The 5th Element (1997)
director: luc besson
cast: bruce willis, gary oldman, ian holm, milla jovovich, chris tucker, luke perry, brion james, tom 'tiny' lister jr., lee evans, charlie creed-miles, tricky, john neville, john bluthal, mathieu kassovitz, christopher fairbank
Well,
what can one say but Luc Besson? Hm... uh... a lot happens... it does move along?
What was "The 5th Element" trying to be: a futuristic comedy or sci-fi
drama? As a comedy it's not funny (maybe it doesn't translate well from French
culture) and as a drama it has none -- no tension. It's basically a Byzantine
mess.
The 5th element that the title refers to is a vulnerable-looking Milla Jovovich. The story is that every 5000 years or so, an enormous fireball containing absolute evil threatens to engulf the universe and extinguish all life. To counter this, some good aliens need to get four magic stones (representing the ancients four elements: earth, wind, fire and water) and a perfect being known as the 5th element, to an Egyptian temple complex.
Apparently the Earth's government of the future doesn't know what to make of the growing fireball, and rather than explain everything the good aliens treat the saving of the Earth (and the universe) as a covert operation. Some form-shifting bad aliens align themselves with a gimpy entrepreneur (the French hate capitalists), Gary Oldman, to thwart them believing that absolute evil will reward them somehow (even though they'll all be dead!)
Jovovich is sequenced and grown (just like Natasha Henstridge in Species) in an inescapable lab. After she escapes, Javovich crashes through the roof of Bruce Willis' flying cab. Squinty-eyed, pursed-lipped and an ex-Green Beret of the future, Willis falls in love with her immediately as she gesticulates and speaks a proto-language that sounds a lot like Italian. She can't speak English but she can read a "please help" sticker in his cab (ET phone home!). Willis embarks on a mission to get her and the magic stones to Egypt with the help of a prissy space-monk played by Ian Holm. Like Daryl Hannah in "Splash" (anyone remember "Splash"?), Jovovich gets an accelerated English and history lesson from watching a TV monitor. Earth history makes her sad but Willis' love conquerors all.
The movie gets totally derailed with the appearance of a RuPaul-like transvestite/talkshow host of the future (Chris Tucker). More than ten minutes are spent with this twice-as-annoying-as-RuPaul bore. Gaultier supplied the trashy rags and Ace™ bandages. "The 5th Element" isn't dull but it isn't great, either.—Tom Graney
$3.50
© 1997 Hollywood Outsider™