At this point, most of my favourite films are pretty serious ones. Usually rather depressing, usually rather dark (often literally and metaphorically). A fair amount of those films fall into the science fiction genre. But The Fifth Element? It’s pretty darn goofy, and it’s not afraid about that fact. If you forgot what the film’s title was at the start of the movie, then don’t worry, it’s mentioned twice in the opening sequence, and several times after that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just a bit expository. And the visual style is whacky as heck, in a good way. It doesn’t hide its Blade Runner influences (that cool flying sushi restaurant imitating Blade Runner’s noodle bar, the stylised vehicles), and that’s fine. It’s hard not to take some influence from one of the most influential science fiction films of the last several decades.
But it’s got plenty of whacky quirks of its own. The whole world pops with colour; you won’t find any Blade Runner silhouettes here. As Bruce Willis’ world-weary Corbin Dallas meets Leeloo and unwillingly journeys through the utopian Fhloston Paradise to find four sacred stones to save the world, there’s plenty of weird creatures on display. But before I go into that, shout-out to Korben’s mum, who provides oodles of comedic relief despite never being on screen. We only ever hear her disappointed voice reprimanding her son via phone, at one point even insulting the president himself in her fury at not being invited to Fhloston Paradise. Beyond that though, we’ve got Korben’s eccentric white cat, who mostly emotes through cross-eyed stares of intrigue. As with all good actors, doing little does a lot. And then there’s that weird colourful elephant think that Zorg has. I’m not really sure what’s going on with that dude, but he seems fairly docile, so that’s fine. Those nasty aliens, though? Very nasty. Although they do come good in the end, so that’s fine.
It was also fun just to remember all the lines in the film that became semi-regular quotes among family members. MULTIPASS. KORBENNNNN DALLLAS, etc. Those are just a couple. Spoken only amongst family members, of course. We’re not that eccentric. Come on now. But the acting’s great too, as long as you’re willing to accept a bit of ham. Or a lot of ham, in places. In the case of Gary Oldman, a fair amount of a lot of ham. This is Gary Oldman we’re talking about though, so naturally he’s great. Particularly his speech about chaos, which reminded me about Mr Smith’s speech about human beings as a virus in The Matrix. Powerful stuff. Mila Jovovich is on great form as Leeloo too; she doesn’t get given the greatest roles in the Resident Evilfilms, but she really shines here, especially in a poignant scene where she learns about the nature of war. Chris Tucker puts in some fine comedic dedication from his opening scene; again, KORBINENNN DALLLAS. Iconic. The YouTube channel WatchMojo incorrectly featured Tucker’s character in their Top 10 Unintentionally Annoying Characters list a while back.
I doubt the screenplay writer was going into this thing not expecting Ruby Rod to be somewhat annoying in the film’s wider plot. He is annoying, but in a very much deliberate, bombastic comedic form from his debut appearance. And it’s a great performance of hyperbolic mania. Just be prepared for a lot of noise and you’ll be fine. And Bruce Willis himself, of course. Willis’ dementia diagnosis is a tragedy, but alongside Twelve Monkeys, this was easily one of his all-time best roles.
If you’re looking for science-fiction that’s a bit more colourful and optimistic rather than brooding and dark (my usual preference), you won’t find a much better example than this.