Review of The Fifth Element (1997) by Kai82 — 09 Jun 2021

An excellent popcorn movie, that became a classic over the years and an interesting case. It is a movie I truly liked even after many rewatches but it strangely also misses to win me over completely (Clarification: Difference between 8/10 to a 10/10).

More strangely many people agree as it was nominated for positive and negative awards at the same time. I enjoyed the worldbuilding, characters, humor, ideas and story in general. Much harder is to pinpoint what I did not like or better said prevented a better rating.

After putting some thought into this I will say it takes a bit too long at the start and misses to reach the level of the best movies in the science fiction genre (To be fair I even have a guilty conscience to write this).

Story: After a set up in 1914 we jump to the year 2263 where our protagonist Korben Dallas who works as (flying) cab driver and gets in the adventure of a lifetime when the women Leeloo falls into his life;-).

Meanwhile the ultra rich Jean Baptiste Emanuel Zorg makes a deal with a shady figure to gain even more power. All of this is linked to an ancient story. Here I will stop because of spoilers. The story is like I already said excellent popcorn material.

When the slower start is over it has a great mixture of action, humor, character (interactions) within the entertaining story. Worldbuilding: I like the universe it creates. It feels like something that could be as the technology has evolved but mankind has still the same problems or struggles.

The special and practical effects work well and enhance the experience. I never doubted anything in the movie. Characters: The whole cast did a great job and you can see how much fun they had. I read an article that they had so much takes they could not use because of laughing.

Lets start with Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas. He gives a really good performance and is enjoyable. Milla Jovovich as Leeloo impressed me even more. Back then she was not that famous and her performance made her widely know and impressed many including me.

Today she was the star in many films and is a quite well regarded action film heroine. Also truly enjoyable is Gary Oldman as Jean Baptiste Emanuel Zorg. He is such a good villain and has memorable scenes like for example his weapon presentation.

One of my favorite villains of that time and would be also fitting in a James Bond movie. Then there is Chris Tucker as Ruby Rod. Truly great comedy performance that enhance the cast. Lastly I want to praise Maiwenn Le Besco as (Diva) Plavalaguna.

Has only a smaller role but her performance transcended the movie and is even today well known. A truly good overall performance. Visuals / soundtrack: The movie is visually impressing. You can clearly see director Luc Bessons vision and ideas.

Like I already said it was always believable and look amazing. The soundtrack is excellent too. It uses a lot of orchestral music and is worth owning. Like said above too the opera music has transcended the medium and countless covers / homages are existing.

Overall it is the kind of movie that I rewatch once in a while and will praise on one hand but it will never appear on my top 10 list or rated higher. It is however a must see at least for its style, ideas and some excellent scenes.