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The Fifth Element is a French 1997 science fantasy, action, comedy, techno thriller film directed by Luc Besson, starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker. The production design for the film was developed by French comics creators Jean Giraud (Moebius) and Jean-Claude Mézières and shows a strong influence of French comic storytelling and aesthetic style[citation needed]. The costume design was created by French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, who produced 954 costumes for use in the film.

The film's central plot involves the survival of humanity, which becomes the duty of a taxicab driver (and former Special Forces soldier) named Korben Dallas (Willis) when a young woman named Leeloo (Jovovich) falls into his taxicab. She is the Fifth Element, whose appearance was prophesied by Father Vito Cornelius (Holm). Korben's mission is to gather the other four elements before a black planet that represents pure evil collides with Earth. Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Oldman), under the payroll of the Great Evil, hires the Mangalores; slow-witted, shape-shifting warrior mercenary aliens, and tasks them with the objective of obtaining the four stones.

Although largely set in a futuristic New York City, the film was a French production, with most of the principal photography filmed at Pinewood Studios in England. Some scenes were also shot on location in Mauritania. The concert scenes were filmed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, except for the special effect shots that show the Planet Fhloston through the ship's portholes. The Fifth Element was shot in Super 35 mm film format. Many scenes contain visual effects, and nearly all of visual effects scenes are hard-matted.

Plot

The movie begins in 1914 in a ruined Egyptian temple, where an archaeologist and his assistant (played by Luke Perry), to a priest's dismay, uncover ancient writings describing the arrival of a Great Evil every five millennia. The excavation is interrupted when an extraterrestrial ship lands in the area. Its occupants, the Mondoshawans, enter the temple and reveal a hidden crypt containing four stones corresponding to the four essential elements of water, fire, earth, and air arranged around a statue (the 'Fifth' Element). These constitute the only means by which to stop the Great Evil. The Mondoshawans charge the priest with a new task of preserving the temple and its knowledge through the generations, before taking the stones to keep them from being damaged in the events of an an upcoming war, pledging to return when the Great Evil reappears.

Centuries later, in the year 2263, a Federated Navy battleship witnesses a planetary eclipse, which gives birth to the Great Evil. On Earth, at the United Federation's headquarters in New York City, Priest Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) assures Federation President Lindberg that the Mondoshawan will deliver the weapon essential to Earth's survival. During their journey, however, the Mondoshawans' ship is shot down by Mangalores; a shape-shifting, warlike race that was recently devastated by a conflict with the Federation. From the wreckage of the ship, Federal scientists recover the severed fist of one of the crew members, from whose surviving cells they clone or regenerate Leeloo (Milla Jovovich), an apparently human woman observed on a physical and genetic level as a "perfect being". Leeloo, terrified by the scientists, escapes the laboratory and dives into the passing, flying taxicab driven by Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a recently-divorced former major in the Federated Army's Special Forces. Following an extensive air chase through the multi-level traffic by the NYPD, Dallas later brings the insensate woman to Cornelius, who quickly rushes him out.

The Mangalores then rendezvous with Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman), a wealthy industrialist who is aiding the Great Evil and selling weapons, especially the ZF-1, to the Mangalores so they can have their revenge on the Federation. At Cornelius's apartment, Leeloo reveals that the four magical stones are safeguarded by renowned opera singer Diva Plavalaguna (Maïwenn Le Besco), whom Leeloo must meet. Zorg, upon learning that the Mangalores have brought him an empty case rather than the stones of power, leaves a single crate of his weapons for the Mangalores, deliberately not revealing the weapons' self-destruction mechanism, which is activated and kills its users. A few survivors decide to obtain the stones of power for themselves.

President Lindberg, learning about the stones and the Diva from General Munro, rigs a contest for tickets to Fhloston Paradise, a spaceliner where the Diva will be performing, and drafts Dallas back into the Federated Army to retrieve the stones. Cornelius, unaware of the President's plan, sends Leeloo and his acolyte David (Charlie Creed-Miles) to masquerade as Dallas and his newlywed wife, in which disguises they will infiltrate the shuttle flight to Fhloston. Dallas intercepts them at the JFK International Airport and boards the shuttle with Leeloo. Cornelius, learning about Dallas's sudden reappearance, hides aboard the shuttle, where Dallas is accosted by the talkative radio host Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker). The shuttle arrives at the Fhloston Paradise, followed by Zorg, while the Mangalores infiltrate the space liner. Rhod and Dallas attend the Diva's performance while Leeloo waits for the Diva in her quarters. The Mangalores storm Diva's quarters to take the briefcase that seems to hold the stones, and Leeloo remembers them from their attack on the Mondoshawan ship, gets angry and fights them single handedly. Zorg then enters and wounds her, steals the briefcase, and arranges for the liner to explode. While this occurs, the Mangalores hijack the space liner, fatally wounding the Diva, who reveals to Dallas that the stones are inside her body and cautions him to guard Leeloo. After extracting the stones, Dallas repels the Mangalores and gains control of the space liner before seeking and finding Leeloo. Here, the bomb alarm activates. As the passengers leave in lifeboats, Dallas, Leeloo, Cornelius, and Rhod hasten to the dock, narrowly missing Zorg who, having found that the captured case is empty, returns to deactivate his bomb. The Mangalores, however, destroy the liner themselves, killing Zorg.

As Dallas and company return to Earth in Zorg's fighter ship, the Great Evil solidifies into an asteroid and hurls itself at Earth. Leeloo, physically and emotionally wounded from the fighting, questions the validity of protecting life that is not worth protecting, referring to humanity's acts of intraspecies war and genocide. As they land at the temple which David has prepared for their arrival, Dallas tries to coax the workings of the weapon needed to fight the Great Evil from Leeloo. As the group slowly discovers the process and activates the stones by putting them into contact with their respective elements, Leeloo is hesitant to provide the Divine Light needed to complete the weapon, fearing that humans will inevitably destroy themselves. Dallas convinces Leeloo of humanity's hope and of his love for her, then gives her a passionate kiss, allowing Leeloo to release the fifth and final element. The Divine Light strikes the Great Evil seconds before it reaches Earth, neutralizing the Evil and changing it into Earth's second moon. Amidst the worldwide jubilation, the President visits the facility where Leeloo was cloned to congratulate Leeloo and Dallas, who are apparently having sexual intercourse in the regeneration chamber.

Script

Korben Dallas was originally intended to be a laborer in a rocket ship factory.[citation needed] As the film went into development in the early 1990s, Besson went on to create Léon starring Jean Reno, while comic book artist Jean-Claude Mézières, who had been hired as a conceptual designer for The Fifth Element, returned to illustrating The Circles of Power, the fifteenth volume in the Valérian and Laureline series. This particular volume featured a character named S'Traks who drives a flying taxicab through the congested air traffic of the vast metropolis on the planet Rubanis. Besson read the book and was inspired to change the character of Dallas to a taxicab driver who flies through a futuristic New York City. The protagonist of the film, Korben Dallas, and the antagonist, Zorg, never meet or communicate, although Zorg owns the taxi company that employs Dallas and has him fired as part of one million layoffs to slow down economic growth at the request of the government.

The original name of the character Ruby Rhod was Loc Rhod. This name also appears in the novelization of the film.

Home release

The original home video release of The Fifth Element took place in North America on December 10, 1997, in VHS and DVD. The original DVD was in its original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen format, had English and Spanish audio and subtitling, and carried no special features.

The film was re-released in Sony's Superbit collection on October 9, 2001. The enhanced release, also pressed in its original 2.35:1 format, used a higher data rate for a better picture, and featured subtitling in six languages (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Thai) but only English audio and no special features.

A two-disc Ultimate Edition was released on January 11, 2005. Disc one contained the Superbit DVD with five languages of subtitles (all the Superbit subtitles except Thai) and added audio tracks in German and Swedish. The second disc provided special features, including deleted scenes and a production featurette, for the first time.

The first Blu-ray Disc release of the film occurred on June 20, 2006, and was widely criticized as having poor picture quality. Some have described it as barely on-par with the DVD release. Sony subsequently made a remastered Blu-ray version available, released on July 17, 2007. [1] The feature set of the original Blu-ray release matches Disc 1 of the Ultimate Collection, while the Remastered version contains only English and French audio. Neither release carried special features.

Cultural references

New York City in the year 2263.Several references are made to both real life and fictional sources throughout the film. When Korben is shown getting out of bed, the date on his bedroom wall is 18 March 2263; Besson's birthday is 18 March 1959. A number of manga volumes can be seen in Korben's apartment, including Adolf by Osamu Tezuka and Sanctuary by Sho Fumimura and Ryoichi Ikegami.

The diva's name, Plavalaguna, means "blue lagoon" in several Slavic languages. Return to the Blue Lagoon was Milla Jovovich's second starring role as an actress. The Diva herself is said to resemble a Twi'lek.

Clever devices are used to mock certain aspects of modern culture. Korben Dallas' cigarettes are colored in such a way to imply that most of the cigarette is a filter, with only a small part actually smokable. Korben, in the course of meeting Leeloo, goes from 5 points on his license to 1 point on his license. This is inverted from the point system used in the US and UK, in which points are added, not subtracted for violations, but is in accordance with the point system used in France, where a fresh driving license has 12 points. There is also a type of national ID card in the film called a multipass, which is, evidently, easily forgeable. Additionally, the word "green" is used in the film as slang for "cool". In one scene, two police officers get their lunch from McDonald's and a crushed bottle of Coca-Cola can be seen in Korben's apartment. Lastly, during Ruby Rhod's reveal and "interview" with Korben Dallas, he sings a snippet of Lionel Richie's All Night Long (All Night).

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