The Fifth Element

This amazingly visual, funny, nonsensical science fiction thriller from the mind of writer/director/producer Luc Besson is one of the reasons I wish he would direct more often than he has lately, though perhaps he’s able to make more films by producing and sometimes co-writing and I ought to be happy with that. Some hundreds of years from now Earth has a single government and flying cars and regular interstellar travel, though life is not perfect and an active military force is required to protect us from some of the alien races we’ve encountered.

The title of the The Fifth Element refers to a powerful force that Humanity needs to defeat the ultimate evil, who is returning after being held off 5,000 years ago with the assistance of since forgotten aliens. Gary Oldman plays a sniveling, powerful misanthrope paving the way for the evil being by attempting to disrupt the delivery of the fifth element while Bruce Willis is a struggling cab driver and retired Special Forces soldier drafted in to prevent disaster. Willis gets calls from his yenta of a mom wondering when he’ll be a mensch and give her grandkids already.

Two actors got their first real public awareness here: Milla Jovovich is the embodied title character, this movie launching her into a series of asskicking heroine roles and Chris Tucker is terrific as media host caught in the middle—imagine an extroverted, taller Prince. Character actors Ian Holms (the priest), Tiny Lister (the president) and Brion James (the general) lead a huge supporting cast of humans, altered humans and barely past cartoonish aliens for two hours of true fun.

Easily a film that can be watched every two or three years without getting bored! Almost makes it on to my favorites list.

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