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Review: The Fifth Element (1997)
Bruce Willis played John McClane in the Die Hard films, a man who wound up saving the day in a Los Angeles high rise, a Virginia airport, and New York City. In Luc Besson’s follow-up to his 1994 eclectic actioner The Professional, Willis is again involuntarily given the task of virtually single-handedly squelching the stratagems of subversives. The Fifth Element is a dazzling, dizzying delight and a joyously jolting array of visual marvels from beginning to end. It certainly makes for the liveliest film so far this year.
Willis is Korben Dallas, once a war hero now a cab driver with multiple moving violations. An otherworldly being (the striking Mila Jovovich), having escaped from scientists who wish to study her, finds refuge in Dallas’ cab. Thankfully for Dallas, a priest (Ian Holm) sheds some light on Leeloo’s otherworldy origins..
In addition to the cops, Dallas is also sought by extraterrestrial mercenaries in the employ of a mysterious megalomaniac (Gary Oldman obviously doing a parody of maverick politico H. Ross Perot). To top it off: Earth is in the path of a runaway celestual sphere.
Korben ventures to an otherworld resort with Leeloo (Jovovich) aboard a luxury space freighter. He isn’t exactly thrilled by the almost constant presence of the outrageously flamboyant media personality known as Ruby Rod (a daffy Chris Tucker as a hybrid of a drag queen and cartoon foolery) so wired that he makes Little Richard seem sedate.
The extraterrestrial mercenaries, who posess, chameleonic abilities, manage to get aboard the freighter—well some succeed in getting to the ship’s luxury destination. Their efforts significantly lessen the pleasure trip and turn it into a memorable mayhem-laden star trek. Thanks to her having amassed a wealth of knowledge obtained by viewing a number of film clips, Leeloo shows herself to be quite adept at fending off the mercenaries. Proving that Sigourney Weaver isn’t the only lady who can handle hostile extraterrestrials alone.
While offering nothing really new, Besson’s vision borrows from an array of cinematic tales as George Lucas did when he first gave us Star Wars two decades ago. The Fifth Element references the likes of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Blade Runner (1982), Metropolis (1927), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), and the more recent efforts Stargate and Species (1994 and 1995, respectively).
Some might recall one of the tales which comprised the adult animated anthology Heavy Metal some sixteen years ago where cabbie Harry Canyon tooled about in a future New York in a hover hack The first name of Willis’ character is an homage to fanatasy scribe Richard Corben and the surname was that of Tom Skerrit’s role in Alien. Besson truly tops himself with this imaginative, hyperkinetic comic book of a movie. While little more than a feast for the eyes, it’s worth savoring each course.
Robert Baum is Currently a Bryn Mawr, PA-based film afficanado and pop culture junkie.
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