The 5th Element

Director: Luc Besson
Screenplay: Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen
Starring: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, Chris Tucker, Brion James, Tiny Lister and Luke Perry

John's Review

Luc Besson's film The 5th Element is an incredibly refreshing change from the typical action/adventure/sci-fi films that usually come out of Hollywood. This movie seems to have the right combination of action, of comedy and special effects that it keeps you dazzled and left wanting more. Besson's previous works (The Big Blue and The Professional come to mind) always seem to have that extra something that keeps the audience glued to the story. It seems to be a combination between the story, the character developement and the slight comedic elements that make his movies special. Well this film is no different.

The story begins in the first part of this century at an archeological dig, from here we learn that there are other alien species in the galaxy, and not all of them are friendly. Now we cut to 300 years later, to a divorced taxi cab driver (Willis) who is also ex-special forces (there always seems to be an ex-special forces in just about every sci-fi film), who just wants to make a living. Enter Leloo (Jovovich in, by far, her best performance to date), who literaly falls right into his lap. Come to find out that she is a secret weapon, the so called fifth element. The four others being earth, wind, fire and water. This weapon is to be used against the ultimate evil, which will not only destroy earth but the entire galaxy as well. As if this doesn't seem like too much of a problem, enter Jean-Baptiste Emmanual Zorg (Oldman) a monopolistic head of one of the biggest corporations in the world. His job is to steal the other four elements before they can all be placed together with Leloo to stop this unspeakable evil. Sounds like fun, huh?

I found that this film had the same gothic nature of Stargate, but unlike that movie does not lack in scope and vision. The future is shown as relatively nice if not over-crowded place to live. Alien contact has been made and they routinely move about on our planet as well as others. The dialogue was fast but not hard to follow, pay close attention to Leloo's lines, it is a language that Besson made up entirely for the film. The story is a bit complicated but not too hard to follow, the special effects are a nice combination of models and CGI's. The most refreashing part of this film is the comedy. All of these elements come together in a nicely congealed form, which makes for a wonderfully different epic.

Bruce Willis does a very nice job of playing the wrong guy caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the nice part about his role is he seems to enjoy it. Gary Oldman is wonderful as usual, his southern accent does seem to fade in and out though. Brion James' roll is ironic, considering the comparisons between this film and Blade Runner (Brion played a replicant in that film). The biggest surprise roll has to be 'Tiny' Lister as the President, this is quite a roll reversal for him, who is used to playing the tough. My final analysis, go see this film, if Lost World is sold out, go see this instead.

Grade: B+
 
 

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