Taking the fifth.

Rating: 8/10 (28 November 2017)

Whilst seeing bits and pieces of the flick when it was endlessly repeated on Sky Movies in the late 90's/early 2000's,I somehow have never fully seen co-writer/(with Robert Mark Kamen) director Luc Besson's Sci-Fi epic. Taking part in a poll for the best films of 1997,I decided that it was time for me to plea the fifth.
The plot:
Every 5,000 years a weapon made up of the four classical elements (and a "chosen" human acting as the fifth) must be made to stop the only weapon that can destroy the universe from successfully working. Finding that the aliens who vowed to guard the elements have been killed by Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, a group of scientists bring one of the aliens back to life,via re-construction. Instead of coming back as one of the aliens, Leeloo comes to life as the fifth element. Escaping the lab, Leeloo crashes into the cab of Korben Dallas,who joins Leeloo in going in search for the other four elements.
View on the film:
Going to space as the (at the time) most expensive European film ever made, director Luc Besson & cinematographer Thierry Arbogast take their Cinéma du look stylisation to a galactic level,with Besson wiping out any hint of darkness with a Pop Art vibrancy of Comic- Book coloured reds,yellows and blues giving the adventure a pristine shine.
Planning the film since his teens,Besson (and costume designer Jean-Paul Gaultier-who personally checked the costumes of five hundred extras used in one scene!) lovingly pay attention to detail in every scene, from the unique appearance of each monstrous alien,to all the items in Dallas's run-down cab.
Mixing three separate screenplays together to form one movie, the screenplay by Besson and Kamen rolls out a thrilling Sci-Fi adventure,where the threat of the world going dark keeps the live wires lit,as Dallas follows Leeloo's search across the galaxies.
Although Ruby Rhod is a bit on the "loud" side, (played by a jiving Chris Tucker) the writers paint the five elements with a refreshing level of humour,that bubbles up from Leeloo's funny fish out of water experience.While stating that his feelings on the flick were "Oh no. I can't bear it." (he made it due to Besson helping to fund Nil by Mouth) Gary Oldman gives a wonderfully wacky performance as baddie Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, (who uniquely,never comes face to face with the goodies)who Oldman turns into a loose cannon that can go off any moment.
Creating an alien language with Besson (who she would later get married to) for the film, Milla Jovovich casts an otherworldly atmosphere on the movie in her great performance as Leeloo,thanks to Jovovich having to making Leeloo come out of her alien,fish out of water state,in order to complete the five elements.