It’s a busy year for Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman and Milla
Jovavich with each having a film out in September, Willis stars as the time
travelling Joe in Looper, Oldman
plays the ruthless Floyd Banner in Lawless
and Jovavich will be returning as the apocalypse preventing Alice in Resident Evil: Retribution. However, fifteen
years before these block busting celebrities were travelling through time,
shooting people in the face or killing zombies they all starred together in a
quirky little science fiction film called The
Fifth Element.
Luc Besson’s bizarre insight to the twenty third century
follows the story of Leeloo (Jovavich), a ‘supreme being’ who is sent to earth
as a part of the four elements (earth, fire, water and air) to protect the
planet from an impending attack. While the fifth element was being brought back
to earth, the ship it was travelling on was destroyed leaving just a small part
of it left. Scientists on earth then rebuild the element using the DNA from the
recovered part and the result is a red haired, green eyed woman, Leeloo. She
then escapes in fear from the laboratory she has just awoken in and ends up
falling through the roof of taxi driver Korben Dallas (Willis). She asks him to
help her and he takes her to see Father Vito Cornelius who is more than excited
to see her as he was aware of her arrival to Earth. Meanwhile, someone else is
aware of the power these elements hold and his reasons for acquiring them are
purely for evil. Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg is a powerful, strangely dressed
individual who wants nothing more than to kill everything and be in control of
the Universe. His shape-shifting alien army undergo various disguises in order
to intercept Dallas, Leeloo and Vito as they travel through space on board ‘Fhloston
Paradise’ a holiday makers space craft, in order to reach their destination and
save the world by converging with the other four stones in a spectacular
finale.
Alongside Willis, Jovavich and Oldman is quite an impressive
ensemble case, including Chris Tucker, Ian Holm, Luke Perry and Lee Evans. The
film also has a very small, perfectly formed cameo from La Haine (1995) director Mathieu Kassovitz. Despite
this great cast and imaginative storyline, it was still nominated for two
Razzies during awards season, one for Worst Supporting Actress (Jovovich) and one
for Worst New Actor (Tucker). In general though, the film was very well
received, winning a BAFTA for special effects and nominated for an Oscar. It
also trebled its budget by grossing $263 million.
Arguably, the dominant feature that makes The Fifth Element so memorable is the
stylised futuristic world that it is set in. Luc Besson’s exceedingly French
style is exceptionally brilliant at allowing the film to completely stand out
from the crowd. The brightly coloured costumes, courtesy of Jean-Paul Gautier,
and the wacky, futuristic hair styles aid its uniqueness. This highly stylised
mise en scene is only further exaggerated in the over the top mannerisms of the
people that surround Korben Dallas, especially talk show host Ruby Rhod
(Tucker), an unforgettable character to say the least. This over-stylisation gives
the film an almost comic book feel, something that has become a common feature
in films of the last few years; Kick Ass
(2010), Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (2010) and so on. This is the futuristic
world Besson is aiming to create, and his dedication to this idea is only
further demonstrated in the ‘Divine Language’ which starts cascading out of
Leeloo’s mouth when she first awakes. Vito understands the Divine Language but
cannot speak it, thus he finds a way for her to learn English. This language
was created by Besson and Jovovich and in order for them to fully understand
their creation they would communicate by using it in letters to each other.
The cast of The Fifth Element are nothing short of brilliant
and are massively responsible for its success. Bruce Willis as the former Special
Forces soldier is witty, charming and over-confident as the male lead Korben
Dallas, he is instantly charmed by Leeloo and makes his move on her quite early
on, only to be greeted by a gun to the head as she is very displeased at his
advances. However it is very difficult to ignore the blatant fact that Korben
Dallas is just a futuristic version of John McClane. Die Hard fans beware! The
gem of the movie for me though comes in the form of Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel
Zorg, played villainously by Gary Oldman. Everything from his voice to his
haircut is perfect. The juxtaposition of a camp, girly voice on a man who
ruthlessly will kill members of his own elite makes him very non-threatening,
which is perfectly demonstrated when he chokes and almost dies, on a cherry
pip.
Overall, The Fifth Element is a great film for any science
fiction fanatic. It draws on so many elements of 80’s science fiction films
like Ridley Scotts Blade Runner (1982),
especially the epic cityscapes, and it has provided influence for many science
fiction films after its release in 1997. Even the newly released Dredd 3D has slight Fifth Element inflections, more so Blade Runner, but they all seem to roll together and work off each
other creating an epic sci-fi nostalgia snowball that just keeps on growing the
more it snows.
Further Reading in The
Information Store:
·
Science
Fiction Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality by Christine Cornea
Location: Book Zone 791.436 COR
·
The Blade
Runner Experience: The Legacy of a Science Fiction Classic by Will Brooker
Location: Book Zone 791.4372 BRO
·
Blade
Runner (1982)
Location: The DVD Zone 791.43
·
The Fifth
Element (1997)
Location: The DVD Zone 791.43
