The Fifth Element (1997) Online Streaming

Release : 1997-05-09
Genre : Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Thriller
Runtime : 126 minutes

Storyline

Its the year 2257 and a taxi driver has been unintentionally given the task of saving a young girl who is part of the key that will ensure the survival of humanity. The Fifth Element takes place in a futuristic metropolitan city and is filmed in a French comic book aesthetic by a British, French and American lineup.

There is no future without it.

This movie is one of the best movies of all time! It has a great story lines and graphics of it's time and even to today's standards it is brilliant. The world is well though out and well demonstrated. Zorg is a great bad guy, played by Gary Oldman and Bruce Willis plays his role very well. All in all a excellent movie.
A simple enough concept: Guy must save a World (in the Future!) from Evil! by protecting a Magical Macguffin, only in this case its a Girl! instead of a Thing.Theres really not a lot of story here. Not a lot of character either. Why waste valuable screen time with such paltry concerns when you can instead have Chris Tucker prancing around as a flamboyant radio host in the most annoying cinematic sci-fi supporting character not created by George Lucas? Instead, the film casts actors who do a fair job of acting simply by being themselves: Bruce Wills is Korben Dallas, a brawny, shoot-first hero who, when the chips are down, is brawny and shoot-firsty. The Magical Girlfriend MacGuffin, Leeloo, is played by Mila Jovovich (in her breakout performance) and some strategically-placed wrappings (the wrappings have had a harder time breaking into more mainstream roles). Ian Holm turns up as the Old Mentor, and filling out the cast is Gary Oldman as the antagonist Zord (in his hammiest role ever).The film seriously rises to the level of made-for-SciFi Channel-original and no higher. The plot is nonsensical, the acting committed but laughable, and the dialogue so stiff youd think the script pages had been starched.So where does the film go legitimately wrong? Two main places: first, Besson carries on the proud tradition of French filmmakers doing weird things solely for the sake of being weird. The entire film is filled to the brim with the kind of idiosyncratic touches that Ive come to expect from that region. Most of the bits dont work, but Ill give them credit for keeping things interesting.The second, more serious issue is another that seems to plague genre French directors, and thats the whole matter being played (largely) for farce. The most successful (creatively) American (sci-fi/)action films are defined in very large part by their villain. This film, like so many other sci-fi/action films Ive seen from French directors, never establish or maintain an element of power for the villains over the heroes. The villains are painted as clueless, moronic, out of their depth, or outright incompetent. That tradition continues here. What would Star Wars be without Darth Vader? Die Hard without Hans Gruber? Aliens withoutuh, aliens?Lacking a strong (or even memorable) central villain (we have two: a Gary Oldman so hammy Im pretty sure Muslims couldnt work on the film, and the other being a giant planet-size ball ofPure!Evil! No joke.), the film sacrifices the one shot it had at having some kind of weight or dimension. Theres no sense of danger or peril, no chance that the Hero wont triumph, and [spoilers!] the day is essentially saved by a Care Bear stare.So, does what Ive just said make it bad? Well, yes. Lets try again. Does that made it unenjoyable? No, and its an important distinction to make. The film is an interesting curiosity. After a half-hour of the bizarre, if you can let yourself be swept into its idiosyncratic world youll find a perfectly watchable B (or C)-movie. It rankles a bit to think about how much was wasted making dreck this dreck-y, but its entertaining dreck.