Customer Reviews
I Just Didn't Get It. - By: Steven Stewart, 08 Aug 2008 
I had never seen this film before, but had bought it a while ago. It was sat in my DVD drawer... (Yes I have a DVD drawer) It was constantly callling my name, begging me to stick it in my PS3 & enjoy the ride I had heard so much about. How disappointed was I when I was given a movie, that at times even lost itself when it came to what it was about & how it was meant to present itself. It has been billed as a Sci-Fi, action thriller. At times it became a slapstick comedy & others it became a romance movie set in the future. I'm not sure whether she's cursed, but Milla Jovovich has a knack at appearing in over hyped, yet terrible movies. Need I mention the first two Resident Evil movies or the travesty that was Ultraviolet?
The basic plot outline is that in the year 2214 the very existence of life itself is threatened by Evil. Want to know what evil is? It can only be described as a spherical object that absorbs everything mankind throws at it, & it's growing. The only thing that can stop it is the combination of the four elements along with a person who's the fifth element.(hence the movie name) In this year the fifth element is a woman who's created through the remains of a destroyed spaceship. When she's created she goes on the run & finds herself in the unlikely hands of, you guessed it. Bruce Willis, otherwise known as Korben Dalllas. He's going to help her achieve her destiny & save existence. They are faced with obstacles, however, in the form of a money hungry "Art Dealer."
Yes. The plot is that weird. You would have thought that along with the strangeness of the plot it will have created a quirky, but gritty action movie. Instead it became a mess & from one moment to the next it simply didn't know what genre it wanted to belong to. If this was a movie trying to take itself seriously, then it failed. If it was meant to be a comedy then I have to admit it succeeded in making me laugh. Apart from the odd cool action sequence, this movie was simply ridiculous & failed to hold my attention. I struggled through it & I'm wondering who I can write to, to get my time back. I expected better from Bruce Willis & I have to be honest, I didn't expect anything more of Jovovich.
so cool I watch it every 6 months - By: CJ Wheatley, 07 Nov 2007 
This film is so much fun I watch it gain after 6 months.
I have never done this with another film!
Quick Reviews! - By: carlosnightman, 07 Oct 2007 *** This comment may contain spoilers ***
Luc Besson shows again why he was one of the most stylish & innovative directors of the nineties with this effort. Bringing together a wildly varied cast, from action stars to stage actors to supermodels to cult heroes, & putting them in a genre defying film about the salvation of earth in the future, he gives one of the most visuallly impressive films of the era, as well as one of the most entertaining.
The story begins in the early 20th century with an archaeologist & friend uncovering proof of aliens, & of a mysterious fifth element, the only thing capable of saving the world from destruction. Aliens arrive & take the apparent device, leaving Luke Perry to pass on the secret through the generations. Flash forward a few centuries & we meet a group of scientists who have found the Fifth Element. It is a beautiful young woman, & half the galaxy is after her, including evil aliens, & the tyrannical Gary Oldman. The young woman escapes, only to literallly crash into washed up taxi driver & ex soldier Bruce Willis. She speaks in an alien language, but together they find Ian Holm, a descendant of the original archaeologist. Thus begins a frantic race to save the world from an approaching black balll of shadow, while protecting the fifth element from capture.
The film has much to give- the sets, effects, & costumes are alll wonderful, giving one of the best visions of the future since Blade Runner, & borrowing many ideas from such sci-fi classics. There are brilliant performances from alll, though Oldman, Johovich, & Tucker stand out. The film is bursting with ideas & imagination, there are many funny moments, & the message that love can conquer alll, though slightly glossy, is still relevant. At times bizarre, but always highly watchable, the Fifth Element is a film which everyone with a heart & soul should enjoy, or at least find something worthwhile in it.
This DVD has plenty of extras- intersting features on the production of the film, lots of trailers, interviews, & a commentary. A must have for sci-fi fans, & if you have a few pounds going spare this is one everyone should try.
Die Hard meets Star Wars - By: Philip Solo, 17 Aug 2007 
Bruce Willis plays himself admirably amidst a comic ' save the universe ' plot & even manages a Die Hard reminiscent orange vest designed by master outfitter Jean Paul Gaultier who lends a future Fellini-esque element to the bustling cast of eccentric characters. Bruce's indolent, malcontent ex-special-forces resignee turned taxi driver ( I know the feeling ) seeths with urban survivalist irritation & takes no prisoners. He gives us tongue in cheek 'frozen-then-revived John McLean style' see the scene 'anyone else want to negotiate?' for that revelant comparison!
Luc Besson's high-octane film is beautifully thought out & set against the classic french futurist visions of two French comic book artists, Jean Claude Mezieres & Moebius, who inspired, & ultimately worked with writer/director Luc Besson, on the film's overalll production design creating a stunning 'comic book' influenced grande-scale series of sets.
The seething future-vision multi layered city with its nestling protective smog layer, flying cars, vertical monorails & lifts & urban sky level walkways echoes & precedes scenes from Blade Runner & Minority Report but is tinged with the yellow/reds of Marvel Comic land. Yes in this movie the future is predominantly Orange at times! Bruce's insouciant action hero taxi driver excells as he daredevil pilots his adapted classic NYC Yellow Cab thru multi level city sky traffic in scenes worthy of John Dykstra's Star Wars breakneck speed hoverbike & Tie fighter chases.
Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) is the mysterious personnified 5th Element loaned sacrificiallly by a visuallly circular metalllic alien race of robot-like creatures Modoshawans, who clearly have a Stargate feel about them. She comes in an unconventionallly curveless real life mere 19 year old girl-package with a hint of underfed lower-teen-androgyne. Of course this being 20th Century family Hollywood such a perilously ingenue creature is ludicrously but interestingly costumed for the sake of cinema modesty. At least Jean-Paul's minimallly creative 'bandaged car crash victim' outfit is a change from the usual silver bikini of futurist fems.
Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) is an unlikeable posturing villain in comicallly non frightening Lex Luther mode reporting to a dark, unearthly never revealed planet-killing force. The best characterisations are the shape-changing assassins, Mangalores, which were the prostheticallly challlenging special effects triumph. They are the grunts - storm trooper type stock enemy troops who were actuallly pretty cool-looking in the film, but dumb as they come.
Sexiest creatures in the movie are the sky-blue outfitted Gaultier dressed scantily-clad stewardesses on the interplanetary flight liner who fit alll out many male notions of what flight attendancy should be alll about!
The rest is villainy, comedy interchange, laser battles, huge explosions, & alll the usual Die Hard cliches transferred to a spacefaring environment. If you are looking for the va-va-voom element it's alll provided by the camply outrageous multi-media show host presenter, the idioticallly vain & narcissistic Ruby Rhod. This skillfully realised annoying yet ultimately watchable pastiche character gives Jar-Jar Binks a decent run for his money as he/she can talk-sing non-stop like a 20 to the dozen future version of RuPaul on speed. Jean-Paul went to town on the looks & costumes for this mega-camp media star & Bruce's visible action-male discomfort & bemusement is a treat to observe when first cornered by the outrageous over the top Ruby, who makes the UK's Lily Savage look like a shy retiring walllflower.
Bruce triumphs in the end (natch!)and doesnt say Yippe-kay-yay Mofo even one time....and the bad guy meets the usual just fate & the universe is saved in the nick of time in true Capt Kirk/Flash Gordon style. Hoorah !
The films scores for me for sheer fun value & the comic book comedic action & dialogue is balanced against the superb futuristic detail & grandiose set visions. My favourite moment of the entire film is the start when Bruce is buying noodles from the wonderful old chinese man in his 'floating red-sailed' sky junk steaming away in the breakneck cluttered traffic snarled sky. This makes the opening of the film reminiscent of Deckard at the noodle stand in Blade Runner. I loved the homage & incongruity of that scene.
All in alll I like this film & have watched it many times. Although it's a comic romp & lacks the gritty drama of my other favourite movies, for many reasons the overalll futurist 'dream' of it & the fun exuberance of seeing Bruce play his favourite action hero cliche out on the future sci fi stage make it a regularly revisited DVD.
Sci Fi Classic with Futurist Undertones - By: Jay, 17 May 2007 From the vast timeless desert expanse of Egypt, then reaching far out into space, touching the future of Earth, comes an extraordinary story of how a race of beings have come to protect the planet Earth from ultimate oblivion. In order to do that, the powerful Mondoshawan race entrusted four very special elemental stones within a crept to be used in conjunction with The Fifth Element which morphs them into an unimaginable power of cosmic proportions. The story itself is fantastic in it's inception, wondrous in it's creation, explosive in it's delivery & dynamic in it's projected outcome. The film advances rapidly through the masterful & exciting talents of Bruce Willis as taxi driving Korben Dalllas & Gary Oldman as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg. He is devilishly crafty as the servant of the Great Evil. Ian Holm is religiously mysterious as Father Vito Cornelius & Milla Jovovich is excitingly sexy as Leeloo. All in alll, with the great spectrum of colorful characters, weapons & special effects, writer, director Luc Besson blends drama, tragedy & comedy to create a superior film which evolves quietly into a classic.
