Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
The Fifth Element (1997)
Director: Luc Besson
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
The 23rd century: Earth's being threatened by a fireball - Absolute Evil - and our only hope lies with the Fifth Element, sent by friendly aliens and given human form as the waifish Leeloo (Jovovich), who's rescued from a suspicious militia by Korben Dallas, spacefighter turned Brooklyn air-cabbie (Willis). Until he takes her to the priest Cornelius (Holm), who alone understands the ancient mysteries, Dallas has no idea of his charge's role in the scheme of things - though her exceptional powers and the unwelcome attentions of Zorg (Oldman), a power maniac aligned with Evil, soon convince him she's something special. While there's enjoyment to be had from Willis's amiably tongue-in-cheek performance, Dan Weil's production design, Jean-Paul Gaultier's outlandish costumes and Digital Domain's special effects, Besson's futuristic fable is flawed by a messy narrative which strains to incorporate far too many grotesque and eccentric characters. Leeloo's sorrowing horror at humanity's propensity for violence and war is a bit rich in a movie that delights in, and depends for effect on, firepower, explosions and loudly destructive mayhem.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Luc Besson
Producer: Patrice Ledoux
Cast: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, Luke Perry, John Neville, Mathieu Kassovitz, Julie T Wallace full cast
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Duration: 126 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.
What do you think?
Post your review now