The Fifth Element
When I heard that Bruce Willis was starring in a sci-fi movie I groaned. It was a groan deliberately tempered with prejudice. Willis can do action and do it well--see "Die Hard"--but sci-fi? I groaned again.
I am here to denounce that groan tempered with prejudice. Not only can Bruce Willis do action but sci-fi as well.
And the reason is simple: He is goofy.
"The Fifth Element" is a goofy movie. A great, goofy movie. A perfect setting for Willis. And together they make for cinemagic.
Understand: "The Fifth Element" is not science fiction. It is sci-fi, a classification which goes to allow certain failings present: "The Fifth Element" comes across as a mix of "Metropolis", "Blade Runner", "Total Recall", and "Alien" (although this latter one is somewhat of a stretch).
Further, the narrative is rather disjointed and distracts from the otherwise marvelous visions and visual wonders presented.
"The Fifth Element" begins in Egypt, 1914. (Not only is this often the setting of beginnings of civilizations but also countless horror films and movies, so you know, with a certain pop culture predictability, what will follow. But never mind. Enjoy.) Inside an ancient tomb scientists have gathered at a site where an event of some importance took place centuries earlier: Four stones, representing the four elements, have been kept in this place until a spaceship arrives to claim them.
Why remove the stones from a place of the dead? One of the aliens who comes to collect the stones intones: War is coming. The stones are not safe anymore.
(Already failings of the movie are apparent. If you have to explain something within the narrative you have failed in telling the tale.)
Opening omens, portentous in nature, oh, my. Thankfully they quickly spin to action sequences: New York City in the 23rd century. The futuristic megopolis is a wonder to see. This is how George Lucas would have done "Flash Gordon" had he been allowed to do "Flash Gordon".
With a little help from Ridley Scott: Towers and skyscrapers not only scrape the sky they push against it. And living conditions in this wonder are horrid. Most live in cell-like situations.
But all this is background to the primary story: The Earth is threatened by a giant, pulsating, burning, fiery, hurling object racing toward it.
It is evil, says one scientist, play by Ian Holm. And evil begats evil.
It may be evil--pure evil--but what is it? And how can Earth stop certain doom? The answers may lie with Leeloo (Milla Jovovich), who was cloned with a single cell, who comes into being with a head of flaming red hair. She is, for what it is worth, clad in something looks like it was made from stylized Ace bandages.
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