Fun sci-fi flick

Rating: Null/10 (4 May 2015)

The Fifth Element begins in 1914 with an archaeological dig in Egypt when a professor and his assistant stumble across ancient hieroglyphics that describe four sacred elemental stones and a mythical fifth element designed to protect all mankind. Not trusting humans with this knowledge in light of the pending world wars, members of an advanced alien race arrive to collect the stones and hide them away for safe keeping. Fast forward three hundred years when an evil presence traveling towards Earth threatens life as we know it and the only hope is to assemble the five elements before a dark planet enters our atmosphere. A down-on-his-luck cabbie, Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), collides with the perfect woman while she is running from the police. Leeloo (Milla Jovovich), seeks the elemental stones in her quest to save Earth. In the meantime, Zorg, a wealthy arms manufacturer played by Gary Oldman, agrees to steal the sacred stones before Leeloo can use them. With the help of a scatterbrained priest, a young postulate, and a popular DJ, Dallas must find the stones, show Leeloo that there is more to humanity than destruction, and help her save the planet from annihilation.
As Leeloo learns about the Earth's history of the previous three hundred years, she discovers many wars, riots, and disasters have occurred. She sees how humans build and create, but always end up destroying through violence, hate, and intolerance. At the crucial moment when it's time to save the world, a broken and beaten Leeloo has lost all hope and faith in what she was designed to protect: humanity. Dallas struggles to convince her that there is good in the world and that some things are still worth saving. Dallas finally admits his love for Leeloo and her will to save life is renewed. This action packed, funny, futuristic adventure somehow still finds a way to show the age old story of good triumphing over evil and proves that despite the horrible things that humans do to themselves and the planet, we still deserve to exist. Similar threads of the same theme were present in I, Robot as the artificially intelligent computer VIKI decided that humans must be protected from themselves and the destruction that they create and therefore controlled or destroyed. In both movies people fight for their right to exist and must defend the good, bad, and ugly of the human race.
Another message of the film is that even 300 years into the future people probably will still not have learned to care for the Earth. The piles of refuse at the airport are confirmation that we create more trash than we know what to do with and the film implies that we ship it to other planets when it becomes too much for Earth to store. Also, the entire population of Hawaii appears to have relocated to Fhloston Paradise, begging the question of what happened to those Pacific islands. Were they destroyed by volcanoes or did they become uninhabitable due to pollution? Notes on Cinematography and Design: There are a lot of close, in-your-face camera angles that make the viewer feel like he's right in the middle of the action. While watching, you will find yourself getting personal with Leeloo while she discovers a whole new world of flying vehicles and rude human interaction, the zany DJ Ruby Rhod and the flight attendants he is sexing up, and Zorg and his minions. The good versus evil and light versus dark theme is conveyed throughout the film through use of color. Leeloo's clothing from the very start is white, light, and bright. The energy she projects in the final battle to defeat the big bad is pure white as well. As usual, the forces of evil prefer dark colors that don't show stains.
There are not a lot of surprises in the movie for those looking for mystery and heavy-handed plot twists. However there is an impressive vocal performance by the Diva Plava Laguna, who has developed a cult following above and beyond the film. You could almost believe she alone could take on the forces of evil and win.