest European movie in history and it's obvious why, but neither the visuals nor the huge stars' presence overshadow the central plot and Besson and his team never let that out of their sights either. Nonetheless, this is definitely a movie where style adds hugely to its appeal, and not to be outdone alongside the impressive visual effects is the design. Besson hired Jean Giraud and Jean-Claude Mezieres, two of the comic artists whose work strongly influenced him, to work on the sets, and only somebody like Jean-Paul Gaultier could've designed such bizarre costumes as the ones here (especially, of course, Ruby's, perhaps unsurprisingly).
The Fifth Element remains Besson's most famous film, and while he's made missteps since then (most notably 2017's truly horrific Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), I found it to be a completely engaging, distinctive and wonderfully (albeit intentionally) ridiculous science fiction ride. 9/10.
Today marked the first time I'd seen this cult science fiction classic since I was about ten; all I'd remembered of it was Tucker's hilarious character and the flying cars. French director and co-writer Luc Besson first had the inspiration for it at age 16, but spent 20 years refining the story before finally filming it. The result is a delightfully, unashamedly outrageous and garish slice of pop SF that seems to merge influences as sparse as King Solomon's Mines and Andy Warhol. Upon release it was the costliest European movie in history and it's obvious why, but neither the visuals nor the huge stars' presence overshadow the central plot and Besson and his team never let that out of their sights either. Nonetheless, this is definitely a movie where style adds hugely to its appeal, and not to be outdone alongside the impressive visual effects is the design. Besson hired Jean Giraud and Jean-Claude Mezieres, two of the comic artists whose work strongly influenced him, to work on the sets, and only somebody like Jean-Paul Gaultier could've designed such bizarre costumes as the ones here (especially, of course, Ruby's, perhaps unsurprisingly).
The Fifth Element remains Besson's most famous film, and while he's made missteps since then (most notably 2017's truly horrific Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), I found it to be a completely engaging, distinctive and wonderfully (albeit intentionally) ridiculous science fiction ride. 9/10.
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