A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Fifth Element”. (1997, 4*, 12).
Original title: Le cinquième élément.
Luc Besson’s 1997 Sci-Fi comedy made the rounds as an Everyman Throwback back in February of this year but, as for many of the Throwbacks I saw on the big screen at this Oscar-rich time, I failed to complete my review of it. I’ve just refreshed my memory of the film and am ready to do it justice.
I suspect this one will be a seriously ‘Marmite’ sort of movie: there will be a lot of people who love its cheesy high-camp humour and other sci-fi purists that won’t give it the time of day. I am firmly in the former camp. It’s a terrific blast of comedic Sci-fi fun.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) is a Brooklyn-based taxi driver in a New York some 200 years in the future. When the beautiful but mysterious girl Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) literally drops in on him, he gets embroiled in a desperate mission to save the earth from a marauding evil force.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC website: “Moderate sex references”.)
Talent:
Starring: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, Luke Perry, Brion James, Tom Lister Jr., Lee Evans, Julie T. Wallace, John Neville, Maïwenn, John Bluthal.
Directed by: Luc Besson.
Written by: Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen. (From a story by Luc Besson.)
Running Time: 2h 6m.
Review:
Positives:
- The film starts really strongly, setting up the premise in 1914 Egypt (actually Mauritania). The film sets out its comedy stall from the first scene: Professor Pacoli (John Bluthal) keeps yelling at his dozy peasant boy Aziz for “LIGHT!” as he works inside an ancient temple with his assistant keeping a tally of the number of times he yells it. Aliens appear, shedding much more light! The aliens look ridiculously clumsy (about as likely an evolutionary development as Rocky in “Project Hail Mary“!), but by then we don’t care: most of us are already along for the ride!
- The casting is really top notch:
- Bruce Willis is perfectly cast as Korben Dallas, the wise-cracking John McClane. (Or you feel that is exactly how he’s been briefed to perform… he even gets to do a John McClane “Die Hard” explosion-leap later in the film!)
- Supermodel Milla Jovovich was fairly early in her film career here (this was her sixth film, with many of the others being pretty duff) but WOW! – does she make a powerful impression as the “perfect being”. From the moment she is reconstructed – naked – in the UV chamber and then conveniently wrapped in “thermal bandages” to protect her modesty, she radiates charisma, charm and sex appeal, finding numerous ways to suddenly pull off her top to change it! The alien language she gets to spout sounds wonderfully realistic (co-developed with Besson as a genuine 400 word language) and she delivers the lines with style. Her classic line “Leeloo Dallas, Multi-pass” has become one of the most memorable memes from any movie.
- Ian Holm plays his role as the high priest Cornelius with the most devilish twinkle in his eye where he knows that this material is ridiculous and well below him and moreover he knows that you know too!
- Similarly, Gary Oldman knows fully well what the score is with the script and leans into it wonderfully as the evil traitor to Earth Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg. He sports a ludicrous costume and headgear and tops it off with a ridiculous Deep South accent: a peerless comic performance.
- Chris Tucker outrageously plays Ruby Rhod: a character well ahead of his time because today we would view him as an internet influencer of the highest order. It’s camp, completely over-the-top but perfect.
- Elsewhere in the cast we have some perfectly pitched roles: Julie T. Wallace as Major Iceborg, the giant haystack of a woman supposed to be playing Korben’s wife; Maïwenn as the opera diva Plavalaguna, when performing the ‘Aria of Lucia Di Lannermoor’ (filmed in the Royal Covent Garden Opera House) surely one of the most memorably strange and gripping musical performances in movie history; and Lee Evans being very Lee Evans as the security officer Fog.
- The script smashes the six-laugh test with some real belters. It very seldom takes itself seriously, sticking strictly on the ‘comedy’ side of ‘action/comedy’.
- An early space battle reminded me distinctly of that comedy space battle in “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” (“You lucky bastard!”, LOL);
- The sequence where five individuals hide in Korben’s tiny apartment is hilarious with Leeloo getting one of the short straws with the “auto-wash” shower, but by far and away not the worst hiding place!;
- The Zone 2 Stewardess (Natasha Brice) receiving a perfectly timed orgasm thanks to Ruby Rhod’s tongue as the spaceship blasts off: one of the funniest orgasms since ‘Lassie’ in “Porky’s”;
- The “ZF-1” multi-function gun, including the ‘big red button’. Stupid, but fun.
- and a very, very James Bond-esque final scene…. you just need Desmond Llewellyn’s Q there saying “I think he’s attempting reentry sir!”
- Amongst the laughs, the film manages to slip in some touching moments too. The love story between Korben and Leeloo is very sweet and – thanks to some superior acting by Jovovich – the scene where Leeloo gets to “W” in her learning and learns about war manages to be moving in a very significant way.
- The production design is outstanding. The New York of the future, complete with high rises and flying cars everywhere, looks tremendous for a time when CGI was in its infancy (“Titanic”, with its dodgy stick figures on deck, came out that same year). The foggy lower reaches of the city are clearly influenced by “Blade Runner“, which is no bad thing.
Negatives:
- The film borders on ridiculously silly and I can see a whole portion of viewers who just will not buy into how nuts it gets. If you are looking for a serious Sci-Fi, this is not the film for you.
- Two Hundred years from now? No, I don’t think so. The UK won’t have built HS2 by then, let alone all of the space technology shown in here!
Summary Thoughts:
Well, we know now that we are never going to escape the scourge of McDonalds! Some funny product placement is just one of the delights in Luc Besson’s gloriously over-the-top Sci-fi comedy thriller.
It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but as a feelgood movie for me, it’s tough to beat. It’s super green.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqs9ycvKfD8.
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