The Fifth Cliche

Rating: 1/10 (7 September 1998)

The Fifth Element is right. Luc Besson has taken four sci-fi cliche elements and added just one element allegedly worth watching. Cliche 1: There is a purely aggressive warlike race that has somehow managed to not kill itself off. (Klingons, Draconians, etc.) Cliche 2: The universe is to be saved/destroyed by some mystical MacGuffin that everyone is chasing after. (The Genesis device, the Galaxy, etc.) Cliche 3: A wiser power is shocked to discover that mankind has this thing called "war." (The Abyss, Q, etc.) (Bonus points for apparently forgetting the warlike race in Cliche 1.) Cliche 4: Said wiser power is also puzzled because Mankind has this thing called "love." (The Abyss, E.T. etc.) New "Fifth" Element: A neat look, including costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Cool, but isn't eye-candy a cliche too?