The Fifth Element (movie) (2024)

"Every five thousand years, a door opens between the dimensions. In one dimension lies the universe and all of its multitude of varied life forms. In another exists an element made not of earth, air, fire or water, but of anti-energy, anti-life. This "thing," this darkness, waits patiently at the threshold of the universe for an opportunity to extinguish all life and all light.

Every five thousand years, the universe needs a hero, and in New York City of the 23rd Century, a good hero is hard to find.

"

―Cover blurb

The Fifth Element, released May 9, 1997, is a French-produced sci-fi/action movie, filmed in English and directed by Luc Besson. The screenplay was co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and was based on a story developed by Luc Besson. It stars Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, and Gary Oldman. Mostly set in the 23rd century, the film's central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Willis), a taxicab driver and former special forces major, after a Leeloo (Jovovich) falls into his cab. Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defense of Earth against an impending attack.

History[]

Besson started writing the story that would become The Fifth Element when he was 16 years old; he was 38 when the film opened in theaters. Besson wanted to shoot the film in France, but suitable locations could not be found. Instead, filming took place in London at the Pinewood Studios, and for the scenes set in Egypt they were shot in the African country of Mauritania. Comic book writers Jean Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières, whose comics provided inspiration for parts of the film, were hired for production design. Costume design was by Jean Paul Gaultier.

The Fifth Element received mainly positive reviews, although it tended to polarize critics. It has been called both the best and worst summer blockbuster of all time. The film was a financial success, earning more than $263 million at the box office on a $90 million budget. At the time of its release it was the most expensive European film ever made, and it remained the highest-grossing French film at the box office until the release of The Intouchables in 2011.

Special effects[]

Scale models[]

The beginning of significant advances in CGI was just around the corner, but they would not arrive in time for Besson to use in the production of The Fifth Element. As a result, it took five months and 85 model makers and 85 artists to construct the scale models and backgrounds needed for filming. Explosions were either live-action created on outside sets or they were clips from a pyrotechnic library.

New York City was a 1/24 scale model with some of the towers exceeding 24 feet tall and 40 feet deep. When they needed to extend past where the model had been built, CGI was used to populate the streets with flying cars. The interstellar background was simply black sheets with pin holes poked through and lights shining on the back of the sheets.

Other models were an eight-foot tall Mondoshawan ship, 16 inch and 48 inch versions of the Mangalore ZFX 200 fighters, an eight-long Fhloston Paradise,

Costumes[]

Costumes had their own issues. The costumes for the Mondoshawans were so tall and bulky, there was no way for the actors inside to see where they were going. Closed circuit monitors and earphones were used inside the costumes to guide the actors who were otherwise moving blind on the set.

The Mangalore costumes were somewhat more effective, with the actors able to see out courtesy of eye holes in the head mask, but the task of applying make-up to disguise the exposed skin around the eyes became time intensive. It was decided to use combat goggles to cover the eye holes, and quick, inexpensive fix was applied to the eye hole issue.

Plavalaguna's costume was designed to add a foot in height to the actress's own height, requiring the actress to move on short stilts built into the costume. Add in all the latex and the body forms, and it became a difficult costume to get into, along with make-up for the exposed skin. The director, Luc Besson, determined that in order to get genuine reactions from the other actors, he was going to have to keep the costume hidden right up to the day of filming. When the diva stepped out on stage for the first time, that was the first time anyone not involved in creating the costume had seen her.

CGI[]

It's already been noted that the flying cars were depicted using CGI, although, for some shots, 1/6 scale models of the police cars and Korben's taxi were used. Also, any spacecraft in flight were computer generated. A lot of effort was put into generating the molten planetary body of Evil as it was confronted by the Federated Army spacecraft. The views of the planets Earth and Fhloston were simpler as the shots were short and library footage could be used.

When the diva was on stage, any time the view was from her point of view, it was actually looking out on location at London's Convent Garden Royal Opera House, but looking back at Plavalaguna from a seat anywhere in the opera house, the view of the stage was done by using green screen on a set at Pinewood Studios in London, and using CGI.

Awards[]

The film was nominated for many different awards, including an Oscar nomination in 1998 for Best Sound Editing, but it only won a few. In 1997, it won a BAFTA award for Best Special Visual Effects and the Technical Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Also, in the 1998 César Awards, the film was nominated in several categories and won three.

Synopsis[]

Final draft of The Fifth Element script from 1995.

The story's premise is that every five thousand years, in conjunction with a planetary alignment, a 'great Evil' appears whose purpose is to destroy life. In preparation for the next appearance in 2263, a group of aliens called the Mondoshawan arrive on Earth in 1914 to extract the only weapon capable of defeating the Evil, a collection of four stones representing the Classical Elements and the eponymous Fifth Element that conjugates the other four into organic life. After taking the weapons, the Mondoshawans present a key to a priest and tell him to pass the information of their mission through future generations in preparation for Evil's arrival.

In 2263, the Evil appears and destroys an interplanetary battleship. When the Mondoshawans attempt to deliver the stones along with the Fifth Element back to Earth, they are ambushed by another alien race, the shape-shifting Mangalores. Earth scientists are able to recover a portion of the supreme being and use a reconstitution chamber to resurrect him, whereupon it is discovered the supreme being is apparently a young woman named "Leeloo" and described as "the perfect being". Leeloo, terrified of her unfamiliar environs, escapes the scientists and arrives in the care of taxi driver Korben Dallas, a former major in the Federated Army's Special Forces. Dallas then delivers her to the priest, Father Vito Cornelius, the current curator of the Mondoshawans' knowledge. Dallas, Cornelius, and his acolyte David help Leeloo recover, though Dallas is forced out of Cornelius' apartment before learning her purpose.

Cornelius learns from Leeloo that the four stones were not carried by the Mondoshawans but instead entrusted to the diva Plavalaguna, a singer currently performing on a luxury resort liner at Fhloston Paradise, and that Leeloo must recover the stones from her. Meanwhile, wealthy industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg has attempted to gain the stones as urged by communication with the Great Evil. After learning that the Mangalores' attack on the Mondoshawans was unsuccessful in recovering the stones, Zorg betrays and attempts to eliminate them, whereupon the surviving Mangalores decide to extract revenge and gain the stones for themselves.

Dallas is later met at his apartment by his General Munro, who informs him that he has been reactivated into the Army in order to travel to meet the diva, having rigged the annual Gemini Croquette Contest to allow Dallas to win. Their meeting is interrupted by the arrival of Cornelius and Leeloo. Dallas, learning of Leeloo's need, offers to help, but is knocked out by Cornelius, who steals his winning transportation tickets and departs with Leeloo. Dallas accepts the job from General Munro and travels to the New York Spaceport, located at the site of the formerJFK International Airport, intercepting David and Leeloo before they board their flight, and he escorts Leeloo aboard. The Mangalores and Zorg's assistant Right Arm are rebuffed by the ticketing agent when they try to pose as Dallas. Cornelius instructs David to prepare the temple and then becomes a stowaway on the passenger shuttlecraft before it leaves.

On the flight, Dallas meets interstellar radio personality Ruby Rhod, who escorts him for being the contest winner. Upon arrival at Fhloston Paradise, Dallas is taken by Ruby to prepare for the show, while Leeloo waits near the diva's quarters in order to retrieve the stones from her after her performance. The diva's show is interrupted by the Mangalores, and she is fatally wounded. With her dying words, Plavalaguna tells Dallas the stones are inside her body; after she dies, Dallas extracts them, giving them to Ruby to hold as he goes on to defeat the Mangalores.

Leeloo is able to defeat the Mangalores that attempt to ransack the diva's quarters. Zorg, having flown himself to Fhloston, fights Leeloo in the Diva's quarters, injuring her and forcing her to retreat. This allows him to take the case he believes contains the stones, stopping to set a molecular bomb with a timer on the door. While Dallas recovers Leeloo from the suite ceiling, Zorg is finding out that the case to be empty. Zorg returns to the liner just as Dallas, Leeloo, Cornelius, and Ruby leave it, and depart by stealing Zorg's ship. Zorg is able to stop his bomb, but the dying Mangalores activate another one, destroying the resort liner and Zorg with it.

The four return to the temple in Egypt as the Evil embodied as a rogue planet rushes towards Earth. There, Dallas finds Leeloo disillusioned and unable to perform her role, believing that humans will destroy themselves despite her attempt to rescue them. As the other three characters arrange the stones on pedestals in the temple to form their weapon, they are briefly baffled by their ignorance of the weapon's operation, but discover that each stone is triggered by the presence of the classical element to which it corresponds. Dallas then convinces Leeloo to perform her role, embraces her, and kisses her. At this, Leeloo releases the weapon's "Light of Creation", causing the body of Evil to become a new moon in Earth's orbit. Later, the President and General Munro go to the resurrection lab to congratulate Dallas on his successful mission, but he and Leeloo are unavailable, despite the president's assertion that he is in a hurry. The camera's eye passes through the wall of the chamber to show Dallas and Leeloo are together in the resurrection chamber.

Cast[]

Main article: Cast

The movie's featured cast members are:

• Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas
  
• Gary Oldman as Zorg
  
• Milla Jovovich as Leeloo
  
• Ian Holm as Father Vito Cornelius
  
• and newcomer Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod.

Trivia[]

• In French, the title of the film is Le Cinquième Élément.
• In Norwegian, the title of the film is Femte Elementet.
• In Czech, the title of the film is Pátý Element.
• The film has the dubious honor of hosting the single largest indoor explosion of all time. It was so big, it took the crew 25 minutes to put out the resultant fires. Soon after, advances in CGI prevented the need to challenge this record.
• Contrary to every Hero/Villain trope out there, Dallas and Zorg never meet and have a physical confrontation. The closest they get was when the group with the stones get on the elevator leading to the shuttle bay, and Zorg gets out of the neighboring elevator car coming back to the diva's suite. There are only two or three frames where Korben and Zorg are on screen together.