The Fifth Element Review:

Synopsis

In the year 2214 Evil turns up to wreak havoc on humanity and the only way to stop it is to fulfil an ancient prophecy guarded by priests through the ages. The Fifth Element, a supreme being (Milla Jovovich), must be used in a ritual with four stones that have unfortunately gone missing. Here to save the world is cab driver Corben Dallas (Bruce Willis), Priest Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) and the OTT DJ Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker). Working against them is the merciless business tycoon Zorg (Gary Oldman) who also seems to want the stones for himself and will expend any goon to get them.

The Film

On the surface The Fifth Element could be looked upon as merely Die Hard in space. We’ve got Bruce Willis in a vest blowing shit up, cracking the odd one-liner, saving the girl and carting round a black buddy while he’d rather be at home watching Captain Kangaroo. Luckily put this into the hands of a visionary French director and madcap fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier and you’re left with something wildly different than the average Hollywood popcorn flick.

OK, first let’s get the downside out the way first. Yes it was written when Besson was a teenager and unfortunately this does show on numerous occasions with the simple good vs evil plot stretched rather thin and some ropey dialogue moving things along. For most this won’t present a problem as it’s purely an escapist fair that doesn’t have much in the way of deep meaning for the thinkers out there. On a basic level it entertains so just don’t expect a space saga that extends across an entire universe when only few locations are actually used.

Onto the good stuff, no, the great stuff. With this movie being a few years in production the look of the thing is just stunning and the combination of matte paintings, miniatures and computer effects represent the art form at its pinnacle. The Fifth Element represents the last sci-fi movie to fully embrace these techniques and after the past six years still stands up as a testament to how much more real they look in an age of cinema where CGI dominates every frame. The future New York looks amazingly tangible and just compare the taxi chase to Lucas’s shamelessly copied version in the opening of Episode II and you’ll see where the differences lie. The new world of Star Wars just looks so fake in comparison, so overworked and busy that nothing really seems to ‘live’ within it. Ironically The Fifth Element takes a lot of cues from the original Lucas trilogy and improves on their advanced creature effects and prosthetics creating a world that you can actually touch as Zorg proves by smacking one of is dog faced lackies round the chops.

Having such a talented, visual director encouraging all the sci-fi artists, designers and visual effects wizards adds an extra dimension to what is a triumph of international movie making that combines European talent behind the scenes with American stars on the screen, with their money of course. Besson may not be much of a gag writer but the way he creates jokes with his camera and editing makes the world so expressive and fun that it is probably one of the few sci-fi movies that isn’t all about doom and gloom or post-apocalyptic war zones. His shots are carefully thought out and deftly framed, making a nice change from the standard two-shot the Wachowskis seem bent on constantly using and even Besson’s serious moments such as the Diva scene hark back to the operatic climax of Godfather III where beauty and violence are combined. It is a bright, vibrant reality that is gorgeously shot and turns what could be an ordinary action fireball fest into a feast of bizarre aliens, dizzying spectacles and cartoon characters.

Extras

Special Effects crew commentary
It’s a shame we don’t have Besson himself gabbing over the movie but in a sense it seems that he got everything down from his mind onto the screen so it’s interesting to hear from the people who made this possible. Stetson and Goulekas are the main contributors and if you watch the documentaries first you’ll be able to put a face to the voice. The commentary runs out of steam a bit halfway through but for all those aspiring FX gurus it’s invaluable having them point out which bits are computer graphics and which are miniatures and how big the miniatures actually were. The taxi chase represents a high point as they are clearly impressed with the flawless work they managed to produced and even point out themselves occupying the various walkways of futuristic NY. They also praise Besson as a director who always knows what he wants and who was invaluable in helping to put together the chase from just a few wireframe shots.

Discovering the Fifth Element Documentary
The best documentary on the bonus disc and it clocks in at about 50 minutes. Split into 5 sections it charts the projects journey from an unpublished novel by Besson to its blockbusting opening night at the Cannes film festival. It’s a well put together piece with great interviews of everyone involved and it is well cut with behind the scenes footage and clips from the movie. So you get to see Besson getting right into the thick of it, perched on the back of the taxi cab as it is swung round on a gimble and the massive sets that took up most of Pinewood that even included the largest indoor explosion ever filmed.

4 Featurettes
There a four other documentaries included on the disc but they unfortunately just expand on some of the sections from the main one. So there is a bit of an overlap as some interviews are repeated but there are a few new facts to be gleaned. The main highlight is from comic book artist Jean-Claude Mezieres who shows off more of his concept art from the project and it really is onscreen how it was drawn out on paper. There’s also more on the Diva scene with everyone packed into the Royal Opera House for a performance that was captured on the first take.

Cannes Opening Night Party
A 45 minute MTV documentary showing off the glitz and glamour of the 1997 Cannes festival where The Fifth Element was the opening movie. A couple of annoying reporters get the odd sound bite from the celebs but no real scoops. What is interesting is the sheer excess of the show they put on with a Gaultier fashion show and a live performance from Nenah Cherry.

Trailers and TV Spots
Your usual stuff but it does contain the cool teaser with the 1, 2, 3, 4 numbers and the mysterious fifth. The campaign must also be one of the first to insist on replacing certain letters with numbers, 5omething Hollywood 5eem5 unable to 5top doing.

The Sixth Element
A short essay on what became of Besson’s original story. The first screenplay he made of it was far too long so with the help of another writer he split it into two, the first of which became The Fifth Element. All we learn here is the title of the second was Mr Shadow, a character hinted at in the movie. That’s all we get though, would have been nice to get more of a backstory from Besson’s original ideas.

Rich Badley

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