The Fifth Element

Luc Besson's The Fifth Element has been eagerly awaited, because it is one of the very few recent science fiction films to have been made outside the usual Hollywood standardisation.

Besson is famous and notorious for placing far greater weight on outward aesthetics than on the story and characterisation themselves. In The Fifth Element he does it again. The film is quite simply lavish, but also refreshingly different, because Besson has drawn inspiration from European sci-fi comics such as "Valérian and Laureline". The outré fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier is responsible for all the eye-catching creations.

Visually, imagination has been given free rein. On the other hand, the plot limps a little, though you only notice that after seeing the film. The breakneck pace leaves no time for such musings.

Every five thousand years, evil, materialised as a great fireball that just keeps growing and growing, has the chance to wipe out all life. Only if the five elements are brought together in a particular place is the existence of good assured. The four elements we know, but the fifth element? It is a slender maiden, Leeloo, fragile and immensely strong at one and the same time. She, who at first does not understand English, gets a rough start on Earth. Fortunately Bruce Willis comes to the rescue, a down-at-heel taxi driver who is, of course, a former super-agent.

The battle for the four elements begins, and time is short. Vito Cornelius is the priest who alone has had the secret of the five elements handed down to him, but he, Leeloo and Korben meet plenty of resistance, not least from Zorg, an unscrupulous rich man who is in league with evil.

Now and then the film does the full splits; for example, Chris Tucker is completely wild and over the top as the self-infatuated DJ Ruby Rhod. It is funny and bold, but oops, there goes the plot off on a side track again. So The Fifth Element is no profound film, but on its own terms as an undemanding sci-fi adventure it is quite successful.