THE FIFTH ELEMENT
A film review by Michael Redman
Copyright 1997 Michael Redman
***1/2 (out of ****)
Climb into the back seat and get ready as Bruce Willis takes us on one hell of a cab ride. The first of the major science fiction films of the summer hardly gives you a chance to breathe as the action keeps on a-comin'.
In 1914 Egypt, archeologists are investigating a __major__ find when the mother of all space ships pulls up outside the temple. Out of the floating megalith waddle insectoid aliens in copper battlesuits. They've come to retrieve the supreme weapon stored on Earth for 5,000 years in the care of generations of priests. With the upcoming war, this planet is no longer a safe haven for its own protector.
Three hundred years later, the ultimate evil in the guise of a flaming planet is streaking its way towards its goal: destruction of just about everything in the universe. Sensing that this may not be in the best interest of said universe, our friendly aliens are returning the weapon when they are ambushed by the not-so friendly droopy-eared dog soldier aliens. When their ship crashes into the moon, there is only one "survivor" on hand.
Through a high-tech cloning technique, the hand is reconstructed as the consummate weapon which turns to be babe deluxe Milla Jovovich. A couple of minutes later she takes a dive off a several hundred story NYC building busting through the roof of Willis' floating taxi.
Willis, ever the die-hard, takes on the mission and goes up against fascist industrialist Gary Oldman as well as the bizarros from outer space and a huge fiery catastrophe. There's not a second to lose: the end of the world is in a matter of hours and his driver's license has been revoked.
The film is so dense with things to look at that you'll never catch them all. The run-down city of the future owes much of its look to "Bladerunner", from the vertigo-inspiring view down through the multiple levels of air traffic to even a friendly Asian food vendor. There are a million things going on in every scene and the effects are top rate.
Much of the design is by French illustrators Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude Mezieres. Responsible for some of the most innovative early "Heavy Metal" stories, Moebius' influence is apparent in some of the more fantastic elements. The alien battlesuits are dazzling and the blue-skinned alien diva is magnificent. Even the priest's goofy hats are straight out of his graphic novels.
Willis is his usual hard-nosed rough and tumble kind of guy. When he gets to Fhloston Paradise, a floating resort, you know to expect a big shoot-out. The film doesn't disappoint. The lobby of the hotel turns into one of the most explosive huge gun battles you've seen. Through all the destruction, falls and bruises; the taxi driver maintains his sense of humor, firing out wisecracks as often as bullets.
Jovovich is indeed the ultimate fantasy. A flaming red-head who moves like a cat and fights like Bruce Lee, she speaks an unworldly language, is powerful and independent yet vulnerable. Dressed in revealing thin spandex bandages, the dazzling beauty is prone to dropping her clothes at any given time. The archetypal male dream.
Oldman struts his stuff with a pronounced limp and his half-shaved head covered in a plastic dome while holding court in a depraved southern accent.
Possibly the most bizzare character in the film is Chris Tucker as radio personality Ruby Rhod. A combination of Dennis Rodman and Little Richard, Rhod's mouth runs a mile a minute. When he first enters the movie, it's an unwelcome intrusion of camp, but as time goes on the DJ develops into the perfect foil for Willis.
Like many recent filmmakers, Director Luc Besson ("La Femme Nikita") has appropriated bits and pieces from other films. You'll see "Star Wars", "Star Gate" and half a dozen other "Star" films as well as the obvious "Die Hard" and "Bladerunner".
Although I'd have preferred a more original plot, this is the first film in years that I wanted to see again just a few days later. It's difficult to recommend an effects film much higher.
[This appeared in the 5/22/97 issue of the "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be reached at mredman@bvoice.com ]
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews