When The Fifth Element was released in 1997, it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was selected as the opening film. By the end of the year, the movie grossed over $263,920,180, making it the 9th highest-grossing film of the year. After seeing The Fifth Element, I was surprised to realize that the entire story and ideas came from an teenage boy. Who's that teenage boy you might ask? It came from the film's director and writer, Luc Besson. Besson came up with the story while he was in high school. As a movie, it is more than meet the eye.
The story begins with a text, saying, "Egypt, 1914." Aliens called Mondoshawans come to Earth to collect a weapon that can be use to defeat a Great Evil that appears every 5,000 years. The weapon consists of four stones. Each has its classification of elements. All four stones revolved around a fifth element, which is represented in the form of a human. Before leaving Earth, the aliens promise that they will return the four stones in time to stop the Great Evil.
The movie then fast forwards to the 23rd century, in the year 2263, where New York City cab driver, Korben Dallas, (Bruce Willis), is an ordinary everyday man that sort of like the kind of guy Willis played in Die Hard, sort to think. Anyway, the Great Evil appears space in the form of a giant black ball of fire. Vito Cornelius, (Ian Holm), informs the president the background history of the Great Evil. As the Mandoshawans head to Earth, another race of aliens, the bad kind, the Mangalores, who work for Zorg, (Gary Oldman), decides to shoot down the Mandoshawans' ship. Even though the stones weren't on board, there is one thing that does survive. The hand of the fifth element. Scientists then create an beautiful alien named Leeloo, (Milla Jovovich). But Leeloo escapes and finds herself falling into Dallas' cab. After a rocky start, Dallas realizes that he must protect Leeloo from danger because she is the fifth element, as we learn later on in the movie.
Now, you might think that The Fifth Element is a very bad science- fiction movie, right? Well, it isn't. In fact, I really enjoyed this movie because of the film's amazing and dazzling special effects. In fact, I like to point out that this the first science-fiction movie I've seen where the future is not at all depressing or screwed up in any way. I like this kind of future. I would definitely get lost in this kind of world. The way the colors are used in the movie and the way different shapes are used is something stunning. I really enjoyed the fact that the movie had time to stop for humor because there are a number of funny moments that are in this movie. Most of them come from Chris Tucker, who plays an radio DJ, who is very very eccentric. He really generates much of the movie's funny moments. At certain times, the gears do shift once in awhile. But, it did worked. The cinematography of the movie is very good and I also admired the costume design, which was done by Jean Paul Gaultier.
However, even though I'm given a lot of credit to the technical aspects of the movie and to the story, the movie does run on a little too long. Clocking in at 2 hours and 7 minutes, the movie shouldn't been edited into a more tighter time space. I would definitely cut back on some of the opening scene of the movie because I felt it did go on for a little while. But that aside, I did have a good time watching this movie. I believed in the story that Besson had to offered although the most interesting thing about his story is that it isn't like Star Wars. When I mean is that in the Star Wars movies, there are a lot of ideas and pieces that are burrowed from other movies. In a way, those pictures are like puzzles. However, The Fifth Element isn't like Star Wars. There isn't anything burrowed from other movies in this film, but what we have is an original idea and story that comes from an man who grew up to become an very well-detailed virtuoso. There's a lot of money that was spend on the making of this movie, but Besson sure knows how to spend it. This is one ride that you would like to take again. ★★★ 3 stars.
The story begins with a text, saying, "Egypt, 1914." Aliens called Mondoshawans come to Earth to collect a weapon that can be use to defeat a Great Evil that appears every 5,000 years. The weapon consists of four stones. Each has its classification of elements. All four stones revolved around a fifth element, which is represented in the form of a human. Before leaving Earth, the aliens promise that they will return the four stones in time to stop the Great Evil.
The movie then fast forwards to the 23rd century, in the year 2263, where New York City cab driver, Korben Dallas, (Bruce Willis), is an ordinary everyday man that sort of like the kind of guy Willis played in Die Hard, sort to think. Anyway, the Great Evil appears space in the form of a giant black ball of fire. Vito Cornelius, (Ian Holm), informs the president the background history of the Great Evil. As the Mandoshawans head to Earth, another race of aliens, the bad kind, the Mangalores, who work for Zorg, (Gary Oldman), decides to shoot down the Mandoshawans' ship. Even though the stones weren't on board, there is one thing that does survive. The hand of the fifth element. Scientists then create an beautiful alien named Leeloo, (Milla Jovovich). But Leeloo escapes and finds herself falling into Dallas' cab. After a rocky start, Dallas realizes that he must protect Leeloo from danger because she is the fifth element, as we learn later on in the movie.
Now, you might think that The Fifth Element is a very bad science- fiction movie, right? Well, it isn't. In fact, I really enjoyed this movie because of the film's amazing and dazzling special effects. In fact, I like to point out that this the first science-fiction movie I've seen where the future is not at all depressing or screwed up in any way. I like this kind of future. I would definitely get lost in this kind of world. The way the colors are used in the movie and the way different shapes are used is something stunning. I really enjoyed the fact that the movie had time to stop for humor because there are a number of funny moments that are in this movie. Most of them come from Chris Tucker, who plays an radio DJ, who is very very eccentric. He really generates much of the movie's funny moments. At certain times, the gears do shift once in awhile. But, it did worked. The cinematography of the movie is very good and I also admired the costume design, which was done by Jean Paul Gaultier.
However, even though I'm given a lot of credit to the technical aspects of the movie and to the story, the movie does run on a little too long. Clocking in at 2 hours and 7 minutes, the movie shouldn't been edited into a more tighter time space. I would definitely cut back on some of the opening scene of the movie because I felt it did go on for a little while. But that aside, I did have a good time watching this movie. I believed in the story that Besson had to offered although the most interesting thing about his story is that it isn't like Star Wars. When I mean is that in the Star Wars movies, there are a lot of ideas and pieces that are burrowed from other movies. In a way, those pictures are like puzzles. However, The Fifth Element isn't like Star Wars. There isn't anything burrowed from other movies in this film, but what we have is an original idea and story that comes from an man who grew up to become an very well-detailed virtuoso. There's a lot of money that was spend on the making of this movie, but Besson sure knows how to spend it. This is one ride that you would like to take again. ★★★ 3 stars.