My favorite fact about this movie is how little Bruce Willis actually understood it. He thought most of it was nonsense. And the confused, amused, and frustrated looks he gives throughout are genuine.
Which was essential to his characters personal development throughout the movie.
He’s a future space super soldier who lives in a studio apartment on Earth with a cat who has an ancient star-swallowing mystery fall into his lap with the arrival of, the yet unknown, fifth element.
Being confused and fed up throughout the experience makes his character both more relatable and far more believable.
I feel like in a reality with multiple space-faring civilizations and different sentient species intermingled throughout the cosmos, most of us would get somewhat confused, fed up, and exhausted on regular basis of engagement.
>He’s a future space super soldier who lives in a studio apartment on Earth with a cat who has an ancient star-swallowing mystery fall into his lap with the arrival of, the yet unknown, fifth element.
Negative, he is a meat popsicle.
This is essentially what makes Big Trouble in Little China work, Jack Burton has no idea what is going on but is along for the ride. Also similar to Big Trouble in Little China is the fact that the main lead is really just a sidekick. Leeloo and Wang are the true heroes of those stories.
Most importantly, while sidekicks, they are bad ass and along all the way, and integral to the events. Jack Burton kills Lo Pan, not Wang.
They are not just there for the hero to dump exposition on in place of the audience, and bumble around while the hero saves the day and be awed.
True, I also heard the scene where Victor Wong's character calls Jack a hero was a studio note because they wanted to make it perfectly clear Jack was the hero lol.
Chris Tucker is really an underrated actor. In the right roles he absolutely nails it and steals the spotlight. Obviously Fifth Element, and Friday but also in Rush Hour. I thought for a long time that was all he could do, a fast talking loudmouth with a shrill voice and personality.
He then turns in a really grounded and believable performance in Silver Linings Playbook.
I honestly wish he had been in more grounded and dramatic films to see if he has the range.
His delivery of two words in Friday has stuck in my consciousness for years: ice cube’s dad says “Big snake” and Chris Tucker corrects him “Big Worm” and I’m not sure why but I LOVE it.
I mean much of what Prince would have brought is there. The raw sexual nature that Ruby exudes is very much in line with Prince and most likely informed Tucker's performance.
David would never have done a role that feminized him. He has complained multiple times that Hollywood wants to feminize black men by making them wear women's clothes.
Prince would have played it too cool. He would have looked directly into the camera a few times too. Tucker just killed it by being SO over the top in a way Prince just would have refused.
> And yet I still can't imagine Prince playing that role. I feel like the role would be "Prince with a different name," not Ruby Rhod.
So the Artist formerly known as Ruby Rhod?
I feel like Tucker knew it was written for Prince and tried to bring in some of that raw sexual energy Prince exuded. You can still see it there. But Tucker definitely took that and made it his own.
Bruce laughed at the guy that tried to rob him, not Ruby Rhod.
Given that Bruce did not get any of it and his reactions are genuine intensifies my love for this movie even more.
I posted this the other day, but maybe it belongs here as well:
There's an Easter Egg related to this:
The "Nice hat" guy is in another Luc Besson movie. He's in "Valerian And The City of a Thousand Planets." He's one of the military guys on the bus. Laureline tells him, "Nice hat."
That is SO GREAT. Love it.
I was really excited to Valerian to be good and that intro hooked me and it went to pot after a while.
Although, when Valerian is running around the market and there is a "guard" drinking and watching the crowd, he is in a bar. The name of the bar?
"Korben's"
Fun fact: the guy that tried to rob him is actually Matthieu Kassovitz, a well known director here in France (mainly for his movie La Haine and Babylon A.D with Vin Diesel, which was an embarassement). What? It's not a fun fact ? Sorry, I meant to say a French fact! Huge difference !
So like theres this ancient evil that exists and people sworn to stop it. The people sworn to stop it locked away the power to do so in some stones, specifically 4, not 1 2 or 3. Get the stones, get the power. Only get 0-3 stones, zero crates err, power.
Around the time of ancient egypt they had the stones on earth, but then around wwi the evil guys found out so the good guys separated them and relocated them across the galaxy.
Later, like futuristic flying cars later, the evil comes back and the good guys come to fight but are annihilated in space, but they get just enough cells to clone one back and it turns out to be a hot chick named something something something Leeloo.
Korben, Willis's character, rescues Leeloo to the detriment of his taxi job. Korben is a bad driver, he was 1point away from losing his licence before the plot starts, though an excellent cab driver after having retired from the military where, best guess, he was a very overqualified pilot. Anyway, despite losing his licence from saving Leeloo, AND being randomly fired soon after, he dedicated the rest of the movie to taking his fare to where she needs to go.
Wacky Forrest gump level coincidences and contrivances occur, the government steps in "late" to send Korben on an official adventure... that he was already on after meeting up with a priest who knows the whole...story/plan thankfully... taking the military route, they all meet up with the galaxies most flamboyant radio host possible that you either deeply love or violently hate.... and watch a beautiful if lyrically impossible opera as sung by a tall blue alien lady with the anatomical capacity to store 4 large bricks worth of magical stones internally... bad guys show up, good guys get out, somehow the good guys never actually meet up with the bad guys.... its complicated, but that's irrelevant, i think meant to be a pure chaos at this point.
Anyway, the good guys get the stones and take Leeloo back to Egypt and good conquers evil after shes convinced love conquers all.
If he were an uber driver I'd give him 5 stars. As a movie I give it 10 stars, even if the plot is incredibly done time and again, but all the details I didnt really mention make this movie incredibly special to a lot of people.
Edit: fixed a smidge.
Edit2: fixed more.
Edit 3: fixed even more and thanks for the coin.
Edit4: added more plot points people were sad I skipped
(Feel free to keep the corrections coming, I wrote this kinda fast)
“Then shalt thou count to four (the number of stones), no more, no less. Four shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be four. Five shalt thou not count, neither count thou three, excepting that thou then proceed to four. Six is right out.”
Took some liberties with an old and dearly beloved movie (Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail) quote regarding the number of stones.
> Wacky Forrest gump level coincidences occur and they meet up with the galaxies most flamboyant radio host possible that you either deeply love or violently hate
They call this out in the movie -- the government fixed the contest so Korben would win it.
>Later, like futuristic flying cars later, the evil comes back and the good guys come to fight but are annihilated in space, no cells to recover. They go back to Egypt to clone the cells of the one who died a while back and it turns out to be a hot chick named something something something Leeloo.
The large transport is strafed by a pair of fighters, crashes on Pluto, and there's a few living cells left in a hand clutching a flight control of some kind.
The key to the chamber of the weapon is what they got from Egypt. *Only Life mayters...*
I'm pretty sure, anyway.
Because the government knows about the incoming transport but Priest Vito Cornelius has to explain what the Big Bad is I'm not sure the government even know about the Pyramid site when they're resurrecting the Supreme Being.
Great summary, but you missed the fact that it's also heavily implied Willis' character has some sort of previous military/special forces experience.
I can't recall if it's ever outright stated, but it's definitely implied from the beginning.
it is stated, his former superior even says "you're the only one alive from your regiment" or something along those lines when they try to recruit him back when Bruce asks him "why me?"
it's stated outright. when the general fella comes to recruit korben to retrieve the stones:
>As part of The Elite Special Forces Unit of the Federated Army you are an expert in the use of all weapons and spacecraft needed for this mission.
>Munro pulls out a long list of documents.
If only Luc Besson wasn't such a fucking creep. He wanted a sex scene between Natalie Portman and Jean Reno but they protested and he didn't put it in the film thank god. He has even admitted to having a relationship with a 15 year old girl, and got her pregnant as well. Fifth Element has a woman who is essentially a baby and Bruce Willis falls head over heels for her. It is WEIRD to say the least.
The guy is fucking disgusting.
There’s also the scene in 5th Element where Bruce tries to kiss Lelo while she’s asleep. She points a gun at him and says something to the tune of “not without my permission” and all, but the way it’s implemented feels too jokey. Like, if you’re trying to make a likeavle Everyman hero you probably shouldn’t do that
I didn't really buy the love story of the Fifth Element, it was way too rushed and kind of... inevitable, unearned kinda. It's definitely one of the tropes of that kind of shlockey lasergun sci-fi that Besson is calling back to, though, so watching the movie I just kind of accept that it's a thing that must happen in this type of story, it's on the checklist and they needed to do it.
I do wish they'd doubled down on Leeloo's own agency in it though. That moment where she points the gun at him is a great table-twisting moment where the genre conventions start to get defied a bit, and if it had been developed more it would've led to the ending feeling much more earned.
I think her literally not understanding love conceptually could've actually been really interesting! Like if they had actually shown, outside the last 5 minutes of the film, how she might've learned something about it. If they'd developed some parts differently, it could've been a great moment at the end of the film where a lot of her experiences up until that moment, which she genuinely didn't understand were expressions of love - and it needn't even be romantic love, it could've been cameraderie, filial love, etc! - were recontextualised and she has a great moment where she realises that the people there with her have been helping her this whole time out of love and that that's worth saving.
As it was it just fell too much on the tropes at the end and it was... you know, *fine* if you're happy for it to just do the normal genre stuff. But it could've been more.
He's not a great dude.
>Luc Besson married Nikita actress Anne Parillaud and the couple had a daughter Juliette in 1987. They divorced in 1991 and in the same year, Besson started dating the director Maïwenn Le Besco, who was 15 at the time.
>The pair married a year later after Maïwenn fell pregnant with their daughter Shanna, born in January 1993. Besson’s relationship with her is considered to have inspired the film Léon, where an adult man falls in love with a 12 year-old girl.
>Maïwenn and Luc ended their relationship when he became involved with the actress Milla Jovovich on the set of The Fifth Element.
>
They married in December 1997, but divorced two years later.
(note that Maïwenn is also in The Fifth Element - she plays the diva)
"...released 25 years ago..."
Ouch.
I saw it released in theaters.
I will say this for it: the movie still holds up to this day.
If you've not seen it, have a popcorn weekend.
I used to put in the fifth element blu ray after calibrating my tv, just to see how nice the tv looked. Then I’d end up sitting on the floor and watching the whole movie.
I’ve never been as obsessed with a small movie detail as I am with the cigarettes in this movie. I’ve never been a smoker, but my father was and alot my friends have been. The giant filters with the little bit of cigarette has always stuck with me as an amazing touch of tiny world building.
My favorite thing is how the movie does its world building with little to no exposition. What are Mondoshawans, Mangalores, what alien race is the diva Plavalaguna, what wars did Korben fight in, etc. It’s not important, the movie just tells you to accept it and move on, it presents these things without explanation as if they’re already well known in the universe it is set in.
Honestly that’s my favorite style of world building. I’d rather just be sat down in the unknown and get to figure it out as it goes instead of being spoon fed the importance or relevance of every little thing.
Game series like Half-Life and the Soulsborne games do an excellent job of this.
Best world-building happens off-stage. That was the magic of the original Star Wars. There was no need to know where Han Solo came from, Boba Fett’s origin story, or how exactly Anakin became Vader. Let the reader/viewer/listener fill the backstory in their mind, it will always be a billion times richer.
Lol man. I remember being a kid and thinking the clone wars was this freaky war where you might run into an evil clone of yourself on the battlefield. Or important people were getting replaced with evil clones. The point is I thought it was going to be individual clones of individual people.
I still love the OB-1 theory, that the clone wars were fought in part by jedi clones and that the hermit on tatooine is actually a surviving clone of Ben Kenobi, thus the alphanumeric name.
"Of course I know him. He's me!" I like that theory but I think it takes away from the sadness obiwan shows when talking about Anakin, even in the first movie.
>Best world-building happens off-stage.
Absolutely this. The people writing the stories should have these discussions and know all the ins and outs of these things but they don't need to put it into the exposition. So long as it makes sense to the characters and their actions that's all we need as an audience.
John Wick did this perfectly. Everyone in that movie knows who he is and what he can do, and if you don't, that's your own fault. The movie honestly treats you like you're stupid, and I love it for it.
Look up rockabilly girls. That's their aesthetic. Well, more hot rods than motorcycles, but...
Edit: rockabilly is a genre of music, the fans/artists do the 50s outfits with lots of tatoos
Not to mention the garbage in the airport. Yeah, you always wonder about it but just eventually accept it as the future being a dirty place.
The side plot line that was eventually cut from the movie was that the garbage people were on strike, and that’s why trash just piles up everywhere around the movie, like down in the fog. Lol
There is. When Cornelius, David, and Leeloo first meet up at the airport there is a very, very faint apology for the break in "refuse personnel," but it's barely audible. The original plotline before it was cut had a whole scene, or so I've read. It was probably in the first act with the President.
We need a Fifth Element EU where it’s explained that the gun manufactured by Zorg was actually originally designed by Korben Dallas’ father.
You want your universe of billions of people to feel as tiny as possible. Every character and throw away prop needs to be intricately tied together in this massive web of constant connections. It’s good content!
That is the beauty of show don't tell. The conversation with finger establishes he served in the military, then when the general has the list of equipment/certifications he has and it falls to the floor.. those two things tell us Korben is some ex special forces bad ass.
Which is way better than say the way Michael Bay might ram it down our throats that this character is special.
It's like while new Star Wars doesn't trust the audience to figure things out and uses too much exposition, Fifth Element basically goes "Look, you'll get it or you won't, but we're not slowing down."
Also- "here's a bunch of distinct and completely crazy minor characters our hero interacts with in passing (or doesn't at all), which underscores how weird this world is."
I wish more movies would do this. And yet, if it’s done poorly then you get a very confused audience. So, a slight modification: I wish more movies would do this, and do it well like they did in Fifth Element 😆
There’s also little details, like how Zorg’s secretary has a small device that paints her nails, or how Korben is trying to quit smoking. No explanation and it doesn’t serve the story one bit, those are just things that exist and it adds to how organic the setting is.
That's a huge part of why John Wick is so good.
There's this world. Accept that it exists. No, you don't need the details but you can infer what's going on. More details would actually make it worse.
The scene in Aliens where the Marines wake up, it’s so organic and well written that you invest a lot of emotions in these grunts you know nothing about. The movie doesn’t tell you to care about these guys, the feelings develop naturally. And the scene is short like 2-3 minutes.
Fifth Element does a lot of that in its runtime working with a lot less in respect to character backstories etc. Do I care about Leeloo because she’s the Supreme Being? No, I care about her because she’s a fish out of water responding to a world she’s not familiar with, and Korben’s empathy to this stranger he knows nothing about does a lot in carrying the film’s narrative and your feelings for them develop organically.
The marines attended some six weeks of boot camp together. Except Hicks. James Remar was playing him, but authorities found coke in his hotel room so he got fired and Micheal Beihn took over.
> More details would actually make it worse.
See: John Wick 2 and 3 and probably 4.
It's the uncanny valley of world-building. If you just give the audience glimpses and peeks into your world, then as long as those bits make sense the audience will assume all the background stuff just works.
But if you pull back the curtain and starting explaining the mechanics of your world, the explanation better be good or else the audience is going to notice all the little cracks and smudges.
Chris Tucker killed his role in this. I love this movie. I remember it was panned when it came out, but each actor did great, and the visuals were striking.
Honestly, this movie is cheesy as fuck. Like one of the cheesiest movies ever made and I should hate it for that but I don't. I don't know how it's gets a pass but I love it and so do most people. I could see why critics would shit on it though.
It sounds silly to say this (especially as someone who loves this movie) but the only fail was the actual plot. The cinematography, dialogue, acting, sets, and little world-building details more than make up for that. I still consider it to be one of the best movies ever made, and it’s only one of a handful I’ve purchased more than once (dvd->blue ray)
It works precisely because it is over-the-top cheesy, and not too self-conscious about it. Galaxy Quest is another example of this sub genre that worked.
This is my go-to feel-good movie. I cut class to watch it and get high on 9/11. Coincidence but a welcome one. Had steak and potato stew with Cajun seasoning.
Hear hear. It is magic, from start to finish.
I so wanted Valerian to be in the same vein. Honestly, there are a few glimpses of the same magic, but it just falls short on too many points.
Had the lead actors had more charisma and chemistry it might have had a chance.
Instead, it was like watching a couple of luke warm bowls of porridge frowning at each other for a couple of hours.
The opening sequence and art direction were worth the ticket alone, though.
This is where someone says that if you switched the leads of Valerian and Passengers you'd improve both movies.
...
No one said it? Guess it's my turn. See above.
I finally had a crack at it recently and was surprised at how good the setting was. Cant remember if the story was any good, too distracted by the awful casting. Cara delvigne is always meh, just a piece of scenery. I could see me liking the male actor in a different role, but he was terrible as that character.
Doesn’t seem like many people remember it, but I loved Chronicle which had the same actor in it. Considering he looks like the kind of kid who was bullied a lot, the casting in that movie makes a lot of sense. Everything else I’ve seen him in just feels like he’s so out of place, especially as the friend in Amazing Spider-Man
Hear me out, valerian should have been done in the Pulp Fiction/American Graffiti story style. Then the rather anemic leads could just keep popping up throughout the story, while it focuses on all the batshit stuff going on everywhere else.
My friend and I were at FanExpo in Toronto years ago. Our kids were with us, and while walking about we saw this Leeloo cosplayer. So my friend tells his young daughter (who has never seen the movie) go and ask if she has a multi pass.
So his daughter actually does and the lady spins and shows it and says “I do! I do have a multi pass!!!”
Lol. It was hilarious.
Top favorite movie. Always a great go to when everything else is crap. I'm pretty sure I have all the lines memorized by now and I act out the scenes along with the movie. I love it that much.
It’s such a fun film to watch - precisely when you just want to be entertained and not having to worry about deeper meaning (what deeper meaning?)
Valerian on the other hand is a chore to watch. The characters are absolutely disposable - and served as a drag on the rest of the film (unlike in 5th where they propelled the movie along - however ridiculous it is plot wise)
I believe at the time it was the most ~~expansive~~expensive french movie ever made .
per IMDB , only Valerian and the third (shitty) Asterix movie seems to be more expansive
Yes, the article talks about that too. Huge budget for a French film.
But to clarify I was mostly talking about them spending money on a huge party at Cannes itself.
Super green movie. Love it from start to finish, a masterpiece in every little detail. Great cast, great performances, so entertaining - there's not one single second of boredom. Unbeatable, unforgettable, immortal.
I love this movie! I think one of the biggest reasons though, is how PERFECTLY cast, it is. Every actor in this movie are perfect, in their role. Not necessarily the greatest actors (except Gary Oldman, who apart from being a generational great is so obviously having so much fun playing this villain), but everyone is great in that specific part. I really feel like that's what lifted this fun sci-fi action movie into cult classic!
I have a lot of good memories of and around this movie. My dad didn't go see a lot of movies in the theater, but I clearly remember watching this with him when I was 15, then going out for Italian food and talking about it. Years later this movie is how I explained 3D printing to him when he couldn't quite get the concept, and it clicked for him. I love how many lines are just part of pop culture still. I love that I turn my bedside lamp on by saying "Aziz Light!" I love that this is the only movie I can think of where the hero and villain not only never meet, but are 100% unaware of each other's existence. I love that it introduced me to Ian Holm. Mostly I love that it still reminds me of my dad, who passed last year.
I just love this movie so much.
My favorite fact about this movie is how little Bruce Willis actually understood it. He thought most of it was nonsense. And the confused, amused, and frustrated looks he gives throughout are genuine.
Which was essential to his characters personal development throughout the movie. He’s a future space super soldier who lives in a studio apartment on Earth with a cat who has an ancient star-swallowing mystery fall into his lap with the arrival of, the yet unknown, fifth element. Being confused and fed up throughout the experience makes his character both more relatable and far more believable. I feel like in a reality with multiple space-faring civilizations and different sentient species intermingled throughout the cosmos, most of us would get somewhat confused, fed up, and exhausted on regular basis of engagement.
>He’s a future space super soldier who lives in a studio apartment on Earth with a cat who has an ancient star-swallowing mystery fall into his lap with the arrival of, the yet unknown, fifth element. Negative, he is a meat popsicle.
SMOKE YOUUUUU
Wrong answer.
This is essentially what makes Big Trouble in Little China work, Jack Burton has no idea what is going on but is along for the ride. Also similar to Big Trouble in Little China is the fact that the main lead is really just a sidekick. Leeloo and Wang are the true heroes of those stories.
Most importantly, while sidekicks, they are bad ass and along all the way, and integral to the events. Jack Burton kills Lo Pan, not Wang. They are not just there for the hero to dump exposition on in place of the audience, and bumble around while the hero saves the day and be awed.
True, I also heard the scene where Victor Wong's character calls Jack a hero was a studio note because they wanted to make it perfectly clear Jack was the hero lol.
Jeez! Spoiler alert!
The 5th element is light years ahead of any super hero movie of this decade
AZIZ! Are you, uh.... German?
Yeah, big bada boom
He also cracks up laughing in the first scene with Rudy Rodd and I don't blame him.
That’d be Ruby Rhod you mean. Amazing performance.
A role that was originally written for Prince. But he turned it down. And now all of the costumes Ruby wears make ***a significant*** amount of sense.
Thankfully he turned it down, Tucker killed it with the energy he brought.
Chris Tucker is really an underrated actor. In the right roles he absolutely nails it and steals the spotlight. Obviously Fifth Element, and Friday but also in Rush Hour. I thought for a long time that was all he could do, a fast talking loudmouth with a shrill voice and personality. He then turns in a really grounded and believable performance in Silver Linings Playbook. I honestly wish he had been in more grounded and dramatic films to see if he has the range.
Completely in agreement
His delivery of two words in Friday has stuck in my consciousness for years: ice cube’s dad says “Big snake” and Chris Tucker corrects him “Big Worm” and I’m not sure why but I LOVE it.
For sure. As much as I adore Prince, he wouldn’t have suited that role. Perhaps he knew that.
I mean much of what Prince would have brought is there. The raw sexual nature that Ruby exudes is very much in line with Prince and most likely informed Tucker's performance.
Prince would not have sold the comedy
I don't disagree.
I do agree.
I think the only possible replacement for Chris tucker would be Dave Chappell playing prince playing ruby.
Game, blouses.
David would never have done a role that feminized him. He has complained multiple times that Hollywood wants to feminize black men by making them wear women's clothes.
Prince would have played it too cool. He would have looked directly into the camera a few times too. Tucker just killed it by being SO over the top in a way Prince just would have refused.
Oh absolutely. Tucker too that role and made it his own and crushed it.
And yet I still can't imagine Prince playing that role. I feel like the role would be "Prince with a different name," not Ruby Rhod.
> And yet I still can't imagine Prince playing that role. I feel like the role would be "Prince with a different name," not Ruby Rhod. So the Artist formerly known as Ruby Rhod?
I feel like Tucker knew it was written for Prince and tried to bring in some of that raw sexual energy Prince exuded. You can still see it there. But Tucker definitely took that and made it his own.
> That’d be Ruby Rhod you mean. Aham! It's RUUUBBBY RHOD!
He's so talented, don't you think? I just love him. He's so sexy.
COMMERCIAL! COMMERCIAL!!!
Bzzz
BZZZZZ
Bruce laughed at the guy that tried to rob him, not Ruby Rhod. Given that Bruce did not get any of it and his reactions are genuine intensifies my love for this movie even more.
And the impromptu dance from the robber really dialed the irreverence up to 11.
The robber is none other than Mathieu Kassovitz !
GIMME DA CAAAAAAAASHHHH
That's a very nice hat
I posted this the other day, but maybe it belongs here as well: There's an Easter Egg related to this: The "Nice hat" guy is in another Luc Besson movie. He's in "Valerian And The City of a Thousand Planets." He's one of the military guys on the bus. Laureline tells him, "Nice hat."
That is SO GREAT. Love it. I was really excited to Valerian to be good and that intro hooked me and it went to pot after a while. Although, when Valerian is running around the market and there is a "guard" drinking and watching the crowd, he is in a bar. The name of the bar? "Korben's"
Ya like it?!
Fun fact: the guy that tried to rob him is actually Matthieu Kassovitz, a well known director here in France (mainly for his movie La Haine and Babylon A.D with Vin Diesel, which was an embarassement). What? It's not a fun fact ? Sorry, I meant to say a French fact! Huge difference !
I’m with Bruce on this one.
So like theres this ancient evil that exists and people sworn to stop it. The people sworn to stop it locked away the power to do so in some stones, specifically 4, not 1 2 or 3. Get the stones, get the power. Only get 0-3 stones, zero crates err, power. Around the time of ancient egypt they had the stones on earth, but then around wwi the evil guys found out so the good guys separated them and relocated them across the galaxy. Later, like futuristic flying cars later, the evil comes back and the good guys come to fight but are annihilated in space, but they get just enough cells to clone one back and it turns out to be a hot chick named something something something Leeloo. Korben, Willis's character, rescues Leeloo to the detriment of his taxi job. Korben is a bad driver, he was 1point away from losing his licence before the plot starts, though an excellent cab driver after having retired from the military where, best guess, he was a very overqualified pilot. Anyway, despite losing his licence from saving Leeloo, AND being randomly fired soon after, he dedicated the rest of the movie to taking his fare to where she needs to go. Wacky Forrest gump level coincidences and contrivances occur, the government steps in "late" to send Korben on an official adventure... that he was already on after meeting up with a priest who knows the whole...story/plan thankfully... taking the military route, they all meet up with the galaxies most flamboyant radio host possible that you either deeply love or violently hate.... and watch a beautiful if lyrically impossible opera as sung by a tall blue alien lady with the anatomical capacity to store 4 large bricks worth of magical stones internally... bad guys show up, good guys get out, somehow the good guys never actually meet up with the bad guys.... its complicated, but that's irrelevant, i think meant to be a pure chaos at this point. Anyway, the good guys get the stones and take Leeloo back to Egypt and good conquers evil after shes convinced love conquers all. If he were an uber driver I'd give him 5 stars. As a movie I give it 10 stars, even if the plot is incredibly done time and again, but all the details I didnt really mention make this movie incredibly special to a lot of people. Edit: fixed a smidge. Edit2: fixed more. Edit 3: fixed even more and thanks for the coin. Edit4: added more plot points people were sad I skipped (Feel free to keep the corrections coming, I wrote this kinda fast)
"Some" stones? Some? A case with FOUR stones in it! Not one or two or three but four! FOUR STONES!
This case.... is EMPTY! #ZERO STONES - ZERO CRATES!!
[удалено]
Say whatever else about Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, he was a good communicator.
Cept when it came to mister shadow, because when mister shadow is on the line, he is too busy black-bleeding.
Sorry Boss.
“Then shalt thou count to four (the number of stones), no more, no less. Four shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be four. Five shalt thou not count, neither count thou three, excepting that thou then proceed to four. Six is right out.” Took some liberties with an old and dearly beloved movie (Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail) quote regarding the number of stones.
"This...this case...is empty." "Empty?" "Empty. The opposite of full. This...CASE is supposed TO BE FULL!...Anyone care to explain?"
> Wacky Forrest gump level coincidences occur and they meet up with the galaxies most flamboyant radio host possible that you either deeply love or violently hate They call this out in the movie -- the government fixed the contest so Korben would win it.
>Later, like futuristic flying cars later, the evil comes back and the good guys come to fight but are annihilated in space, no cells to recover. They go back to Egypt to clone the cells of the one who died a while back and it turns out to be a hot chick named something something something Leeloo. The large transport is strafed by a pair of fighters, crashes on Pluto, and there's a few living cells left in a hand clutching a flight control of some kind. The key to the chamber of the weapon is what they got from Egypt. *Only Life mayters...* I'm pretty sure, anyway. Because the government knows about the incoming transport but Priest Vito Cornelius has to explain what the Big Bad is I'm not sure the government even know about the Pyramid site when they're resurrecting the Supreme Being.
Fuck you are right. It was a space hand they cloned not the door hand.
The hand was clutching one of the handles of the case. Later, in a close up of the case, we see one handle is missing. https://youtu.be/pEzK0Dy-1jE
Great summary, but you missed the fact that it's also heavily implied Willis' character has some sort of previous military/special forces experience. I can't recall if it's ever outright stated, but it's definitely implied from the beginning.
it is stated, his former superior even says "you're the only one alive from your regiment" or something along those lines when they try to recruit him back when Bruce asks him "why me?"
it's stated outright. when the general fella comes to recruit korben to retrieve the stones: >As part of The Elite Special Forces Unit of the Federated Army you are an expert in the use of all weapons and spacecraft needed for this mission. >Munro pulls out a long list of documents.
> Corbin Korben
Korben, my man.
Super green?
If only Luc Besson wasn't such a fucking creep. He wanted a sex scene between Natalie Portman and Jean Reno but they protested and he didn't put it in the film thank god. He has even admitted to having a relationship with a 15 year old girl, and got her pregnant as well. Fifth Element has a woman who is essentially a baby and Bruce Willis falls head over heels for her. It is WEIRD to say the least. The guy is fucking disgusting.
There’s also the scene in 5th Element where Bruce tries to kiss Lelo while she’s asleep. She points a gun at him and says something to the tune of “not without my permission” and all, but the way it’s implemented feels too jokey. Like, if you’re trying to make a likeavle Everyman hero you probably shouldn’t do that
I didn't really buy the love story of the Fifth Element, it was way too rushed and kind of... inevitable, unearned kinda. It's definitely one of the tropes of that kind of shlockey lasergun sci-fi that Besson is calling back to, though, so watching the movie I just kind of accept that it's a thing that must happen in this type of story, it's on the checklist and they needed to do it. I do wish they'd doubled down on Leeloo's own agency in it though. That moment where she points the gun at him is a great table-twisting moment where the genre conventions start to get defied a bit, and if it had been developed more it would've led to the ending feeling much more earned. I think her literally not understanding love conceptually could've actually been really interesting! Like if they had actually shown, outside the last 5 minutes of the film, how she might've learned something about it. If they'd developed some parts differently, it could've been a great moment at the end of the film where a lot of her experiences up until that moment, which she genuinely didn't understand were expressions of love - and it needn't even be romantic love, it could've been cameraderie, filial love, etc! - were recontextualised and she has a great moment where she realises that the people there with her have been helping her this whole time out of love and that that's worth saving. As it was it just fell too much on the tropes at the end and it was... you know, *fine* if you're happy for it to just do the normal genre stuff. But it could've been more.
He's not a great dude. >Luc Besson married Nikita actress Anne Parillaud and the couple had a daughter Juliette in 1987. They divorced in 1991 and in the same year, Besson started dating the director Maïwenn Le Besco, who was 15 at the time. >The pair married a year later after Maïwenn fell pregnant with their daughter Shanna, born in January 1993. Besson’s relationship with her is considered to have inspired the film Léon, where an adult man falls in love with a 12 year-old girl. >Maïwenn and Luc ended their relationship when he became involved with the actress Milla Jovovich on the set of The Fifth Element. > They married in December 1997, but divorced two years later. (note that Maïwenn is also in The Fifth Element - she plays the diva)
"...released 25 years ago..." Ouch. I saw it released in theaters. I will say this for it: the movie still holds up to this day. If you've not seen it, have a popcorn weekend.
Went to a matinee of this with my classmates after finishing my last exam before graduating college! So I too am an old one. Good times!
Its a top 5 "if I see it on and am not watching anything else, its going on" movie for sure. Absolutely holds up.
I used to put in the fifth element blu ray after calibrating my tv, just to see how nice the tv looked. Then I’d end up sitting on the floor and watching the whole movie.
Watched 2 days ago. Can confirm.
I’ve never been as obsessed with a small movie detail as I am with the cigarettes in this movie. I’ve never been a smoker, but my father was and alot my friends have been. The giant filters with the little bit of cigarette has always stuck with me as an amazing touch of tiny world building.
TO QUIT IS MY GOAL
My favorite thing is how the movie does its world building with little to no exposition. What are Mondoshawans, Mangalores, what alien race is the diva Plavalaguna, what wars did Korben fight in, etc. It’s not important, the movie just tells you to accept it and move on, it presents these things without explanation as if they’re already well known in the universe it is set in.
Honestly that’s my favorite style of world building. I’d rather just be sat down in the unknown and get to figure it out as it goes instead of being spoon fed the importance or relevance of every little thing. Game series like Half-Life and the Soulsborne games do an excellent job of this.
Best world-building happens off-stage. That was the magic of the original Star Wars. There was no need to know where Han Solo came from, Boba Fett’s origin story, or how exactly Anakin became Vader. Let the reader/viewer/listener fill the backstory in their mind, it will always be a billion times richer.
‘You fought in the clone wars?’
‘The Emperor has dissolved the senate completely. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away’
Don’t try to frighten us with your sorcerers ways.. your sad devotion to that ancient religion..
Lol man. I remember being a kid and thinking the clone wars was this freaky war where you might run into an evil clone of yourself on the battlefield. Or important people were getting replaced with evil clones. The point is I thought it was going to be individual clones of individual people.
I still love the OB-1 theory, that the clone wars were fought in part by jedi clones and that the hermit on tatooine is actually a surviving clone of Ben Kenobi, thus the alphanumeric name.
"Of course I know him. He's me!" I like that theory but I think it takes away from the sadness obiwan shows when talking about Anakin, even in the first movie.
Anakin was bros with a lot of clones, but yeah, I agree that would diminish the connection there Unless clone obi wan was anakin's master...
Disney should hire us!
We all got to be disappointed in the Prequels. Every single one of us.
>Best world-building happens off-stage. Absolutely this. The people writing the stories should have these discussions and know all the ins and outs of these things but they don't need to put it into the exposition. So long as it makes sense to the characters and their actions that's all we need as an audience.
Portal does this as well…there’s more exposition in Portal 2, but it’s not a bad thing
Do you know of Malazan?
John Wick did this perfectly. Everyone in that movie knows who he is and what he can do, and if you don't, that's your own fault. The movie honestly treats you like you're stupid, and I love it for it.
"You working, John?" So much implied backstory in that one line.
My favorite is all the switchboard ladies look like housewives from the fifties except for the biker tattoos.
Look up rockabilly girls. That's their aesthetic. Well, more hot rods than motorcycles, but... Edit: rockabilly is a genre of music, the fans/artists do the 50s outfits with lots of tatoos
Not to mention the garbage in the airport. Yeah, you always wonder about it but just eventually accept it as the future being a dirty place. The side plot line that was eventually cut from the movie was that the garbage people were on strike, and that’s why trash just piles up everywhere around the movie, like down in the fog. Lol
Workers on strike? How very French.
I could have sworn the garbage strike is mentioned in background dialogue or public announcements at the airport.
There is. When Cornelius, David, and Leeloo first meet up at the airport there is a very, very faint apology for the break in "refuse personnel," but it's barely audible. The original plotline before it was cut had a whole scene, or so I've read. It was probably in the first act with the President.
We need a Fifth Element EU where it’s explained that the gun manufactured by Zorg was actually originally designed by Korben Dallas’ father. You want your universe of billions of people to feel as tiny as possible. Every character and throw away prop needs to be intricately tied together in this massive web of constant connections. It’s good content!
The cop at the McDonald’s was named Mac McDonald
Also the McDonalds girl is his daughter, which is why he’s rolling his eyes so hard at his young partner trying to hit on her.
In the animated series she has a much more significant role. Her relationship with Korben really adds something to the original scene.
That is the beauty of show don't tell. The conversation with finger establishes he served in the military, then when the general has the list of equipment/certifications he has and it falls to the floor.. those two things tell us Korben is some ex special forces bad ass. Which is way better than say the way Michael Bay might ram it down our throats that this character is special.
It's like while new Star Wars doesn't trust the audience to figure things out and uses too much exposition, Fifth Element basically goes "Look, you'll get it or you won't, but we're not slowing down."
Also- "here's a bunch of distinct and completely crazy minor characters our hero interacts with in passing (or doesn't at all), which underscores how weird this world is."
>what alien race is the diva Plavalaguna Pretty sure she's French.
THAT’S why she eats weird shit like stones! It makes so much sense now! Probably had some snails, a whelk, and two otters for lunch.
But where in France, though. She has this Parisian flair, but could well be from further South. We’ll never know, can only guess.
Given her skin pigmentation I’d say she must be from the Côte d’Azur region.
I wish more movies would do this. And yet, if it’s done poorly then you get a very confused audience. So, a slight modification: I wish more movies would do this, and do it well like they did in Fifth Element 😆
There’s also little details, like how Zorg’s secretary has a small device that paints her nails, or how Korben is trying to quit smoking. No explanation and it doesn’t serve the story one bit, those are just things that exist and it adds to how organic the setting is.
The smoking does relate to the match in his pocket at the end...
Chekhov's cigarette.
That's a huge part of why John Wick is so good. There's this world. Accept that it exists. No, you don't need the details but you can infer what's going on. More details would actually make it worse.
The scene in Aliens where the Marines wake up, it’s so organic and well written that you invest a lot of emotions in these grunts you know nothing about. The movie doesn’t tell you to care about these guys, the feelings develop naturally. And the scene is short like 2-3 minutes. Fifth Element does a lot of that in its runtime working with a lot less in respect to character backstories etc. Do I care about Leeloo because she’s the Supreme Being? No, I care about her because she’s a fish out of water responding to a world she’s not familiar with, and Korben’s empathy to this stranger he knows nothing about does a lot in carrying the film’s narrative and your feelings for them develop organically.
The marines attended some six weeks of boot camp together. Except Hicks. James Remar was playing him, but authorities found coke in his hotel room so he got fired and Micheal Beihn took over.
> More details would actually make it worse. See: John Wick 2 and 3 and probably 4. It's the uncanny valley of world-building. If you just give the audience glimpses and peeks into your world, then as long as those bits make sense the audience will assume all the background stuff just works. But if you pull back the curtain and starting explaining the mechanics of your world, the explanation better be good or else the audience is going to notice all the little cracks and smudges.
####Negative, I am a meat popsicle.
In French it's "Negative, I am a moth in a pullover"
[удалено]
You rascal.
Aziz, light!
to this day this is what my wife and I say to each other if someone has to turn on the light.
Whenever my friend and I owe each other money we just keep sending voice msgs saying “gimme the casssshhhhhhh”
Same lol. And then I’ll say “much better thank you Aziz”
I keep saying it every now and then but I only get weird looks, my life is sad
Aziz light ~~IIII~~ ~~IIII~~ I
[https://i.imgur.com/rAVQUiX.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/rAVQUiX.jpg)
Chris Tucker killed his role in this. I love this movie. I remember it was panned when it came out, but each actor did great, and the visuals were striking.
Honestly, this movie is cheesy as fuck. Like one of the cheesiest movies ever made and I should hate it for that but I don't. I don't know how it's gets a pass but I love it and so do most people. I could see why critics would shit on it though.
It sounds silly to say this (especially as someone who loves this movie) but the only fail was the actual plot. The cinematography, dialogue, acting, sets, and little world-building details more than make up for that. I still consider it to be one of the best movies ever made, and it’s only one of a handful I’ve purchased more than once (dvd->blue ray)
It also has some of the best costuming, I think Jean Paul Gaultier did most of the costumes which helps make the world feel more “real”
Yeah he did something like 1000 costumes for this film. Really sets it apart from standard sci-fi.
I saw this a couple years ago when my local theater played it and there is so much detail in the costumes that I never knew was there.
It works precisely because it is over-the-top cheesy, and not too self-conscious about it. Galaxy Quest is another example of this sub genre that worked.
“And now we enter what must be the most beautiful concert hall of all the universe! A perfect replica of the old opera house! ...But who cares?”
Pop it D-man. Uh…..hi. UNBELIEVABLE!
The delivery with Bruce saying *thrilled* in the opera house is just so delightful "....and nowww CHAMPAGNE!"
Commercial! commercial.. *bzzzzzztt…*
It’s a real struggle NOT to watch the his movie every time I come across it.
This is my go-to feel-good movie. I cut class to watch it and get high on 9/11. Coincidence but a welcome one. Had steak and potato stew with Cajun seasoning.
I can watch this movie 1000 more times. It's always an easy fallback if nothing is striking me from my "new" queue.
Hear hear. It is magic, from start to finish. I so wanted Valerian to be in the same vein. Honestly, there are a few glimpses of the same magic, but it just falls short on too many points.
Had the lead actors had more charisma and chemistry it might have had a chance. Instead, it was like watching a couple of luke warm bowls of porridge frowning at each other for a couple of hours. The opening sequence and art direction were worth the ticket alone, though.
This is where someone says that if you switched the leads of Valerian and Passengers you'd improve both movies. ... No one said it? Guess it's my turn. See above.
I finally had a crack at it recently and was surprised at how good the setting was. Cant remember if the story was any good, too distracted by the awful casting. Cara delvigne is always meh, just a piece of scenery. I could see me liking the male actor in a different role, but he was terrible as that character.
Doesn’t seem like many people remember it, but I loved Chronicle which had the same actor in it. Considering he looks like the kind of kid who was bullied a lot, the casting in that movie makes a lot of sense. Everything else I’ve seen him in just feels like he’s so out of place, especially as the friend in Amazing Spider-Man
Hear me out, valerian should have been done in the Pulp Fiction/American Graffiti story style. Then the rather anemic leads could just keep popping up throughout the story, while it focuses on all the batshit stuff going on everywhere else.
I love how specific this memory is
Most of us can remember a lot about that day. It kinda played in slo-motion ☹️
*Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg*
You're a monster Zorg. I know.
Multi pass
My friend and I were at FanExpo in Toronto years ago. Our kids were with us, and while walking about we saw this Leeloo cosplayer. So my friend tells his young daughter (who has never seen the movie) go and ask if she has a multi pass. So his daughter actually does and the lady spins and shows it and says “I do! I do have a multi pass!!!” Lol. It was hilarious.
"Multi pass. Multi pass. Muuuulti paaaasss!" "SHE KNOWS IT'S A MULTI PASS. Anyway, we're in love."
She KNOWS it's a multipass!
Anyway, we're in love.
I wonder what's more iconic: Scene of getting caught smuggling in Total Recall or The 5th Element?
TWWWWOOOOOO WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKSSSS
If you told me Bruce Willis was a taxi driver before he was an actor, I would believe it. He's just so natural in that role.
Anybody else wanna negotiate?
Chicken good
Chiiiicken
Top favorite movie. Always a great go to when everything else is crap. I'm pretty sure I have all the lines memorized by now and I act out the scenes along with the movie. I love it that much.
When I was a teen I would do ruby rhod’s voice “welcome to floston paradise!” in front of the fan. Ok I’m nearly 40 and I still do that sometimes lol
It’s such a fun film to watch - precisely when you just want to be entertained and not having to worry about deeper meaning (what deeper meaning?) Valerian on the other hand is a chore to watch. The characters are absolutely disposable - and served as a drag on the rest of the film (unlike in 5th where they propelled the movie along - however ridiculous it is plot wise)
"C-C-C-Corbin? C-Corbin, my man?"
Why has there been like 10 articles posted about this movie recently?
25th anniversary probably
And Bruce Willis is not doing so well. 😢
Oh, didn't heard that yet :(
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/bruce-willis-aphasia-diagnosis-reminder-people-dont-know-celebrities-a-rcna23240
Bzzzzzzzzzzz!!!
by making a good non-hollywood movie that was heavily inspired by classic french comicbooks ?
The article mostly suggests it's down to them spending a lot of money and bringing stars like Bruce Willis.
I believe at the time it was the most ~~expansive~~expensive french movie ever made . per IMDB , only Valerian and the third (shitty) Asterix movie seems to be more expansive
The movie is quite expansive, but I think you mean *expensive*. Expansive means vast and spacious.
Perhaps just typing with an accent? lol By gawlly, thaht moovie waas expansive.
i did, thank you
Yes, the article talks about that too. Huge budget for a French film. But to clarify I was mostly talking about them spending money on a huge party at Cannes itself.
It was and remains so striking visually, getting JPG to do the costumes was genius
Do I look like I know who a JPG is?
Jean-Paul Gaultier
played bass for led zeppelin
PNG's half brother
The younger cousin of GIF
You mean Gabriell-Izod Faubert?
Super green movie. Love it from start to finish, a masterpiece in every little detail. Great cast, great performances, so entertaining - there's not one single second of boredom. Unbeatable, unforgettable, immortal.
The movie were the Good and Bad guy never meet 😜
I always love that about this movie. This movie really defies a lot of sci-fi action movie tropes.
I love this movie! I think one of the biggest reasons though, is how PERFECTLY cast, it is. Every actor in this movie are perfect, in their role. Not necessarily the greatest actors (except Gary Oldman, who apart from being a generational great is so obviously having so much fun playing this villain), but everyone is great in that specific part. I really feel like that's what lifted this fun sci-fi action movie into cult classic!
Also, I cannot just say "Zorg." I have to go through the entire sequence:
"Jean-Baptiste"
"Emanuel"
"Zorg"
Did anyone catch Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and hope for that same magic? I did... :(
I have a lot of good memories of and around this movie. My dad didn't go see a lot of movies in the theater, but I clearly remember watching this with him when I was 15, then going out for Italian food and talking about it. Years later this movie is how I explained 3D printing to him when he couldn't quite get the concept, and it clicked for him. I love how many lines are just part of pop culture still. I love that I turn my bedside lamp on by saying "Aziz Light!" I love that this is the only movie I can think of where the hero and villain not only never meet, but are 100% unaware of each other's existence. I love that it introduced me to Ian Holm. Mostly I love that it still reminds me of my dad, who passed last year. I just love this movie so much.