A lot better than I remembered

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2004)

I'm ill at home today, so decided to re-watch The Fifth Element. It's the first time I've seen it since 1997, when I saw it in the cinema.

I didn't like it much then - probably graded it about a 4.8 in IMDB terms. I'm glad to report I was wrong. My criticism back then still stands though. After an hour of slightly silly SF epic, Chris Tucker turns up and screams at me for the rest of the film. Fortunately, it annoys me less now. Maybe I'm just used to him, having enjoyed Rush Hour? But his first scenes are still the movie's low-point.
Along the way, though, there's just so much fun to be had. Besson's vision of the future, essentially a dayglo Bladerunner, is beautiful to say the least, despite being built on a bedrock of pollution and fog. And the actors all heartily overact (Ian Holm, Lee Evans, Gary Oldman) but that's part of the movie's charm. Only Willis plays it straight, recycling his joe everyman with a gun character once again, and impressing more than I remembered.

The design of this movie is far more praised than its script, and I think that's fair. Still, the multiple plotlines are fun to try and keep hold of, as about 6 different parties try to get on board the ship to Phloston, and the President keeps track of his agent by listening to the Rudy Rodd show. As for design, well, Besson and Gaultier do themselves proud, although the latter's costumes are occasionally distracting - note Lee Evans' sailor's uniform and Gary Oldman's odd headpiece.
In the end, the Fifth Element doesn't really make sense (so is this all in aid of life on Earth then? Had the element not heard of war 5,000 years ago? what the Hell is Luke Perry doing here?) but it doesn't have to. It's nice-looking fun. Oh, but the last scene, which comes across like Moonraker crossed with some Jewish-mother comedy, is awful. I'd give it about an 8/10.