The Fifth Element [Blu-ray] [4K UHD]

Listen, folks. If you haven’t seen The Fifth Element, congratulations on finally escaping from that cave you’ve been living in. This movie is a cult classic, a sci-fi fever dream, and an absolute masterpiece of organized chaos. I have watched it more times than I can count, and guess what? It only gets better.First off, the visuals? Still stunning. The futuristic world is packed with flying cars, ridiculous fashion, and an intergalactic opera performance that, to this day, remains unmatched. The plot? Wildly entertaining. Evil space blobs? Check. A legendary weapon? Check. Bruce Willis being Bruce Willis? Double check.And let’s talk about the real reason we’re all here—Leeloo Dallas, MULTIPASS. Milla Jovovich’s portrayal of a supreme being who can both obliterate aliens and devour an entire plate of chicken in 0.2 seconds is cinematic perfection.But wait—there’s more! Gary Oldman as Zorg? Top-tier villainy. Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod? Loud, flamboyant, and somehow EXACTLY what this movie needed. The action? Explosive. The humor? Still makes me laugh out loud.In short, The Fifth Element is pure sci-fi gold, wrapped in a neon bow of absurdity and sprinkled with just enough philosophy to make you think maybe you should take care of the planet before an evil space god shows up to destroy it. So, if you haven’t seen it, what are you even doing with your life?💥 Final verdict: 5/5 stones. No notes. Just perfect. 💥

Easily one of my favorite movies…EVER! It’s a zany, exhilarating, sci-fi adventure movie about hope, love and overcoming evil to save the Universe. Featuring a slew of highly memorable and quotable characters, I can happily watch it any time.Director Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional, La Femme Nikita) is an artist, and bonkers characters fill his pallet. From the zany opening scenes we find a strangely divine character dynamic in Egypt, an evil planet attack loaded with sci-fi zest, and our graphic novel-esque antihero starts his day to one of the most cosmically cool soundtracks to emerge from the 90s.Corbin (Bruce Willis; A Good Day to Die Hard) is a has-been decorated military officer who now struggles to keep his cat fed and license to drive his hover-cab valid. He awakens like a washed up John McClane after a rough night, expresses that he wishes he had a woman in his life, and dodges calls from his pestilent boss and mother.Despite the massive amount of looney transpiring on screen, we meet numerous memorable and substantial characters and all of them will make you smile. Tiny “Zeus” Lister (Friday, No Holds Barred) is an intergalactic President. Father Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm; Lord of the Rings, Alien) informs him that they have only 48 hours to stop a cosmic force of ancient evil which will wipe out all life in the Universe and only one thing can stop it: a mystical supreme being.After an attack, remnants of an engineered lifeform are recovered and reconstituted into a genetically “perfect” orange-haired woman. Clothed in the thermal bandages so beloved by Comic Con cosplayers around the world, Leeloo (Milla Jovavich; Resident Evil 1-7, Faces in the Crowd) escapes into a world that she clearly doesn’t understand and falls into Corbin’s cab babbling a dead language and being all sorts of indescribably adorable.When she asks Corbin for help, hardly understanding her own tear-soaked words, no one with a heart could say no. Although Corbin almost does. But in helping her, he earns her trust and becomes her antihero protector and the co-savior of the Universe.Peppering more crazy into the cast, Gary Oldman (Leon: The Professional, The Dark Knight) serves up his villainy deliciously as Zorg. Despite being a super-rich evil mastermind, he makes a lot of poor decisions. Rounding out all manner of plays and players, Chris Tucker (Rush Hour 1-3, Friday) is brilliantly idiosyncratic as the manic sex-addict Radio Host Ruby Rod, and Maïwenn (High Tension, Leon: The Professional) plays the mystical operatic Diva.The favorite scene of mine would have to be the Diva’s concert. The Diva’s song is unlike anything you’ve heard, and its high notes score and punctuate the action of Leeloo’s awesome fight sequence on the Floston Paradise cruise ship. There is nothing technically wowing about the fight choreography, which is clearly meant to be more amusingly dynamic than a demonstration of martial prowess, but with the music and Besson’s humorous approach I could watch it all day. This scene steamrolls into a bigger, longer, more explosive action sequence full of Corbin’s cynicism, Ruby’s hysteria, and Leeloo’s endangerment.Now almost 20 years old, The Fifth Element’s special effects will not wow you. And whereas I feel they hold up more than well enough on their own, when combined with the score the scenes remain highly entertaining. The music alone will ignite your attention. This is especially evident during the taxi-police chase scene, during which I completely forgive the dated CGI as I watch Leeloo pinballing around the back seat to Cheb Khaled’s “Alech Taadi.”Most entertaining for me is how Leeloo (the supreme being) speeds through the internet learning 5000 years of history, culture and language, along with mastering Kung Fu in order to save all humanity much as Neo (“the one”) did in The Matrix (1999)…two years later, and now apparently less original. Of course, The Fifth Element isn’t 100% original either—in fact, Ug in Critters (1986) did the same thing. You’ll find parallels and homages to loads of other sci-fi. Many ships look like Empire Star Destroyers, there’s the Dark Side of the Force and Mr. Shadow coming to bring darkness to the Universe, and the Diva appears to be a cross between the Xenomorph and Jabba’s Twi’lek slave girl dancer Oola. Oh, and Bruce Willis is basically playing Die Hard in Space—but in the best way possible!For all its awesome fun, it’s Leeloo that breathes life into this film. Leeloo is among the most beloved characters in the Sci-Fi genre—making the ranks of Yoda, Luke and Han. When Leeloo smiles it’s sincere emotion, naïve to the workings of the world around her, and she will infect your heart. There is such purity to her goodness. And when she says “multipass” it will brighten your day.I recommend this movie to everyone. EVERYONE. I was 16 when I saw it in theaters so I know this movie carries a lot of nostalgia for me. But watching this just makes me feel good, satisfied, happy, hopeful, warm-fuzzy, awesome…all that. I expect it to affect you the same. Enjoy!

An ancient secret is needed to save the world, hidden deep in the deserts of Egypt. The movie starts with a prelude from 1914 when the Monascheiwans come to Earth to remove the four Element stones and the Fifth Element because war is coming. The priest in charge of the secret begs the Monascheiwans not to take them, for Evil is coming soon to Earth (every five thousand years) and the weapon of the five elements is needed to destroy the coming evil. The Monascheiwans assure the priest that in three hundred years, when Evil returns, so shall they.Skip to three hundred years later. Mankind has mastered space travel and the new modern world is built into extremely high structures that loom far above the fog below. Major Korben Dallas has retired from the military and now drives a cab for a living. His ex-wife left him for his attorney, and he now lives in a singularly tiny apartment in a shady part of town with a cross-eyed white cat.Priest Vito Cornelius is the priest in charge of the key to the temple in Egypt and the secrets of the five elements. He attends the president and begs that the newly discovered ball of flame not be fired upon, for he knows it is the Evil foretold in the legend. Ignored, the military fires upon the dark planet-like globe, increasing it's size by two hundred percent and wiping out the Earth vessels there to monitor it. Now Cornelius is listened to. The wreckage of the Monascheiwan ship entering Earth's territory is searched and there is just one survivor, a few cells still alive in a metal casing. Technology is such that the being is rebuilt from the few cells, and what the military and scientists don't know is that the woman they have just brought back from death is the Fifth Element from the legend. Escaping and pursued, the Fifth Element, LeeLoo, jumps from the building's ledge and winds out landing in Korben's cab. LeeLoo directs Korben to take her to priest Vito Cornelius, who discovers from LeeLoo that the four element stones were not on board the Monascheiwan ship but entrusted to a Diva named Plavalaguna (Maïwenn Le Besco) who is doing is charity performance on the planet Flostan in the Agean system.Korben and LeeLoo must fetch the stones and bring them to Earth before Evil arrives, fighting both the evil corporate magnate Zorg and his army of Mangalore warriors. As they struggle to gain the stones, time is running out for planet Earth, and the entire universe.This is one of the best SciFi movies I've ever watched. Definitely a ten star film. With a stellar cast, kudos need to be extended to the Editor, for his amazing work in cropping conversations to fit two separate scenes; and to the costume designer for some fabulous futuristic clothing designs (I especially love the flight attendant's uniforms) and to Eric Serra for a fantastic soundtrack - which I also purchased. The FX in this movie is superb - inventive and flawless.The "look" that the casting director found is important to the movie's visuals - an exotic look to every secondary actor and actress for the futuristic population. The costume design is spectacular. Chris Tucker deserves an award for his performance as radio superstar Ruby Rhod. His extremely expressive face and fantastic comedic acting really put the movie together. Gary Oldman is unbeatable in his role as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg - the bad guy to beat all other bad guys. Milla Jovovich really proved, in this early role for her, what an expressive actress she is. She is perfect, and beautiful, as LeeLoo ... the Fifth Element. Ian Holms as priest Vito Cornelius is spectacular, as he is in all the film he's been in. He is an extraordinary actor. Bruce Willis's character of Korben Dallas fits perfectly for Bruce, just as 'Diehard' did - a somewhat similar character performance for him. Character actor Brion James (Blade Runner) as General Munroe, does a splendid job, along with relative unknown Charlie Creed Miles as Cornelius's assistant and priest-in-training David. Lee Evans, as Fog, gives just a superior performance as he did in 'There's Something About Mary' where he played Norm/Tucker. The alien species, both the Monascheiwans and the Mangalores, are intriguingly unique and expertly done, the FX is flawless.This is one of my favorite movies, I watch it all the time. The casting, performances, plot, soundtrack, costume design, FX, and editing all combine to make one of the best movies I've ever seen. If you haven't seen it, you absolutely must. If you didn't like it, you probably didn't pay enough attention to the entirety of the film. It's "perfect" (just like LeeLoo is the perfect Being). A great movie to watch anytime. Ten stars. Enjoy!!