My movie watch on 20 August 2023 was, at long last, the 1990s English-language but French-made sci fi classic The Fifth Element (I'd previously viewed on many occasions the famous scene from it featuring a blue opera-singing alien diva – more about which later – but never the full movie before).
Directed, conceived, and co-written by legendary French director Luc Besson, with costume designs by none other than Jean-Paul Gaultier, and released in 1997 by Gaumont Buena Vista International, The Fifth Element is set mostly in the 23rd Century. It stars Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas, formerly a SOF major but now a laconic Humphrey Bogart-like flying taxi-cab driver,, into whose airborne cab falls a strange young woman named Leeloo (Milla Jovovich).
Leeloo turns out to be the titular fifth element, aka the Supreme Being, who, when in the presence of four activated mystical stones representing the four classical elements of fire, air, earth, and water, can emit divine light that will destroy an immense ball of fire constituting ultimate evil that is heading towards Earth in order to annihilate every living organism on the planet.
Assisting this sinister sphere is an Earth industrialist named Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman in best OTT comic-book villain mode), who engages the assistance of a group of decidedly ugly, vicious aliens named Mangalores to help him locate these stones. But also seeking them are Korben and Leeloo, assisted by venerable priest Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm), who has acquired some ancient, arcane knowledge concerning the crucial significance of the five elements in saving Earth.
But where are these vital stones hidden? Not where I was expecting them to be, that's for sure! Speaking of which: don't miss – not that anyone possibly could – the outrageous interstellar TV compère Ruby Rhod (played gloriously by Chris Tucker in a very restrained, understated manner – NOT!!!), who propels high camp to a whole new dimension, in every sense!
Based upon what was presented in various trailers for it that I'd watched in the past, I'd anticipated that this movie would be very serious, heavy-going viewing (which is probably why I never got around to viewing it in its entirety before). So I was pleasantly surprised by its tongue-in-cheek, relatively light-hearted delivery, with some great sight gags and plenty of pithy one-liners (not to mention the phenomenal extravaganza that is the afore-mentioned Ruby Rhod!), as well as some awesome action scenes – and, above all, that fantastically exotic alien diva, Plavalaguna (played by French actress Maiwenn Le Besco) with her incredible voice. Click here to view, and listen to, the full version of Diva Plavalaguna's sublime vocal performance of her truly sensational song, 'Diva Dance' – a stupendous fusion of soaring operatic arpeggios and insistent electronic backbeats).
Although Diva Plavalaguna is played by Maiwenn (at that time in a civil relationship with director Besson), her extraordinary vocals are supplied in part by Albanian opera singer Inva Mula (and lip-synched by Maiwenn), because the operatic portion of 'Diva Dance' is in fact the aria 'Il Dolce Suono' from Italian classical composer Gaetano Donizetti's famous opera Lucia de Lammermoor, written by him in 1835. However, the reason why I note that Diva Plavalaguna's vocals are supplied in part by Mula is that this alien's full singing range transcends Mula's and, indeed, every other human's – or so everyone believed back then.
For it had been created by incorporating into Mula's performance some additional, synthetic vocals that had been generated using a computer. Amazingly, however, in subsequent years a number of real-life female performers have successfully emulated Diva Plavalaguna's supposedly unattainable vocals when performing 'Diva Dance' – and so too, astonishingly, has at least one male singer, the incredible Dimash Kudaibergen (click here for a stupendous performance of 'Diva Dance' by him in 2017).
During its long production history, The Fifth Element saw some interesting star names considered at one time or another for various of the main roles. Of particular note is that the flamboyant singer Prince was the original first choice for the role of the unequivocally unconventional Ruby Rhod, but he was unable to accept due to schedule clashes (Michael Jackson was also considered at one point, as was Jamie Foxx). Moreover, Mel Gibson and Jean Reno were both considered for Korben, plus Julia Roberts for Leeloo, before the roles went to Willis and Jovovich respectively.
The Fifth Element is a highly entertaining, fast-paced, visually sumptuous space-themed adventure of the traditional Boy's Own variety – or, to put it another way, if Indiana Jones had ever ventured forth into the vastness of Outer Space instead of penetrating the archaeological inner spaces of terrestrial ancient history, this movie might well have been the result!
So if you'd like to take a brief, virtual flying taxi ride through the fast, furious, and fantastical world of The Fifth Element and sample for yourself just a smidgen of the drama and delights that it has to offer, be sure to click here to view an official trailer for it on YouTube.
Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
Rewatched this film recently, I didn't like it on first viewing but I have come to quite appreciate it by now. Every time I watch it again, I discover new background detail in the universe and production design, or some new twists on how the plot humourously plays around with science-fiction clichés.
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