Le Cinquième Élément

One of the greatest sci-fi movies ever, wrapped up in one of the most subtle love stories ever. The characters are well cast and well acted. The creature costumes and effects are amazing for their time. The story is unique and dynamic. A true classic.

THE FIFTH ELEMENT is a complex film....if you WANT it to be! It offers varying levels of analysis depending on the tools you have to dig with! On the surface, a "leave your brain in the cloakroom" sci-fi yarn, you may well find wanting! As far removed from STAR WARS as Austin Powers is from DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. this film is pitched uniquely at those who can laugh at life but who have deep down an unquenchable desire for adventure and the romantic.

Set on a futuristic earth, where really nothing has changed except the technology, Bruce Willis is STILL John McLane, a has-been stormtrooper reduced now to driving air-cabs for a living...same old premise for him - nothing's changed much since STRIKING DISTANCE, except maybe the yellow hair-rinse. Now, legend has it that in a time long long ago, the forces of darkness visited earth and were repelled by the unification in close proximity, of four stones representing the four elements. earth, wind, fire and water together with a fifth "element" of unknown origin.

Dear old Ian Holm is Priest Cornelius, an expert authority on the five elements and keeper of all knowledge on things magical and mysterious. Gary Oldman in arguably his most way-put role is General Zorg who has done a deal with "The Dark Side" and whose sole purpose is to take possession of the elemental stones. The scene wherein he demonstrates the new weaponry to his alien henchman (from which the one-line "summary quote" above is taken) is an absolute classic of cinema. Milla Jovovich (Married to Besson at the time of the flick) is absolutely rivetting as Leeloo, the cloned/unzipped humanised fifth element. She must have practised long and hard perfecting her ancient language dialog....it's amazing. She strikes exactly the right note as a being of purity, femininity and warrior woman. As the film progresses she assumes the identitiy of the perfect girl any man would wish for and want to protect.

The comedy angle is hysterical, the action sequences in your face, and the fx generally impressive if not mega weird at times. Color and visuals play a major role in this pro-European production, the continent where not surprisingly it was most successful. The outcome naturally is predictable and in the best traditions of "will love save the day?" as if it wasn't always going to???

So, there u have it. Watch it one-dimensionally and that's what you'll get back. let it flow, immerse yourself in IT and you couldn't fail to have a good time, unless of course you are clinically dead or devoid of any sense of fun or fantasy ....but in that case you'd be wasting your time anyway, it wasn't MADE for you!

I saw the fifth element at home for the first time on Netflix, many years after it had come out. I enjoyed it a lot. Didn't love it, but had a great time. Bought if for my wife since she loves the movie. We enjoyed it again.

Recently, the movie was playing at one of our favorite theaters for it's anniversary. I was blown away.

This movie is such a great adventure, a visual feast, and just alot of fun. I love all the characters and the action holds up. They don't really make movies like this anymore. It's a weird one and I love that about it. On the big screen I really felt like I finally experienced this movie the way it was meant to be seen.

This movie rocks, check it out!

It's 300 years after the previous visit, a Mondoshawan spaceship is bringing the Fifth Element back to Earth to defeat a coming great evil. However it is destroyed by the evil Mangalores on the behest of the greedy Zorg (Gary Oldman). A team of scientists use the DNA found at the crash site to recreate the Fifth Element, a perfect warrior called Leeloo (Milla Jovovich). She escapes from the laboratory and drops in on taxi driver Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis). He helps her find Father Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) to bring the five elements together to defeat the evil.

This is a great looking sci-fi movie from director Luc Besson. It proves that big sci-fi production is not just an American domain. Luc Besson brings an entirely different sense and visual look to the genre. It is artistic and wonderful. The fashion from Jean-Paul Gaultier really sets this apart. Bruce Willis does his John McClane persona once again. Milla Jovovich makes the best entrance, and Chris Tucker is wacky funny. It is visual candy coated fun.

I think The Fifth Element is the movie I have seen the most... It is a perfect mixture of action and comedy, science-fiction, suspense and romance. Set in a not so far future, the eternal battle between good and evil is shown to us in an extravagant setting. Flying cars, aeroplanes that go at the speed of light, weird creatures and ugly aliens are only a few things that are present during this film. The story has never been seen before : Good has only one weapon to defeat evil; it is composed of four stones representing the four element (water, earth, fire and air) and a perfect creature. These five elements have to be united before the forces of evil arrive to earth. But evil has found help and the stones have disappeared. Bruce Willis (one of the best action actors of our time), Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm and Gary Oldman make the suspense even more intense. Chris Tucker is incredibly funny and ads a lot to the comic side of the film. The story is extremely imaginative and is, in my opinion, one of Luc Besson's best. I have never seen anything else like it. The costumes, designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, are unbelievably imaginative and fun. They are a big part of the extravagance and originality of the movie. The score, by Eric Serra (one of my favourites) is simply a work of art. And last but not least, the special effects are absolutely excellent, adding to the quality of the movie. If you are looking for action and a good laugh, this is the film to see. But the actors are not the only things that make this film worth seeing. Click here