My Favourite Films of All Time! #16The Fifth Element [1997]

Starring: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich

Directed by: Luc Besson

"Me fifth element - supreme being. Me protect you"

The Fifth Element takes place 250 years in the future. Cars can fly, New York is now a hovering city, and planet Earth is having intergalactic relations with other species. An ancient evil "force" known as the DARK PLANET is on it's way to our Universe to destroy us all. The only way to stop this "evil" from wiping out everything, is to call on the powers of the Fifth Element, a supreme being sent to Earth to destroy all evil.

The supreme being is resurrected inside a science facility, and takes the form of Leeloo [Milla Jovovich], an orange haired, half naked woman, who can only speak in the Divine language [funny], and has a habit of removing her clothes at any given time. She escapes the facility, and lands directly in the hands of angry cab driver, Korben Dallas[Bruce Willis]. By directly, i mean, she jumps off a building and slams through his cab roof. Bitch is crazy, seriously.

Leeloo is one hot thang, so obviously Korben is willing to help her out on her mission. They both go in search of Vito Corniellious, a High Priest who will help Leeloo find the 4 stones of the elements [fire, water, wind, earth] to stop the evil force from destroying life as we know it.

The evil force isn't alone in it's mission however. It enlists the help of Zorg [Gary Oldman], who gathers an army of warriors to find the 4 stones before Leeloo and her crew get their hands on them.

Along the way, Leeloo adjusts to her new "human body", and tries to understand why evil and war exist in the first place. She was created to do nothing but destroy evil, she's a weapon, but as she starts to fall in love with Korben, she's faced with wanting to find a reason to save a race of people, who can barely stop killing each other. Leeloo must find her own love to have the will power to save the world from destruction, can she do it? [cue violins].

The first thing you'll notice about TFE is the look of the film. Gone are the grimey rusted backdrops of the future that were so used to seeing in films, instead, we get a very colourful and cartoon looking planet Earth. Luc Besson decided to take a much quirkier approach to TFE universe, and it really works in his favour. Luc also hired fashion designer Jean Paul Gautier to create all of the costumes in the movie. Combining the two gave the movie a very original look, it stands out a lot when you watch it.

One scene in particular is one of my all time favourite moments from a movie, ever!. It's Leeloo's creation scene. I love seeing her come to life, and the escape from the science lab. That bandage outfit she wore is infamous!. Stick on an orange wig on and cover your titties with white material and you'll be instantly recognizable!.

Another memorable scene, and one the movie is most famous for, features a super tall blue alien woman who sings Opera, right before a huge gun brawl takes place inside of a concert hall. Cool stuff.

What TFE offers aside from a pretty looking movie, is a very memorable cast. Bruce Willis does what he does best in this, act cocky and blow shit up, Chris Tucker is HILARIOUS as Ruby is hilarious [some people thought he was annoying, which i assume was the idea, i loved him] and Gary Oldman plays a weird mix of funny, yet evil, with a Texas accent and half a head of hair. The stand out from the movie however is Milla, as Leeloo. Not only is she beautiful in the movie, but she's funny, and she also brings a good mix of strength and vulnerability to a character, which is hard considering she doesn't speak a lot of English. You grow to love Leeloo and you don't want anything bad to happen to her, the chemistry between her and Bruce's character is good too, so it's believable. She's also very quotable. Say "chicken good" to a TFM fan, and they'll know exactly what you're talking about, ha!.

TFE is one of those movies i've seen 500 times, and i never tire of it. It's the type of film, that pops up on TV and i gotta sit and watch it, even if it's only for 5 minutes. I tear up and get so excited if i stumble upon it randomly, or strike up a conversation about it to someone. I even went as far as buying the video game back in the day, which for the most part was a bit shit, but i was so desperate for more, i played it over and over regardless.