The Fifth Element (1997)
★★★½ — The Fifth Element (1997)
Luc Besson had been developing the core concept behind The Fifth Element since he was a teenager, sketching out the world and its mythology long before he had the means to film it. By the mid-1990s, fresh from the international success of Léon: The Professional (1994), he finally had the clout to mount something genuinely large-scale, and Gaumont backed him with a budget of around $90 million, making it one of the most expensive European productions ever attempted at that point. Besson brought in Jean-Paul Gaultier to design the costumes and recruited Chris Tucker, Gary Oldman, and a then relatively untested Milla Jovovich for key roles alongside Bruce Willis. The film was shot largely at Pinewood Studios in England, with location work in Mauritius standing in for various sequences, and it opened the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 to considerable fanfare.
The Fifth Element (1997) is a dazzling, chaotic sci-fi fantasy that throws you headfirst into a hyper-stylised future directed by Luc Besson. It starts with a rock-solid premise: an ancient force threatens to destroy Earth every 5,000 years, and the only hope lies in a mysterious alien artifact and the "Fifth Element," a perfect being designed to unite the four classical elements and save humanity. Bruce Willis plays Korben Dallas, a gruff ex-soldier turned cabbie who gets pulled into the mission after a brilliant Milla Jovovich as Leeloo crashes into his life literally from the sky. I love the start of this film. Willis brings his signature dry wit and reluctant hero energy, while Jovovich is radiant (both ethereal and fierce). Their chemistry simmers beneath the chaos, giving the film a surprisingly heartfelt core. The costume design (by Jean-Paul Gaultier no less) is bold, unforgettable, and somehow both absurd and elegant. Add in Chris Tucker’s scene-stealing turn as Ruby Rhod (a performance unlike any other in cinema history), and the visual world-building is pure spectacle done right. Sure, the story takes a sharp left when we get into the “stones,” the priest, and the mystical chanting finale, it gets a little weird, even by its own bonkers standards. But that’s also part of its charm. It doesn’t try to make sense; it tries to feel like myth, pop, opera, and action all at once. Flawed, messy, but bursting with imagination and heart. Not hard sci-fi, not pure comedy, just a one-of-a-kind ride that’s aged beautifully. A cult classic that earns every bit of its cult.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 1997 | Watched: 2025-10-06
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Luc Besson: Anna (2019) · Léon: The Professional (1994)
More with Bruce Willis: Armageddon (1998) · Alpha Dog (2006) · Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) · Twelve Monkeys (1995)
More from France: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Letter from Siberia (1957) · Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Here and Elsewhere (1976)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More science fiction: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Fantastic Planet (1973) · Nightmare City (1980) · The Long Walk (2025)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
