Imagination in spades

Rating: 5/10 (14 July 2016)

This sci-fi actioner is a cut above the rest thanks to a superior script, strong acting, a great cast and buckets of style from French director Luc Besson, also responsible for the wonderful Leon. Besson's flamboyant direction helps to paint a colourful and interesting futuristic world which has a very distinct look and feel to it, one which is enhanced by a funky score and eye-catching costumes designed by none other than a top French fashion designer, Jean-Paul Gaultier. Whilst the story is basic stuff, and done before, it has never been done like this.
Themes of originality (the five elements combining to combat the menace is great stuff and check out the excellent ending in which the participants must figure out how to work the magic stones) surface throughout and there are plenty of bizarre situations you won't see elsewhere. A tongue-in-cheek approach means that there's plenty of comedy to enjoy, most of it stemming from the bizarre and flamboyant characters crossing the screen. Constant action and furthering of the plot results in a film you can't take your eyes off in an instant in fear of missing something - the fast pacing is incredible and at a normal speed the action in this movie would probably take about twice as long to unfold.
Bruce Willis stars in one of his last action hero roles before giving up on the genre and it's one of his best, most mannered performances, his wisecracking, everyday macho man hero a fine creation and his performance fabulous. But then he has to be good, otherwise the other actors would overshadow him. There's Ian Holm, all nervousness and unintentional comedy as a heroic priest; Gary Oldman playing probably the weirdest bad guy role of his movie career (check out the bizarre plastic covering that covers half of his skull and the lank, dyed back hair on the other size, not to mention the huge collar and colours of his costume); finally Milla Jovovich makes a stunning debut performance playing an alien and makes the film her own, an almost tragic, fragile yet incredibly strong creature who evolves from being a nonsense-speaking child into a controlled kung-fu fighting heroine.
The rest of the supporting cast comprise familiar faces appearing in bit parts (Luke Perry, John Neville, Charlie Creed-Miles, rubber-faced funnyman Lee Evans) with special mention going to Chris Tucker, as the hateable, intensely irritating transvestite DJ who sounds like he's high on helium, and the late, great Brion James in one of the final roles of his career as General Munro - boy, had he aged since his appearances in the early '90s. The special effects are authentic-looking whilst being spectacular at the same time, whether it be huge interstellar explosions or weird morphing effects. The action includes flying car chases, a race against a ticking bomb and my favourite sequence, an incredibly-staged hotel ballroom shoot-out which must be one of the best ever filmed.
There's so much more - the ugly alien mutants, the sweating president, opera, and lots of surprises plus a touch of pathos here and there (Jovovich discovering about human warfare is a surprisingly touching, moving moment, underplayed and deeply affecting scene). Altogether a great comic book sci-fi movie of the '90s.
Now it's time for a proviso: I saw this film at the age of 16, when I wrote the above review. Some twenty years later I recently rewatched it and discovered that I liked it much less than I did originally; the overblown nature of the movie was annoying more often than not. I think THE FIFTH ELEMENT is very much a film of its era which looked cool and snazzy in the 1990s but has largely dated since then, so my rating reflects that.