Flash Gordon in the late 1990s!

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2003)

For the first few minutes of this film, you may believe you are watching an earnest, but desperately hammy, sci-fi thriller. Thankfully, this impression is soon dispelled. 'The Fifth Element' is simply the most pure comic-book creation on celluloid since Flash Gordon, taking from that medium not just the tedious plotting and flimsy scenarios of most examples of this genre, but also a spirit of vivid, and visual, comic imagination. This is not a serious movie. But it is inventive, frequently funny and has a sly satirical sense reminiscent of 'The Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy'. Certainly better than 'Men In Black'.