| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_fifth_element.jpg]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | ->''"You no trouble. Me... fifth element... supreme being... me, protect you."'' |
| 4 | -->-- '''Leeloo''' |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ''The Fifth Element'' is a [[TheNineties 1997]] English-language French ScienceFiction {{Film}} produced by Creator/{{Gaumont}}. The brainchild of producer, director and screenwriter Creator/LucBesson, it stars Creator/BruceWillis, Creator/GaryOldman, Creator/MillaJovovich, Creator/ChrisTucker and Creator/IanHolm. The soundtrack was composed by Besson's longtime collaborator, Music/EricSerra. It was released by [[Creator/SonyPictures Sony Pictures Releasing]] under Creator/ColumbiaPictures in North America, while in France it was released by Creator/{{Disney}} under Creator/GaumontBuenaVistaInternational. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | [[DistantPrologue The movie opens in 1914]], in an Egyptian temple, where an archaeologist, assisted by a reporter, discovers hieroglyphs that report about a Great Evil that is unleashed and tries to destroy all life [[ViciousCycle every five millennia]], and the weapons to defeat it: [[CosmicKeystone four stones]] representing [[ElementalRockPaperScissors water, fire, air and earth]] and a "perfect being" representing a fifth element sealed in a sarcophagus. A priest on site seems incredibly disturbed that the discovery is being made, going so far as to (unsuccessfully) poison the archaeologist to prevent the discovery. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Just as the discovery is made, the {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s who made the temple in the first place (and whom the priest, [[AncientTradition and all those who have come before him]], have secretly served) arrive in a giant spaceship and take away the stones and the sarcophagus, explaining that they are unsafe because of the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne imminent war on Earth]]. The aliens also order the priest to continue to take care of the temple and to pass on his knowledge, as it was passed on to him, to prepare for the Great Evil's incoming. The priest points out that they're leaving Earth defenseless, and the aliens reply that when the Great Evil returns, so shall they. Cut to... |
| 11 | |
| 12 | [[TheFuture 2263]], when the Great Evil is starting to form itself. On their way to deliver the five elements back, the aliens are shot down by a ship of [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy another race of proud warrior aliens]], who steal the box which would contain the stones. The remains of the "fifth element" are found and Earth scientists reconstruct it, generating an orange-haired MysteriousWaif named [[OverlyLongName Leeloominaï Lekatariba Lamina-Tchaï Ekbat De Sebat]], or "Leeloo" for short, who breaks out of the lab and [[CarCushion dives into a taxi]] driven by ex-soldier Korben Dallas. With the Great Evil getting closer, Korben has to help Leeloo save the planet. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ---- |
| 15 | !!''The Fifth Element'' provides examples of: |
| 16 | |
| 17 | * TwoDSpace: The border of the Federated Territories is a massive line of buoys (presumably scanners) that detect incoming ships and turn green to indicate that they may pass. There's not even multiple lines. |
| 18 | * AbsurdlyHugePopulation: The President of Earth mentions "some 200 billion of my fellow citizens", although these might not all be on Earth. |
| 19 | * ActivationSequence: Once the elements are collected, it's necessary to trigger the keystones with their respective Four-Element Ensemble, Leeloo and Dallas as ElementNumberFive, to activate the PillarOfLight that will neutralize the EldritchAbomination that threatens the Earth. |
| 20 | * ActorAllusion: |
| 21 | ** Creator/IanHolm on a spaceship with a man called Dallas. At least this time he's [[{{Film/Alien}} stopping aliens instead of helping them]]. |
| 22 | ** The Diva's name translates as 'blue lagoon' in Croatian. Creator/MillaJovovich, who plays Leeloo, had starred in ''Film/ReturnToTheBlueLagoon''. |
| 23 | * AerithAndBob: In the same character's name, no less. Jean-Baptiste Emanuel... ''[[AVillainNamedZrg Zorg?]]'' |
| 24 | * AggressiveNegotiations: Korben Dallas negotiates by shooting the leader of the Mangalores, knowing this will take the fight out of the others. |
| 25 | -->'''Korben:''' [[BondOneLiner Anyone else want to negotiate]]?\ |
| 26 | '''Fog:''' ''[to Ruby]'' Where did he learn to negotiate like that?\ |
| 27 | ''[listening in back on Earth]''\ |
| 28 | '''Lindberg:''' ''[with a glare towards General Munro]'' [[DeadpanSnarker I wonder.]] |
| 29 | * AirVentPassageway: Played straight when Leeloo escapes the lab in the beginning. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when she tries it against Zorg; he has a machine gun and the vent is noisy, so he does eventually hit her. |
| 30 | * AllCrimesAreEqual: Car thieving is. When the [[HotPursuit Police are on Korben's tail]], they try to scan his ID but fail because of his scan blocker. They figure he is a car thief and immediately attempt to blast him away with some high-caliber gun. |
| 31 | * AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: When the Mangalores take over [[StarshipLuxurious Fhloston Paradise]]. |
| 32 | * AlwaysAccurateAttack: The Replay feature on the ZF-1, which fires a tracer bullet, after which every shot fired will home in on it, even if the gun is pointed in the opposite direction. |
| 33 | * AncientOrderOfProtectors: The Mondoshawan's Earth followers seem to have elements of this. One is willing to kill an archaeologist who is on the verge of discovering the elemental weapon. |
| 34 | * AncientTomb: In the DistantPrologue, we see an archaeologist discovering hieroglyphs in an Egyptian temple. The place becomes the setting for the reunion of the five elements in the future year of 2263. |
| 35 | * AndStarring: The opening's cast roll ends with "and Creator/LukePerry". |
| 36 | * AnswerCut: When Leelo tells Cornelius that the stones have been stolen, he thinks to himself who in god's name would do such a vile thing. Cut to Zorg in his headquarters. |
| 37 | * ArcNumber: The number 5 appears throughout the movie. |
| 38 | * ArcWords: |
| 39 | ** "Time not important. Only life important." |
| 40 | ** "Four elements gathered around a fifth." |
| 41 | ** "Perfect" - Korben looks for the perfect woman and Professor Mactilburgh and Cornelius call Leelo "perfect". |
| 42 | * ArtisticLicenseBiology: The head scientist, while referring to the [[FromASingleCell still-a-sample]] Leeloo, says "I can't wait to meet him," even though he has complete access to her DNA, so he ''really'' should be able to notice the lack of a Y chromosome. So he either a) misled the general for no good reason, b) gave Leeloo a GenderBender for no good reason or c) he's incredibly incompetent and has this job. |
| 43 | * ArtisticLicenseEconomics: Zorg espouses the "Destruction Equals Employment" mentality, and demonstrates it by destroying a glass and explaining how [[InTheFutureWeStillHaveRoombas the machines]] that clean the glass shards away employ so many people manufacturing them. However, Zorg doesn't mention that only companies like his, which profits off of war, stand to benefit, rather than society as a whole. It's a version of the Parable of the Broken Window, which is explained in more detail at Website/TheOtherWiki.[[labelnote:short version]]Destroying something only benefits those companies that can replace that destruction and nothing else. The theory is that a windowmaker hiring someone to go around breaking windows may benefit the windowmaker (in the short term), but does nothing for society as a whole, as money spent replacing windows is money that cannot be spent elsewhere, and is spent simply on restoring the status quo. Also, disasters are not profitable, as money is spent restoring a status quo that could have been spent on improvements elsewhere absent the disaster in question. War is also a useless expense, as money is spent on bullets that fire and bombs that destroy buildings and machines that money has been spent to create. Money spent on war and the military and the industries that support them are by definition a necessary sunk cost, as a state-sponsored military cannot generate profit or become self-sustaining (relying on continuous infusions of taxpayer money to function) and, at its most basic level, their function is to blow shit up and kill people, neither of which have an inherent economic benefit. This doesn't mean war cannot in the long term create conditions where future economic expansion can flourish, but that is outside the scope of this theory.[[/labelnote]] |
| 44 | * ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: |
| 45 | ** [[TheHero Korben Dallas]] uses this trope to his advantage. Korben is held at gunpoint by a thug; [[NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont he then goes off saying the guy has the safety on]] and convinces him to turn it off. Turns out that Korben was lying and he just made the thug "turn off" the gun. Korben is quick to subdue the thug, take his gun and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking compliment his hat]]. |
| 46 | ** Later, Korben hands a loaded pistol with the safety off to Ruby Rhod, who clearly is terrified of it, and tells him to cover a prisoner. Ruby almost immediately [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace kills said prisoner]] with an accidental discharge. |
| 47 | * ArtisticLicenseHistory: The gun that Billy pulls out in the opening is a Mauser M712 ''Schnellfeuer''. While the C96 "Broomhandle" pistol had been available for almost two decades by 1914, the ''Schnellfeuer'' full-automatic model was not introduced until the 1930s. |
| 48 | * ArtisticLicensePhysics: |
| 49 | ** The battleship captain says that the Dark Planet is giving conflicting temperature readings varying from one million degrees to -5000. There is no temperature scale that goes to -5000, as absolute zero (or 0 Kelvin) is only -273 Celsius (-460 Fahrenheit). Of course, this could simply be a result of the sensors being jammed, as was mentioned just prior. |
| 50 | ** During the climax, the Dark Planet is described as having been stopped 62 miles from impact. Previously, the Planet was described as being 1200 miles in diameter. This means an object about half the size of Earth's moon is parked in an orbit no more than 62 miles above Earth's surface. That's ''closer'' than the orbit of a geosynchronous satellite. Not only would such an orbit be untenable, but an object ''that'' size orbiting ''that'' close to Earth would wreak utter havoc on the planet's surface due to tidal forces. In fact that's so close the limb of the Dark Planet would be ''inside Earth's atmosphere''. |
| 51 | * AskAStupidQuestion: The cops, to Korben. |
| 52 | -->'''Cop:''' Are you classified as human?\ |
| 53 | '''Korben:''' Uhh, negative. I am a meat popsicle. |
| 54 | * AssholeVictim: While being wrongfully arrested, kidnapped by Mangalores, and having his identity stolen is pitiable, one has a hard time feeling sorry for Korben's neighbor when his response to the police ordering him to follow instructions is to obnoxiously tell them to screw off. |
| 55 | * AttackBackfire: The big dark planet of evil is attacked by Earth's military with several missiles. Instead of the missiles hurting it, they cause it to get bigger. |
| 56 | * AtTheOperaTonight: One of the most entertaining opera scenes on film, intercut with a fight scene for Leeloo. Actually an opera in space in a SpaceOpera. |
| 57 | * {{Autodoc}}: The machine used to "repair" Leeloo. It actually reconstructs her from what is essentially a bone fragment containing living cells. In an example of LifeImitatesArt, it acts like a modern 3-D printer.[[invoked]] |
| 58 | * BadassNormal: Korben Dallas. Leeloo is an UltimateLifeform bred to fight, he's just an OldSoldier with plenty of experience. |
| 59 | * BadCopIncompetentCop: The police are practically owned by Zorg and do his bidding from a mere phone call. Despite this, they never manage to do anything more than get in the way and die. |
| 60 | * BallisticDiscount: Subverted, where Zorg shows the Mangalores all the fancy special features of the consignment of assault rifles they've ordered, and they walk off with them without completing their side of the bargain (they ''did'' destroy the assigned target, the MacGuffin just wasn't actually there). Turns out his insurance policy was to show them all the fancy special features ''except'' explaining [[WhatDoesThisButtonDo What That Little Red Button Does]] -- it's a high-explosive self-destruct. Played straight in a more non-traditional fashion when Korben tricks the mugger into disabling his gun, then pulls his own sidearm and steals the mugger's gun. |
| 61 | * BeYourself: Zorg encourages Aknot to just stick to his Mangalore face. |
| 62 | -->'''Zorg:''' My dear Aknot, what about those two little planes you borrowed? ''[sees Aknot's human face]'' Aknot, is that you? What an ugly face. It doesn't suit you. Take it off. ''[Aknot's face transforms into a Mangalore's]'' Much better. Never be ashamed of who you are. You're warriors, be proud. |
| 63 | * BigApplesauce: Of all the places to bring a Supreme Being, it's of course New York City, which is apparently the future capital of TheFederation (since the president and military command seem to be in residence there). |
| 64 | * BigRedButton: |
| 65 | ** Not Big, but definitely red, is one mentioned by Zorg: "I hate warriors, too narrow-minded. I'll tell you what I do like though: a killer, a dyed-in-the-wool killer. Cold-blooded, clean, methodical and thorough. Now a real killer, when he picked up the ZF-1, would've immediately asked about the little red button on the bottom of the gun." Immediately after, Aknot the Mangalore pushes that button, and the weapon {{self destruct|Mechanism}}s. [[StuffBlowingUp Impressively.]] |
| 66 | ** While [[NotQuiteDead the doctors are reassembling]] the SoleSurvivor of the Mangalore vessel, General Munro keeps his hand hovering over a large red dome, warning that their patient had better be polite. On revealing that their patient is a beautiful woman, the doctor gently moves a gaping Munro's hand away from the button. |
| 67 | * BilingualDialogue: Father Cornelius is able to understand Leeloo's rapid-fire delivery of her, "divine language." And she has no problem understanding his responses in English. Leeloo does eventually learn how to speak slightly broken English. |
| 68 | * BondOneLiner: When Zorg arrives with his spacecraft at Fhloston Paradise, he is alerted by ground staff that there is a bomb in the hotel. He mows down all personnel with his ZF-1 and exclaims "I know!" |
| 69 | * BrickJoke: |
| 70 | ** When the Mangalores fail to deliver the stones to Zorg, [[spoiler:he tricks them into blowing themselves up with the ZF-1's self-destruct function. Guess what happens to Zorg on the ship later?]] Zorg disparages the Mangalores afterwards, saying he prefers cold-blooded killers to warriors because warriors prefer to fight for honor and hopeless causes. The last words by the Mangalores right before [[spoiler:Zorg is blown up]] is that he's doing it for their honor. |
| 71 | ** During one of the phone calls with Korben's mother (specifically, [[spoiler:to the President because her son saves the Earth]]), she can be briefly heard alluding to previous scenes: |
| 72 | --->'''Korben's mother:''' I might as well throw myself into traffic[[note]](Happens to Leeloo during her lab escape.)[[/note]] or Saran Wrap myself to the bed[[note]](Happens to Cornelius in Korben's apartment.)[[/note]] and pretend my child is suffocating me... |
| 73 | ** While talking to Finger at the beginning of the film, Korben says that he drives a cab now, not a SpaceFighter. Then when they're stealing Zorg's fighter: |
| 74 | --->'''Rhod:''' Korben, you know how to fly this?!\ |
| 75 | '''Korben:''' Like driving a cab! |
| 76 | * BridalCarry: When Cornelius opens his door and sees Korben carrying Leelo in his arms, he assumes that they want to get married and refers them to the wedding room downstairs. Korben then has to explain that this is actually a CrisisCatchAndCarry situation. |
| 77 | * BringIt: Leeloo performs this hand movement when she fights the Mangalores during the opera on the spaceship. Beautifully accompanied by a melodious chord sung by the opera diva, whose on-screen concert is running at the same time. |
| 78 | * BrokenRecord: Leeloo practices some of her proper nouns like this. |
| 79 | -->'''Leeloo:''' Multipass! Mul-Tee-Pass!\ |
| 80 | '''Korben:''' She knows it's a Multipass! |
| 81 | * BrownNote: Mr. Shadow's voice over a telephone call and [[SpaceIsNoisy in space]] is able to cause {{psychic nosebleed}}s in General Staedert and Zorg. |
| 82 | * BuffySpeak: Ruby Rhod falls into this when the Mangalores strike the cruise ship. What's worse, despite how vague the description is, [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike General Munro knows exactly who he's talking about]]: |
| 83 | -->'''Rhod:''' They're warriors, and they're ugly. They got big teeth, big foreheads, big ears, and they stink.\ |
| 84 | '''Munro:''' Mangalores. |
| 85 | * BulletDodgesYou: Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg demonstrates a gun that has avoiding friendly fire as one of its special features. Even if you ''aim directly'' at your own units, the bullets will just [[HomingProjectile navigate]] around them. |
| 86 | * BulletholeDoor: Ruby Rhod gets an oval floor exit from Korben Dallas and the opportunity to ride the piece down one level. |
| 87 | * TheCameo |
| 88 | ** Creator/MathieuKassovitz as the mugger waiting at Korben's door. |
| 89 | ** The Mangalores' human disguises (and a lot of extras) are played by fashion models who worked with costume designer Jean-Paul Gaultier. |
| 90 | ** Fog, the nervous, stammering bellboy, is played by British stand-up comedian/occasional actor Lee Evans. |
| 91 | ** The larger of the two cops getting their lunch at UsefulNotes/McDonalds is played by Creator/MacMcDonald, well known (in the UK, at least) for playing Captain Frank Hollister, the ranking officer in charge of ''Series/RedDwarf''. |
| 92 | * CameraSpoofing: A thief at the beginning of the film does this to Korben's apartment camera by wearing a hat with a picture of the background on it. Thus, by tilting his head at the camera, it looks like everything's clear. Then he pops up and tries to mug Korben. Korben tricks him into turning the gun safety on, takes his gun, then compliments the hat. |
| 93 | * CampStraight: |
| 94 | ** Ruby Rhod and his entourage play every camp stereotype to the hilt, even though they're not gay. Just because Ruby owns a collection of lycra catsuits doesn't mean he isn't a ladies' man. As evidenced by his tryst with a flight attendant during the takeoff of the ship to Fhloston Paradise. According to the DVDCommentary, Ruby (originally named "Loc") is a combination of Music/{{Prince}} and Lenny Kravitz. Ruby even oddly uses the female pronoun when referring to himself on radio, calling himself ''Miss'' Ruby Rhod. |
| 95 | ** Also applies to Baby Ray, the deaf "star of stage and screen", who is surrounded by a gaggle of admiring ladies when we first meet him. If anything, it seems like this is the fashion of the future and Korben is an aberration for dressing in a masculine way. It could be a class thing, as they're both wealthy celebrities, and Korben is very much working class. Zorg's outrageous "space Hitler meets Frank-N-Furter" fashion supports this hypothesis. |
| 96 | * CarCushion: Leeloo jumps from a building and falls into Korben Dallas' taxi. There are huge amounts of cars flying on several levels, so she was bound to hit one eventually, before she could get hurt. |
| 97 | * CassetteFuturism: The film has a distinctive aesthetic that looks like a lot of '90s music videos. It's deliberately futuristic-looking but also quite campy. |
| 98 | * CastingGag: The man waiting impatiently at [=McDonald=]'s is played by Creator/MacMcDonald. |
| 99 | * CasualInterstellarTravel: Star-hopping is apparently a common past-time of the rich and powerful, who think no more of vacationing on another planet (or, as in the film, on a cruise ship orbiting a planet) as their counterparts today would of seeing the Caribbean. |
| 100 | * CatapultNightmare: Our introduction to the hero has Creator/BruceWillis starting awake in his cubicle apartment. Interestingly there's no indication that he had a nightmare, but it's a direct cut from the scene in which General Staedert's vessel has been attacked and presumably destroyed by the Great Evil, implying that he's had some sort of premonition. |
| 101 | * CatchAFallingStar: Happens by accident. Leeloo dives off of a ledge to escape from the police and crashes through the top of Korben's cab. |
| 102 | * CatchingUpOnHistory: When the [[UltimateLifeForm Supreme Being]] Leeloo is regenerated FromASingleCell, she catches up on the last 5,000 years of human history by speed-reading the encyclopedia. This causes [[HeroicBSOD some difficulty]] when she gets to [[HumansAreBastards the entry on War]]. |
| 103 | * CelebCrush: Korben Dallas' hotel concierge lady has a crush on Ruby Rhod. "I just love him. He's so talented, don't you think? He's so sexy." |
| 104 | * ChanceActivation: As they are trying to activate the stones, there are no instructions or directions found. David lets out a frustrated sigh, accidentally blowing air onto the Air stone. It reacts by slightly opening. After he alerts the others, David remembers about the breath and Korben surmises that the stones are simple: air (David's breath) for Air, water (Cornelius' sweat) for Water, earth (dirt) for Earth and fire (Korben's match) for Fire. Good thing he hadn't given up smoking! |
| 105 | * CharacterCatchphrase: |
| 106 | ** Zorg: "I know." |
| 107 | ** Ruby Rhod: "Are we green?" and "BZZZZZZZZ!" (while flapping his hands at someone he wants to leave him alone). |
| 108 | ** A Creator/RatPack catchphrase of old, "badda-boom!" gets a new lease on life, too. |
| 109 | * ChekhovsGun: If you want an example of how to use this trope well, look no further. Almost everything important in this movie is introduced in a previous scene. A partial list includes Korben's matchbook, Leeloo reading about martial arts, and the Mangalores being able to shapeshift. |
| 110 | * ChirpingCrickets: It's subtle, but both times Ruby Rhod tries to get Korben Dallas to say something in the mic, during the pregnant pause that follows you can faintly hear crickets chirping. |
| 111 | * ClosetShuffle: A rather spectacular example involving multiple people and a truly improbable selection of hiding places (including a freezer and a self-making pull-out bed). None of the people Korben hides enjoy their hiding places very much. Leeloo ends up wet and freezing when the shower begins its self-cleaning cycle, the military brass are frozen, and Cornelius nearly suffocates under a plastic sheet when the bed makes itself. |
| 112 | * ClothingDamage: As he retrieves the stones from the diva, Korben is wearing an immaculate tuxedo minus the jacket. Cut to the next scene and his shirt is torn to shreds with no explanation. Ruby Rhod's flamboyant outfit is all torn up with no explanation as well. |
| 113 | * CobwebOfDisuse: The hall inside the tomb where the ritual is taking place is full of dust and cobwebs when the Mondoshawan arrive early on. After all it's been 5,000 years since it was last used. |
| 114 | * CoitusUninterruptus: At the end, Korben and Leeloo are making love in the regeneration chamber when the President comes in to congratulate Korben. Dr. [=MacTilburgh=] looks through a peephole and says they need five more minutes of "regeneration". |
| 115 | * ColonyDrop: The Ultimate Evil takes the form of a moon-sized sphere and hurtles itself towards the Earth. It's implied that ''the'' Moon is the remains of a previous close call. |
| 116 | * ColorCodedElements: The four stones that are collected represent each element and when opened glow a specific elemental color: red = fire, blue = water, yellow = air and green = earth. |
| 117 | * ConcealmentEqualsCover: A snooker table somehow provides protection from the Mangalores' MoreDakka; although such tables are usually floored by a big slab of slate, it would be unlikely to stop high-powered rifle rounds. The Mangalores are shooting at an angle; it's likely the rounds ricochet off the table instead of it having to stop the rounds entirely. |
| 118 | * {{Conlang}}: Director Luc Besson developed the "divine language" heard in the film on his own and taught it to Creator/MillaJovovich. They had conversations in it and wrote letters to each other in it to practice. |
| 119 | * ConsolationBackfire: Korben Dallas is eating lunch when he gets a message. He points out to the window-to-window chef that the last two messages were from his wife, who was leaving him, and from his lawyer, who was also leaving him ''with'' his wife. The chef responds with some words of wisdom: "Grandfather say, 'it never rains every day'. This one is good news! I bet you lunch!" Of course, his next line as he reads the message is "You are fired". At least Corbin got a free lunch? |
| 120 | * TheConstant: Having become a MegaCity, the skyline of New York has changed much in 2263. The one recognizable element is the Art/StatueOfLiberty which has been raised onto a larger pedestal in order to still stand out against the mega-skyscapers in its vicinity. |
| 121 | * ConstellationsAsLocations: The cruise ship is stated to be orbiting the planet Phloston in the "Angel" constellation. |
| 122 | * ContrivedCoincidence: Some of it is specifically invoked by characters, but the government fixes a radio contest to give Korben a cover story on Fhloston Paradise during his mission to retrieve the four elemental stones for them. He just happens to be the cab driver who, earlier, had Leeloo (the Fifth Element) drop in on him. He dropped her off with a priest, who later heard he won the contest on the radio and shows up at Korben's apartment while the military is there to recruit him. |
| 123 | * ConvergingStreamWeapon: The four stones arranged around "a [[TitleDrop Fifth Element]], a supreme being", direct their energies into Leeloo, who directs the combined energy toward the Ultimate Evil. |
| 124 | * CostumePorn: [[{{Stripperiffic}} Literally]]. Costumes by ''Jean-Paul Gaultier!'' (At the time, hands down the single most sought-after fashion designer in the world.) |
| 125 | * CrapsackWorld: New York City is an overcrowded and polluted PoliceState under Zorg's thumb. It is implied that Zorg's influence may have spread this beyond the city's borders. |
| 126 | * CrashIntoHello: Leeloo literally '''crashes''' through the roof of Dallas's car. |
| 127 | * CreatorsCultureCarryover: Korben lives in New York, and loses all five points left on his driver's license. In America, points are added for traffic violations, whereas in France, points are removed. Partly justified by the story being set 300 years in the future. |
| 128 | * CryLaughing: Zorg, after recovering the chest that he thought contained the alien elemental stones, starts laughing as he opens it, which quickly turns into crying as it's empty. |
| 129 | %%* CuttingTheKnot: Dallas's tactic under AggressiveNegotiations doubles as this. |
| 130 | %%* DeadpanSnarker: |
| 131 | %%** Korben, as any Creator/BruceWillis action hero requires. |
| 132 | %%** The President gets one in, too (see AggressiveNegotiations above). |
| 133 | * DescriptionCut: This exchange between the President and General Munro: |
| 134 | -->'''President:''' Is that your idea of a discreet operation?\ |
| 135 | '''General Munro:''' Don't-don't worry, sir. I know my man, he'll calm things down...\ |
| 136 | ''[cut to three Mangalores going down under a hail of bullets and Korben charging out of a door with guns blazing]'' |
| 137 | * DescriptionPorn: |
| 138 | -->'''Zorg:''' Voila, the ZF-1. ''[activates a ZF-1 and holds it]'' It's light; handle's adjustable for easy carrying; good for righties and lefties; breaks down into four parts; undetectable by X-ray; ideal for quick discreet interventions. A word on firepower. Titanium recharger; 3000-round clip with bursts of 3 to 300. With the replay button, another Zorg invention, it's even easier. ''[lights reveal a mannequin in police gear]'' One shot...''[shoots mannequin]''...and replay sends every following shot to the same location. ''[turns around, shooting in the direction of the Mangalores; [[HomingProjectile bullets curve their trajectory and hit the mannequin instead]]]'' And to finish the job, all the Zorg oldies but goldies. ''[fires every weapon at the mannequin as he mentions them]'' Rocket launcher...arrow launcher with exploding or poisonous gas heads, very practical...our famous net launcher...the always-efficient flamethrower. My favorite. ''[winks at the Mangalores]'' And for the grand finale, the all-new 'Ice-cube System'. ''[fires a cloud of liquid nitrogen which freezes the remains of the mannequin. Mangalores applaud politely for the carnage.]'' |
| 139 | * DespairEventHorizon: Leeloo reaches this point when she finishes reading about war, during her travel back to planet Earth with Korben and his friends to save the planet. Her morale was already waning when suffering all the violence they went through while looking for the sacred stones needed to save Earth (including a scene when Zorg injuries her with his firearm to take the [[spoiler:actually-empty]] stones' box from her); and by the time she sees the picture of one of the atomic bombs being landed onto Japan near the end of World War II, she decides that saving humanity is not worth it. |
| 140 | * DestroyTheProductPlacement: The flying car chase scene has a police car crashing into a [=McDonald's=] truck, spilling its contents onto the officers. |
| 141 | * DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:The Diva dies in Korben's arms]]. |
| 142 | * DieHardOnAnX: The space cruise opera sequence, with bonus points for starring Creator/BruceWillis himself. Complete with AirVentPassageway escape by Leeloo. |
| 143 | * DisapprovingLook: The President is giving these constantly, but it's especially strong when Korben turns a quiet recon mission on the Fhloston Paradise into a bloodbath. |
| 144 | * DispenseWithThePleasantries: When [[spoiler:Mr. Shadow makes a beeline for Earth after Zorg is destroyed and the Element stones are secured]], the President has to tell Korben the bad news. He tries to soften it by praising his heroics on Fhloston Paradise, but Korben just wants him to get straight to it, so the President glumly gives a weary Korben one more earth-saving job to do. |
| 145 | * DistantPrologue: The film starts in c.1914 when the Mondoshawans take artifacts from an archaeological dig. The story then jumps forward to the far future, where we're introduced to the main characters. |
| 146 | * DontCelebrateJustYet: The President pops open a bottle of champagne for his staff when Korben acquires the four stones. Then they get told that the Dark Planet is heading straight for Earth. |
| 147 | * DramaPreservingHandicap: Leelo, who knows how to activate the four stones, is too weak by the end to inform the others so they have to figure it out themselves while the doomsday clock is ticking down. |
| 148 | * DudeShesLikeInAComa: Dallas kisses an unconscious Leeloo. He realizes this is a bad idea when in the next moment she's woken up and is [[ClickHello pointing his own gun at his head]] while angrily saying something in an alien language. Fittingly, what she says is translated by the priest as, "Never without my permission." |
| 149 | * DulcineaEffect: Korben is moved enough by the shaky pleading of the unintelligible redhead that just fell through the roof of his cab to get into a high-speed chase with the police. He's at least smart enough to realize that he's getting into far more trouble than he can really afford, and admits that his rationale essentially boils down to "fuck it, why not?" |
| 150 | * EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: The SealedEvilInACan pops out [[EternalRecurrence every 5,000 years]] to attack Earth. Justified in that an Ancient alien race hid a weapon there capable of destroying said evil, which would also have allowed the evil to wipe out all life in creation. |
| 151 | * ElementNumberFive: The movie uses this trope as a central plot point, as the title implies. However, it's not until the very end that this is explained. While Leeloo is called "the Fifth Element", the movie's director says the actual fifth element is [[spoiler:[[EuropeansAreKinky sex]]]]. |
| 152 | * EmptyFridgeEmptyLife: When Korben searches his fridge for food early on, it's basically empty except for a box of cereals. This emphasizes how he has fallen on hard times after exiting the army. |
| 153 | * EscapedFromTheLab: Leeloo escapes from the lab that genetically reconstructed her after the Mondoshawan ship she traveled aboard was attacked by Mangalore fighters and destroyed. |
| 154 | * EscapePod: When the bomb alert is announced on Fhloston Paradise, civilians start escaping the spaceship via escape pods. |
| 155 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: Korben barely reacting to a mugger at his apartment door threatening him with an enormous gun, tricking him into turning it off, and then taking his gun from him and putting it in a rack with half a dozen others, implying that this happens to him all the time. |
| 156 | * EternalRecurrence: The planet-sized Great Evil reappears every 5,000 years. |
| 157 | * EurekaMoment: After David's ChanceActivation of the Air Stone, it takes the others a few minutes to work out that he did so by '''breathing''' on it; from there it's a short step to "use each Element to activate its respective Stone." |
| 158 | * EverybodySmokes: Korben, Ruby Rhod and Zorg all smoke. {{Subverted}} in that cigarettes are reversed from their real-world counterparts, being mostly filter and a tiny part being actual tobacco. And Korben, who is automatically dispensed four (and only four) when he wakes up, is trying to quit. |
| 159 | * EveryBulletIsATracer: When Zorg demos the ZF-1's "replay button" feature for the Mangalores, not only is every bullet a tracer, but they ''[[HomingProjectile self-guide to the target even when he is pointing completely the other way]]''. |
| 160 | * EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce: The personification of evil springs up every 5,000 years. The titular element has to be used in conjunction with the four element stones to wipe it out, but it keeps coming back. If evil gets the four stones, however, it can wipe out all life in the universe. No recovering from that. |
| 161 | * EvilOverlordList: Zorg practically quotes Number 68 as he lets Cornelius go after Cornelius had saved his life. |
| 162 | * ExactWords: |
| 163 | ** When Vito offers a differing theory, the President says he has twenty seconds to explain it. Vito then talks for ''exactly'' twenty seconds. |
| 164 | ** Zorg hires the Mangalores to shoot down a Mondoshawan transport and recover a case from the wreckage. Unfortunately, he forgot to specify that [[spoiler: the case was supposed to contain the four elemental stones in it.]] Despite Zorg's objection, Aknot insists he held up his end of the deal: |
| 165 | --->'''Aknot:''' You asked for a case, we brought you a case. |
| 166 | * ExcessiveSteamSyndrome: The airlock of the Mondoshawans' ship hisses steam and drips condensation when it first opens up at the Egyptian temple. |
| 167 | * ExposedStarshipBridge: The Federation battleship has its bridge sit atop the ship's body much like a [[SpaceIsAnOcean marine battleship]]. |
| 168 | * ExtremelyShortTimespan: Taking away the opening and closing scenes, most of the movie takes place across ''two days''. And during that the main characters are able to go to another planet and back. |
| 169 | * FaintInShock: Vito Cornelius drops stiff after realizing that the unconscious woman Korben Dallas has brought to his office is in fact the Fifth Element. |
| 170 | * FallInAngel: Korben Dallas gets pulled into the adventure when Leeloo (who's just escaped from the lab that recreated her) dives from a skyscraper ledge and lands in Dallas's cab. |
| 171 | * FanserviceWithASmile: The female staff of every non-governmental organization shown onscreen. Note the UsefulNotes/McDonalds drive-thru girls.... |
| 172 | * FantasticVermin: Spaceport ground crew use flamethrowers to deal with the problem of alien lifeforms hiding in spacecraft landing gear wells. |
| 173 | * TheFederation: Referred to as "The Federated Territories," possibly implying that not only local system planets, but entire extra-solar regions are under Terran jurisdiction. |
| 174 | * FlatWhat: Zorg's response when he learns one of his lackeys failed to take Korben Dallas' spot on the plane. |
| 175 | * FloatingHeadSyndrome: |
| 176 | ** The poster on this page. |
| 177 | ** In the DVD cover, the floating heads take up almost the whole cover, and it looks as if the [[FlyingCar cars]] are frantically running away from them. |
| 178 | * FlyingCar: There are lots of these, given the very distant future the movie takes place in. TheHero even drives a flying taxi for a living. |
| 179 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: When Korben meets Leeloo in the spaceport, he tells the ticket agent that they met, sparks flew, and they fell in love. [[spoiler:At the climax of the movie, he lights a match and admits he's in love with Leeloo.]] |
| 180 | * ForScience: Professor [=MacTilburgh=] sure does love the prospect of regrowing the supreme being in his lab. |
| 181 | -->'''Munro:''' Sounds like a freak of nature to me.\ |
| 182 | '''[=MacTilburgh=]:''' Yeah. Can't wait to meet 'im! |
| 183 | * FreezeFrameBonus: When Korben receives his letter telling him he's fired, you see the company he's been working for is Zorg's, in a nod to the scene in which Zorg fires a million employees to slow the economy down, "from smaller companies, like the taxi drivers'." It also contains a laundry list of code violations, ostensibly from Korben's driving antics earlier in the day, which is probably also why he isn't surprised by the news. |
| 184 | * FromASingleCell: The ActionGirl protagonist Leeloo is regenerated from scratch in a rather cool sequence near the beginning of the film. The doctor who restores her practically quotes this trope when explaining the process, saying "A couple of cells are still alive. It's more than I need." |
| 185 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: When Korben confiscates a weapon from a would-be mugger at his apartment door, a cache of other weapons descends from the ceiling, suggesting this happens to him ''all the time''. |
| 186 | * FutureMusic: The techno-rock-opera fusion performed by the Diva. |
| 187 | * FuturisticSuperhighway: [[BigApplesauce New York City]] of the 23rd Century has designated "lanes" for {{Flying Car}}s stacked on top of each other throughout the city. |
| 188 | * GambitPileup: |
| 189 | ** The Federation and Priest Vito Cornelius and Leeloo are trying to get the Stones from the Diva on Fhloston Paradise. The Federation rigs a contest to get Korben Dallas to the hotel. As they're briefing him on this, Vito and Leeloo arrive to try and take Korben's tickets. Korben hides the military folks from Vito and Leeloo, then has to hide Vito and Leeloo from the cops, since Zorg's man has called in a tip to get Korben Dallas arrested so ''he'' can take Korben's place and go to Fhloston to get the Stones. Fortunately, [[OutGambitted Vito had moved Korben's nameplate to a different door]], so that guy gets arrested instead. Then the Mangalores ambush the police, capture "Korben Dallas" and plan to have one of them shapeshift into him and get to Fhloston to get the Stones to get revenge on Zorg. This pileup isn't fully resolved until Korben's plane to Fhloston is in the air. |
| 190 | ** Then there's the pileup onboard the Fhloston Paradise. [[spoiler:Korben and Leeloo wait for after the Diva's performance to get the stones. The Mangalores, having already infiltrated the ship, raid the Diva's suite looking for the stones. They're met by Leeloo, who kicks their asses. This prompts Aknot to initiate a takeover of the ship. During this, Zorg comes on board, finds Leeloo holding what he thinks are the stones, shoots at her, and leaves, planting a bomb as he departs, only to find the case didn't have the stones. Korben recovers the stones from the Diva herself, then fights and defeats the Mangalores. At that point, he finds Zorg's bomb, prompting an evacuation of the cruise ship. Zorg returns to deactivate his bomb and find the stones for real this time, but is then killed by another planted by a surviving Mangalore.]] |
| 191 | * GangstaStyle: Korben points his gun at the amateur mugger sideways, increasing his badassitude and intimidating the mugger even further. |
| 192 | * GeneticMemory: Leeloo's DNA was explicitly stated to be vastly more complex than regular DNA, which allowed her to retain her knowledge of her native language after she was regrown from her severed hand. |
| 193 | * GenreThrowback: The movie's script was intended to be basically a {{Troperiffic}} {{Reconstruction}} of all the SciFi FrancoBelgianComics of TheSeventies and TheEighties that the writer was a fan of. |
| 194 | * GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: InUniverse, Ruby Rhod has a group of Japanese schoolgirls waiting for autographs aboard the flight to Fhloston Paradise. |
| 195 | * AGlassInTheHand: Korben is standing with both hands on a light fixture when Munro cheerfully reveals he rigged a contest in preparation for the mission Korben is refusing. Said light fixture is promptly torn off the wall. |
| 196 | * GoodNeedsEvil: Zorg's perfect example of the Broken Window Fallacy: |
| 197 | -->'''Zorg:''' Life, which you so nobly serve, comes from destruction, disorder and chaos. Now take this empty glass. Here it is: peaceful, serene, boring. But if it is destroyed... ''[pushes the glass off the table; it shatters on the floor, and several small machines come out to clean it up]'' ... Look at all these little things! So busy now! Notice how each one is useful. A lovely ballet ensues, so full of form and color. Now, think about all those people that created them. Technicians, engineers, hundreds of people, who will be able to feed their children tonight, so those children can grow up big and strong and have little teeny children of their own, and so on and so forth. Thus, adding to the great chain of life. You see, father, by causing a little destruction, I am in fact encouraging life. In reality, you and I are in the same business. |
| 198 | * GratuitousForeignLanguage: The FunnyForeigner noodle chef's interjection of "Aiya!" when Korben tells him about the time his wife left him (for his lawyer, hence him getting hosed in the divorce) is an authentic Chinese exclamation that translates roughly as "Oh heavens!" |
| 199 | * HamAndDeadpanDuo: Korben Dallas, the serious ActionHero, is the Deadpan; and Ruby Rhod, the CampStraight JiveTurkey NonActionGuy is the Ham. |
| 200 | * HardHead: Vito Cornelius steals the tickets Korben won for Fhloston Paradise by conking him on the head [[TrophyViolence with one of his trophies]]. Leeloo [[WhatTheHellHero chews him out the entire way]] as they escape. |
| 201 | * HardToLightFire: Saving billions of lives comes down, in part, to whether or not ''one match'' will be blown out before it can open the Fire stone. |
| 202 | * HarmlessFreezing: General Munro and two of his men are stuffed in the freezer by Korben Dallas to get them out of the way when Leeloo reappears at his door. He frees them after a couple of minutes; they're already frozen solid, but later on the General seems to be OK again.[[note]]In the novelization, it's not so harmless: the General is later described as having had a couple of fingers amputated as a result.[[/note]] |
| 203 | * HeroicBSOD: Leeloo descends into despair as she sees [[HumansAreBastards humans' inhumanity to their fellow humans]], almost losing it completely when Diva is killed, and then decides to read up on the "WAR" section of the encyclopedia. This becomes an important plot point almost immediately afterward, as she initially refuses to save the Earth if war and violence are all it has to offer. |
| 204 | * HighDiveEscape: Leelo's escape from the lab comes to a halt when she exits the airduct system and finds herself on the rooftop of the government building with no way out. When the Police threaten to recapture her, she decides to jump off. |
| 205 | * {{Homage}}: |
| 206 | ** Much of the futuristic New York and the character of Korben Dallas pay homage to the "Harry Canyon" story from ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal''. To the point Luc Besson hired ''Magazine/MetalHurlant'' artists as designers. |
| 207 | ** Korben's character also heavily evokes other Creator/BruceWillis action films (see DieHardOnAnX above). |
| 208 | ** Mr. Shadow is basically a beefed-up, EvilSoundsDeep version of the Loc-Nar. |
| 209 | ** The French comic series ''ComicBook/{{Valerian}}'' by Jean-Claude Mézières and Pierre Christin features a near-identical flying taxi in the album ''Circles of Power'', though with a driver whose personality has little in common with Korben's. Much of the costume inspirations also come from this comic. Mézières was one of the film's Production Designers. (The other was Jean Giraud, a.k.a. Creator/{{Moebius}}). Creator/LucBesson would later create [[Film/ValerianAndTheCityOfAThousandPlanets a more direct adaptation]] in 2017. |
| 210 | * HomingProjectile: In the famous scene where Zorg demos the ZF-1 for the Mangalores, he proudly shows off the "replay button" feature, firing a single bullet at the target, then pointing the gun in the opposite direction and firing on full auto; all the bullets curve backwards and hit the target where the first bullet did. |
| 211 | * HonorBeforeReason: The Mangalores may have their own skewed concept of what is and isn't honorable, but they otherwise abide by this trope in spades, allowing Korben to fake surrender after he's killed a number of their men. |
| 212 | * HostageSituation: Onboard the Fhloston Paradise, the Mangalores intend to use the ship's crew as bargaining chips before Korben strides in and takes out their leader. |
| 213 | * HotPursuit: How many police cars does it take to stop one taxi? |
| 214 | -->'''Korben:''' If they don't chase you after a mile, they don't chase you. ''[back shot of Korban's taxi, with 4 advancing cops in a diamond configuration]'' Maybe it's two miles. |
| 215 | * HumansAreBastards: Leeloo despairs when she learns about the human race's tendency to inflict horrible things onto themselves (specifically World War II) to the point of her seeing no point in helping them escape destruction, but then decides otherwise when Korben tells her that there are things that deserve to be saved and professes his love for her. |
| 216 | * HumanShield: Cornelius ends up being one of these. He was saved by Korben's ImprobableAimingSkills. |
| 217 | * IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: At the opera house, the inexperienced Ruby kills a Mangalore prisoner with an accidental discharge of the weapon handed to him by Korben. |
| 218 | * IKEAWeaponry: The ZF-1 is described as doing this so it can pass undetected through X-ray scans. |
| 219 | * ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin: |
| 220 | ** The Mondoshawan, ''twice:'' once with the key to the temple, and once with Leeloo herself. |
| 221 | ** The four element stones are held by [[spoiler:Diva Plavalaguna ([[TreasureChestCavity inside her body!]]) who hands them over to Dallas as she is dying]]. |
| 222 | * ImpossiblyTackyClothes: Everything Ruby Rhod wears, plus plenty of others' clothes as well. |
| 223 | * IncomingHam: Ruby Rhod's introduction. |
| 224 | -->'''Ruby:''' '''''KORBEEEEEEEEN DALLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!''''' |
| 225 | * IncrediblyObviousBomb: The movie has something with a flashy countdown timer that when the heroes discover leads to this timeless exchange: |
| 226 | -->'''Cornelius''': It's a — it's a — it's a — it's a — it's a — it's a...\ |
| 227 | '''Ruby Rhod''': No no no no no no. [[TemptingFate 'Cuz if it was a bomb, the alarms would go off 'cuz all these hotels have bomb detectors, right?]]\ |
| 228 | [the alarms go off] |
| 229 | * IncrediblyObviousBug: Literally: the bad guy uses a [[LiteralSurveillanceBug cockroach fitted with an antenna]] to spy on the president. Of course, there's a downside to this: the President squashes the bug (and the microphone) when it climbs onto the desk. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrHMBletjXg Goodbye, eardrums!]] It tries to maneuver a fully grown cockroach right through a bustling and ''absolutely pristine'' room without anyone noticing. The chances for the roach to make it through alive were basically zilch even without the listening equipment grafted to its back. |
| 230 | * IndyHatRoll: Subverted. The archaeologist's panicked assistant opens fire on the peaceful aliens inside the Egyptian temple, unwittingly activating a self-defense locking mechanism in the Element's chamber. Although most of the aliens and their human contact escape, the last one is too slow to make it through and shoves its hand between the stone slabs to pass the key on to the human monk. (Presumably, the alien itself was crushed by the door.) |
| 231 | * InformedAttractiveness: The only way you could believe that Chris Tucker dressing like [=RuPaul=] is one of the sexiest media personalities in the universe is to have one or more of the female extras explicitly tell you they find him sexy, though that's really the point; [[AudienceSurrogate we're clearly meant to share the viewpoint of Korben, who only finds Ruby silly and annoying]]. |
| 232 | * InstantExpert: Leeloo learns English in the space of about a day, by speed-reading the 23rd century equivalent of the ''Encyclopedia Britannica''. In the novelization, she learns ''all the languages of humanity''. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the fact that her DNA contains 200,000 memo strands, which probably explains her inordinately fast learning time for ''everything'', not just languages. |
| 233 | * InstantlyProvenWrong: Korben, fleeing from the cops after Leeloo has crash-landed into his taxi, breathes a sigh of relief and notes that "if they don't chase you after a mile, they don't chase you." ''Immediately'', four cop cars rise up behind him. [[VerbalBackspace "Maybe it's two miles."]] |
| 234 | * InstantMassJustAddWater: Leeloo pours a small amount of food pellets into a bowl, puts the bowl in a microwave-like device, closes the door, presses a button, and opens the door again, pulling out an entire roast chicken with all the trimmings. Forget faster-than-light travel; ''that'' is clearly the pinnacle of human achievement. |
| 235 | * IntersceneDiegetic: The Diva's aria is heard continuously over shots of her singing and of a fight scene happening elsewhere at the same time. |
| 236 | * InTheFutureWeStillHaveRoombas: The cleaning robots that instantly jump into action in Zorg's office. |
| 237 | * InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: When Leeloo is in the middle of her HeroicBSOD, she says of humanity: "Everything you make you use to destroy." |
| 238 | * IronicEcho: |
| 239 | ** As Right-Arm calls Zorg to tell he couldn't prevent Korben from embarking, he replies "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I am... a little... disappointed.]]" (the conversation ends with Zorg ''[[YouHaveFailedMe triggering Right-Arm's public phone to explode]]''). Later, after Zorg finds out the box with the rocks is empty, he returns screaming "I. AM. ''VERY. DISAPPOINTED!!''" |
| 240 | ** When Zorg is preparing to show off the ZF-1 to Aknot, he mentions that "your time for revenge is at hand!" When Aknot survives the ZF-1 explosion and makes the plan to steal the stones to force Zorg to "negotiate," he quips that "revenge is ''truly'' at hand." |
| 241 | * {{Irony}}: Zorg's first attempt to get the stones is thwarted by Atnok and his men bringing him the empty case that had held the stones, [[ExactWords since he asked for a case;]] Zorg blasts them for their stupidity. Later in the film [[spoiler:Zorg steals what he believes to be a box holding the stones, but he makes the exact same mistake as Aknot and doesn't check to see that they're actually in there]]. |
| 242 | * ItCanThink: Mr. Shadow's responses to the fleet support Cornelius's arguments about its nature. |
| 243 | -->'''Staedert:''' Upfront loading of a 120 ZZR missile. Marker lights on the objective.\ |
| 244 | '''Scientist:''' Its structure has just solidified on the surface.\ |
| 245 | '''Head Scientist:''' I think it's anticipating the attack. Anticipation denotes intelligence.\ |
| 246 | '''Cornelius:''' The most terrible intelligence imaginable, Mr. President. |
| 247 | * ItsForABook: General Munro gets his first look at the reconstructed "Supreme Being" (in the form of a NakedOnArrival Creator/MillaJovovich), and mentions wanting to take some pictures. |
| 248 | -->'''Gen. Munro:''' I'd uh... Like to take a few pictures.\ |
| 249 | [''Mactilburgh casts a suspicious look'']\ |
| 250 | '''Gen. Munro:''' For the archives. |
| 251 | * JerkassHasAPoint: While Zorg doesn't care one bit about life beyond what profit it can bring him, he's not wrong when he tells Father Vito that destruction encourages life. Of course, his argument is only right ''prima facie''. A little digging into Zorg's intent and actions before and after absolutely disprove his argument. |
| 252 | * JewishMother: Korben Dallas's overbearing mother seems to be one. |
| 253 | * KarmicDeath: |
| 254 | ** [[spoiler:Zorg, who is bombed when one of his own mercenaries sets one off, mere seconds after he disables the one he himself had set earlier.]] Further emphasized by the fact that [[spoiler:earlier in the movie Zorg mocked the Mangalore's moral code of dying for honor, only to become a victim of one of their "honorable" deaths.]] |
| 255 | ** [[spoiler:Mr. Shadow, who is killed by ThePowerOfLove (WordOfGod [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/faq here]].)]] |
| 256 | * KeystoneArmy: The Mangalores, though "army" is stretching things -- more like a keystone platoon. |
| 257 | -->'''Korben:''' We need to find the leader. Mangalores won't fight without the leader. |
| 258 | * KillItWithIce: Zorg's demonstration of his latest {{BFG}} includes "the grand finale: the all-new Ice Cube System" as one of its options, though it only gets used on a test dummy. |
| 259 | * KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: There's nary a personal-scale EnergyWeapon in sight, just kickass ballistic weapons. |
| 260 | * KlaatuBaradaNikto: Leeloo says "Klaatu Bara'''t'''a Nikto" shortly after getting into Korben's cab in the film's novelization. |
| 261 | * KubrickStare: Leeloo gives one to General Munro, before she [[spoiler:punches through the unbreakable glass, knocks him out while snatching away his card and finally escapes the lab.]] |
| 262 | * LanguageOfLove: Leeloo knows only The Divine Language, but learns English rapidly. The romance was already beginning to blossom from her big bada boom into Korben's cab. |
| 263 | * LayeredMetropolis: New York is still in the SkyscraperCity stage, but it's clearly evolving layers with its multiple above-ground walkways. |
| 264 | * LiteralSurveillanceBug: One of [[TheDragon Zorg]]'s minions uses a cockroach fitted with a [[IncrediblyObviousBug hilariously conspicuous transmitter]] to spy on the president. The roach also seems to have a brain implant that allows him some rudimentary control over it. The president eventually notices the bug and squashes it, causing painful feedback for the listener. (Note that this is a parodic exaggeration. Despite the film being set a few centuries in the future, in real life the technology already exists to do this trick more effectively.) |
| 265 | * LittleNo: When the Mangalores' bomb starts counting down right after Zorg disabled his own: |
| 266 | -->'''Zorg:''' ''[blankly]'' [[OhCrap Oh, no.]] |
| 267 | * LongList: General Munro's list of all the weapons and vehicles Korben (a former major) is qualified to use. General Munro tells him that the first reason he's been drafted for the world-saving mission is that "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." Cue unrolling of the list. |
| 268 | * LoserBuysLunch: By the start of the film, so much bad news has fallen into Dallas's mailbox that he has lost interest in looking at anything new. Mr. Kim, however, is determined to be optimistic. |
| 269 | -->'''Kim:''' Ah, that's bad luck. Grandfather say it not rain everyday. This is good news, guaranteed. I bet your lunch.\ |
| 270 | '''Korben:''' Okay, you're on.\ |
| 271 | '''Kim:''' Come on...\ |
| 272 | ''[reads]''\ |
| 273 | '''Kim:''' You are fired! Oh...\ |
| 274 | '''Korben:''' Well, at least I won lunch.\ |
| 275 | '''Kim:''' Good philosophy. See good in bad. I like! |
| 276 | * MacGuffinDeliveryService: Leeloo fights off a squad of Mangalores to retrieve a case of AppliedPhlebotinum stones, only for Zorg to take it from her at gunpoint. [[spoiler:Subverted when the case turns out to be empty; the stones are actually in the body of the Diva Plavalaguna, who takes a bullet during the shootout and reveals their location to Korben as she's dying]]. |
| 277 | * MagicCountdown: In the final moments of the movie, a scientist says that there is exactly one minute left before the planetoid representing the Evil strikes Earth. Then, it takes the heroes nearly two minutes to activate the Fifth Element and get the job done. |
| 278 | * MandatoryUnretirement: Korben Dallas is a special forces soldier who gets called back into service for a mission after retiring and working as a cab driver. As per the trope, he has no interest in the mission and only ends up agreeing to it because of a case of AlwaysSaveTheGirl. |
| 279 | * MatchCut: Twice. |
| 280 | ** The first cuts from the hieroglyphics in the temple to an instrument display on the Federation battleship, featuring the same three-planet readout. |
| 281 | ** The second dissolves from Zorg's office, with his window becoming the Dark Planet. |
| 282 | * MayflyDecemberRomance: Leeloo and Korben, due to the former being at least 4000 years old. And at the same time less than 2 days. |
| 283 | * MegaCorp: Zorg is the CEO of an eponymous one, which employs so many people that he can apparently ''slow the economy down at will'' by laying off a million workers at once. |
| 284 | * MickeyMousing: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0qy3JHz6X0 The scene where the Diva is singing an opera]] while Leeloo is kicking some ass against aliens. Leelo's moves, and the action in general, are timed to the music. |
| 285 | * MissedHimByThatMuch: Zorg and Korben's group miss each other by a literal ''second'' when the former is trying to retrieve the stones and the latter are trying to escape the soon-to-be-destroyed hotel. Bonus points for this actually being the moment where Korben and Zorg, the main protagonist and the main antagonist, are closest to each other ''in the entire movie''. |
| 286 | * MistakenForGay: When some of Zorg's {{Mooks}} come to kidnap Cornelius, he momentarily thinks they've come to get married by him. |
| 287 | * MobileKiosk: An amusing [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot flying Chinese restaurant/boat]]. |
| 288 | * MockingMusic: A comedic {{sting}} of sorts recurs through the film, first appearing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuamSKIvhcA#t=21s during the]] "[[SchmuckBait little red button]]" scene. |
| 289 | * MoodWhiplash: All in the space of a single opera song, we go from aching melancholy, to a fight scene overlaid with much more intense music... and then suddenly Leeloo is in mortal danger, the Diva gets shot and all Hell breaks loose. |
| 290 | * MoreDakka: The ZF-1. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T6ANbL3SMw Which has a minigun, a flamethrower, rockets and liquid nitrogen]]. |
| 291 | * MurderByInaction: Subverted. Immediately after Zorg [[HannibalLecture gives Cornelius a diatribe about survival of the fittest and the necessity of destruction]], he starts choking on a fruit. Cornelius [[ShutUpHannibal takes some time to point out the irony]], but ultimately hits him in the back to save him. |
| 292 | %%* MyBelovedSmother: Korben's mother. |
| 293 | * NakedOnArrival: Leeloo is shown getting reconstructed from her DNA. After a few moments of PG-13 nudity, the machine dresses her in fashionably revealing bandages. |
| 294 | * NakedOnRevival: Leeloo is reconstructed FromASingleCell, and naturally clothing doesn't come with that, though the machine puts bandage-clothing on her shortly afterward. |
| 295 | * NameThatUnfoldsLikeLotusBlossom: Leeloo's full name, according to Luc Besson's published dictionary for the "divine language", translates as "Precious Stone of the Earth, Defender of Light and Life, [[TheMagnificent the Honorable]]". |
| 296 | * NeckLift: At the end of their first time meeting, Korben lifts Ruby Rhod by the neck and presses him against a wall to make him shut up. |
| 297 | * NeverTrustATrailer: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3Hart3UKEQ&t=3s&ab_channel=BreadCrustCouncil teaser]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLwb5brB3lA&t=11s&ab_channel=BreadCrustCouncil trailers]] made it seem that it would be a science-fiction horror mystery thriller film in vein of ''Film/TheThing1982'' and of course ''Film/EventHorizon'', or some kind of serious modern alien invasion film in vein of ''Film/IndependenceDay''. When the film was released, the film turns out to be nothing but another humorous action flick in a similar way to films ''Film/DieHard'' (in which Bruce Willis also starred) and of course ''Film/DemolitionMan'', but with a bit of violence toned-down. |
| 298 | * NippleAndDimed: Leeloo's are clearly visible from the side for about a second after she's been rebuilt, right before the doctor has "thermal bandages" put on her. |
| 299 | * NonDubbedGrunts: The French dubbing of the movie still uses Chris Tucker's voice for Ruby Rhod's shrill screams. The French voice actor, Tom Novembre, just cannot go that high. |
| 300 | * NotEnoughToBury: All that was left of the Supreme Being after her starship crashed was her right hand. [[BackFromTheDead That was enough to re-assemble her]]. |
| 301 | * NothingCanSaveUsNow: "We're never gonna make it." Cue a clever action that ''does'' lead to them being saved. |
| 302 | * NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: Dallas helpfully tells someone trying to rob him that [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets the gun isn't loaded]], and even gives him time to push what he claims is the "loading" button, turning the safety ''[[SubvertedTrope on]]''. |
| 303 | * ObsessiveCompulsiveBarkeeping: Cornelius is pouring out his heart to the glass-cleaning [[TheBartender bartender]] at the airport who's revealed to be a robot unable to empathize or give advice. |
| 304 | * OffhandBackhand: Done by Leeloo during the brawl with a Mangalore strike force. She's about to give the final punch to one while another is sneaking behind her, and ends up hitting both. |
| 305 | * OhCrap: |
| 306 | ** Zorg has one of these in the form of a LittleNo when he realizes that the ProudWarriorRace [[spoiler:brought ''their own'' cruise ship-destroying bomb along. Just as he disarms his own]]. |
| 307 | ** Also, the scene where General Staedert realizes the hostile planetoid is eating up the most powerful weapons at his disposal and actually growing bigger as a result. |
| 308 | --->'''Staedert:''' ''[worried]'' ... What do we have that's bigger than 240?\ |
| 309 | '''Captain:''' ...''nothing'', sir. |
| 310 | ** Zorg has this reaction just from being told "Mr. Shadow" is calling him. |
| 311 | ** When Korben [[AggressiveNegotiations shoots the Mangalore leader]], one of the mooks throws his hand up into a near-Facepalm, knowing they're screwed. |
| 312 | ** The ticket-taker for the commuter space flight to Fhloston gets a visual one as well, when the security scan at her window reveals [[spoiler:the two people trying to claim Korben's tickets are Mangalores.]] |
| 313 | * OneNationUnderCopyright: There's a legitimately elected government that has power, but it's also implied that Zorg's business empire runs everything and employs almost everyone. Early in the movie an underling informs Zorg that "the Council" has asked him to fire 500,000 employees to slow down the economy. Zorg fires 1 million employees instead (incidentally including Korben), ForTheEvulz. |
| 314 | * OneRiotOneRanger: Korben Dallas is sent to retrieve [[MacGuffin the elemental stones]], rather than, say, intercepting the Diva with the Navy and avoiding the whole public-place hand-off thing. The movie {{Handwave}}s this with the President saying he wants the operation to be as discreet as possible. |
| 315 | * OneWomanWail: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJB5Rqc1m0Y The Diva's song]] starts with a melancholic chanting, but becomes more upbeat during Leeloo's fight against the Mangalore soldiers. |
| 316 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The one time Leeloo doesn't speak in YouNoTakeCandle, it's fairly arresting: |
| 317 | -->'''Leeloo:''' What's the use of saving life when you see what you do with it? ...I don't know love. I was built to protect, not to love, so there's no other use for me. |
| 318 | * OrchestraHitTechnoBattle: A fight between Leeloo and the Mangalores choreographed to the techno portion of [[LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn the Diva's aria]]. |
| 319 | * OurGraphicsWillSuckInTheFuture: The graphical display on the Federation battleship is very rudimentary considering it's from the 23rd century. |
| 320 | * OutrunTheFireball: Korben pushes Zorg's ship to its limit to outrun the massive explosion that annihilates the Phloston cruise ship. |
| 321 | * PillarOfLight: At the film's climax, [[spoiler:once the five elements are activated, a pillar of light fires through Leeloo's mouth, stopping the Great Evil and turning it into a moon]]. |
| 322 | * PlankGag: Ruby Rhod accidentally knocks out a flight attendant behind him by swirling around his mic-cane. |
| 323 | * PleasePutSomeClothesOn: Vito Cornelius and Korben Dallas simultaneously spin around when InnocentFanserviceGirl [[AlienAmongUs Leeloo]] suddenly undresses in the middle of Dallas's apartment, and engages in light conversation until she's put her clothes back on before looking again (Vito's a monk and Korben is just embarrassed). It happens with Vito and apprentice David too, exactly the same way. |
| 324 | * PoliceState: The Federated Territories, or at the very ''least'' New York, are like this. ''"This is not an exercise. This is a police control."'' You have to live with that in your own home, to say nothing of the spaceport. The police are extremely well-armed and can put hundreds of holes in your vehicle just based on ''suspicion'' of you being a ''car thief.'' On the other hand, anyone is permitted to purchase and own at least a dozen fully-automatic weapons. Or at least such things are permitted for washed-up ex-soldiers who are now extremely reckless cab drivers. And extremely dumb muggers. |
| 325 | * PoorCommunicationKills: |
| 326 | ** Or almost does, anyway. When Leeloo escapes, the police seem to arbitrarily take over and no one informs them of who or what Leeloo is. They even lose sight of this halfway through and just start ''shooting at the car she's in'' because they've deemed the occupant a car thief. "We made this chick in a lab, she's kinda important, retrieve her alive and unharmed" would have been a simple enough order to give. |
| 327 | ** The government, Dallas, and the Priesthood are all on exactly the same side with the same honorable goal of saving the world for the same reason -- but spend half the movie working against each other for the sake of RuleOfDrama and RuleOfFunny. |
| 328 | ** One would assume that this weapon and evil etc. would have been explained to the government of Earth once it reached an interstellar technological level and became aware of the existence of the Mondoshawan race (assumed because when asking for entry into our space, they are permitted in without a single "who/what?"), and not when it is imminent. |
| 329 | * PostHistoricalTrauma: Leeloo's breakdown towards the end, once reading about the dreaded W for War in the encyclopedia. She sees a huge montage of images from UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and so on. |
| 330 | * PottyEmergency: The idiot with the nice hat who tries to mug Korben, in addition to his nervousness and possible drug issues, is acting like he desperately needs to take a piss. Korben notices and comments, "Been here long?" |
| 331 | * ThePowerOfLove: The fifth element only ignites when Korben declares his love for Leeloo and kisses her. Luc Besson tried to claim it's actually sex. |
| 332 | * PrefersTheTrueForm: Zorg meets a group of Mangalores disguised as humans and insists on seeing their real faces. |
| 333 | -->'''Zorg''': Is that you? What an ugly face! It doesn't suit you. Take it off. ''(The Mangalores shed their human forms, revealed as brutish creatures.)'' That's better. Never be ashamed of who you are. You're warriors. Be proud! |
| 334 | * PrimordialTongue: The "Divine Language" that Leeloo speaks is apparently universal enough that she can learn English just from a few hours of exposure. |
| 335 | * ProfessionalButtKisser: Ruby Rhod's entourage. |
| 336 | * ProudWarriorRace: The Mangalores ''try'' to be this, but are hampered by being dumb as rocks. In practice, they're LawfulStupid thugs who refuse to shoot an unarmed Korben immediately after he gunned down several of their men. |
| 337 | * PsychicNosebleed: Happens twice -- first to General Staedart, the commander of a battleship before Mr. Shadow destroys it, and then to Zorg when Mr. Shadow calls him on the phone. Oddly, the bleeding always starts somewhere at or above the hairline, raising the question as to just ''where'' exactly they are bleeding from. Rather than blood it appears to be some kind of black ichor; Zorg wipes his forehead after the phone call, and the fluid is thick and oily in appearance. The Commentary confirms it was Hershey’s Chocolate. |
| 338 | * PunctuatedForEmphasis: |
| 339 | ** Zorg's quite fond of this when he's mad: |
| 340 | ---> '''Zorg''': ''I! AM! '''VERY'''! DISAPPOINTED!'' |
| 341 | ** Mr. Shadow also gets a fairly chilling one during his phone conversation with Zorg, complete with stigmata. |
| 342 | --->'''Mr. Shadow:''' ''I. Want. The. Stones.'' |
| 343 | * PunnyName: The big beefy female soldier with the [[Franchise/StarWars Leia buns]] is called "Major Iceborg". Real subtle there, guys. |
| 344 | * QuizzicalTilt: Leeloo gives a tilt of her head to General Monro before breaking through her "unbreakable" container and taking from him the key to opening it. |
| 345 | * RaceAgainstTheClock: The main characters have 48 hours before the Great Evil clashes against the Earth. Zorg also gives such an ultimatum to one of his underlings, and the President is even stricter, often stating a firm "You have ''twenty seconds'' to" explain/complete/whatever it is he's telling you to do. |
| 346 | -->'''Cornelius:''' You have 48 hours. That's the length of time it needs to adapt itself to our living conditions.\ |
| 347 | '''President:''' And then?\ |
| 348 | '''Cornelius:''' And then [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt it will be too late]]. |
| 349 | * RaisedHandOfSurvival: When Leelo crashes into Korben's cab, he turns around and asks if there are any survivors. The first thing he sees of Leelo who is buried under debris is her raised hand touching the divider. |
| 350 | * RapidFireNo: Ruby Rhod fires off a "no" string when he finds out that what he's looking at is indeed a bomb. Predictably played for laughs. |
| 351 | * ReadingsAreOffTheScale: Leeloo's DNA has over 200,000 "memo strands," as opposed to a normal human's 40. Early in the movie, a probe is reported to malfunction and read minus five thousand degrees, which brings up the point of how that is measured (since it would be far below absolute zero). |
| 352 | * RealityHasNoSubtitles: The language that Leeloo speaks when she is first brought back is sub-titled "Unknown Language." When she speaks it to Father Cornelius, he can understand it, but not speak it directly. When Corbin Dallas asks him what language it is, he replies a divine one. Thereafter, Leeloo's speech is subtitled "Divine Language." |
| 353 | * RealityIsUnrealistic: The Diva's song was designed to be literally impossible for a human to sing, with notes and sudden pitch-shifts far outside the human vocal range...until [[https://youtu.be/DuBRFnqEv94 someone pulled it off.]] |
| 354 | * RepeatToConfirm: There is a bridge officer whose job is to relay orders from the captain to the helmsman, who is only a few feet away but behind an apparently pointless sheath of transparent material. The computer repeats the order too, so the exchange goes like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0cznOQ4aFY&ab_channel=JohnCleary this]]: |
| 355 | -->'''Captain:''' Helm to 108.\ |
| 356 | '''Computer:''' Helm to 108.\ |
| 357 | '''Officer:''' ''[into sheath]'' HELM, 108!\ |
| 358 | '''Helmsman:''' ''[turning wheel]'' Helm to 108. |
| 359 | * RubberForeheadAliens: Both played straight with Plava Laguna and averted with the Mondoshawans. The Mangalores subvert it, in that they appear to be inspired by Star Trek-type humanoid aliens but have high-tech animatronic complete facial prosthetics that make them seem very authentic. |
| 360 | * RuleOfFun: The movie is an intentionally over-the-top, off-the-wall pop epic, cheerfully embracing every sci-fi staple it can get its hands on and running with it, which is why things such as the passage of time fall into the "don't think about it too much" category. It makes a lot more sense when you realize that the script was literally written by Luc Besson when he was twelve years old, with exactly [[RuleOfCool the priorities in mind]] which that would imply. |
| 361 | * SamusIsAGirl: The professor in the prologue refers to "this man, this perfect being..." Professor [=MacTilburgh=] assumes likewise before reconstructing Leeloo, only to find out that she's... [[MsFanservice "I told you, perfect."]] Vito Cornelius is also surprised to find out the supreme being is female: |
| 362 | -->'''Cornelius:''' He... ''[pause for stare]'' He's a she. |
| 363 | * SavingTheWorld: Leeloo saves the Earth from [[BigBad the Great Evil]] (a sinister planet-sized entity that aims to clash against the planet), after she and her friends manage to gather the first fourth elements (Leeloo herself is the fifth). |
| 364 | * SceneryCensor: Naked Leeloo in a tube, before her "bandages" get applied. Her fully nude body is actually visible in the background in several brief shots, which is rare for a PG-13 film. |
| 365 | * SchizoTech: As [[http://www.dorkly.com/post/75451/7-things-that-still-bug-me-about-the-fifth-element/page:2 this site]] points out, the technology level in this movie is all over the place. On the one hand, space travel is common and inexpensive, to the extent that contact with aliens is an everyday occurrence, all our cars are flight-capable, and even presumably cheap apartments like Korben's have instant food microwaves. On the other hand, Korben still gets his mail in paper letters rather than email, airports still depend on manual labor for sanitation, we still use ''matches'' to light a fire, and perhaps most humorously implausible of all, Ruby Rhod is the super-popular megastar celebrity host... of a ''radio'' show. That has [[SubspaceAnsible instantaneous galactic coverage]]. |
| 366 | * SchmuckBait: |
| 367 | ** The [[BigRedButton little red button]] on the ZF-1 is a powerful [[SelfDestructMechanism self-destruct]], as a hapless Mangalore discovers through WhatDoesThisButtonDo Lampshaded. |
| 368 | --->'''Zorg:''' Now a ''real'' killer, when he picked up the ZF-1, would've ''immediately'' asked about the little red button on the bottom of the gun. |
| 369 | ::: [[DescriptionCut Cue a confused Mangalore thumbing the button]] and a column of flame erupting from the hallway behind Zorg. |
| 370 | ** Korben tells a not-very-smart mugger that his weapon won't fire unless he presses the yellow button. Cue weapon powering down and the mugger getting a pistol in his face. |
| 371 | * SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: If a planetary body the size of "Mr. Shadow" got as close to Earth as it does in the film, it would have caused ''catastrophic'' damage to the planet just through its gravity and the resulting tidal forces without even needing to impact the surface (remember, even as weak as its gravity is and as far as it is from Earth, the moon causes quite a bit of distortion to Earth's surface). And that's ignoring the fact that at the distance stated, the remains of Shadow would have actually already been ''partially inside Earth's atmosphere!'' Unless they took efforts to get rid of it, it would absolutely have hit Earth anyway, just a lot slower than it had been going at first. |
| 372 | %%* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Ruby Rhod. A lot. |
| 373 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: |
| 374 | ** As the Dark Planet approaches the battleship at the beginning, while General Staedert, his captain, and the technicians are just staring at it, you can see some officers heading for the exit. |
| 375 | ** Ruby Rhod at the end of the film. |
| 376 | --->'''David:''' '''''Yeah!!!'''''\ |
| 377 | '''Ruby:''' Ahhh! What's ''wrong'' with you?! Whatya screaming for? Every five ''minutes'', there's a bomb or something! I'm leaving. Bzzzzzz! |
| 378 | * SealedGoodInACan: New and Improved, it's Sealed Good in a Rock! Also qualifies for SealedBadassInACan -- Leeloo takes down a squad of Mangalores singlehandedly. |
| 379 | * SelfDestructMechanism: The [[ProudWarriorRace Mangalore]] mercenaries successfully manage to muscle [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Zorg]] into providing them with a crate of his newest multipurpose infantry weapon. However, Zorg judiciously neglects to inform them about what the red button on the side of the gun does... |
| 380 | -->'''Zorg''': "I hate warriors, too narrow-minded! I'll tell you what I do like though: a killer, a dyed-in-the-wool killer. Cold-blooded, clean, methodical and thorough. Now a real killer, when he picked up the ZF-1, would've immediately asked about the little red button on the bottom of the gun..." |
| 381 | * SelfPlagiarism: Creator/AlejandroJodorowsky and Creator/{{Moebius}} sued Creator/LucBesson claiming that the movie plagiarized their comic, ''ComicBook/TheIncal''. The case was thrown out due to Moebius having worked on the movie as a concept artist. |
| 382 | * SexyBacklessOutfit: In an odd male example, one of Korben's T-shirts has a cut-out at the back. |
| 383 | * ShapedLikeItself: "Sleep regulators, which will regulate your sleep." |
| 384 | * ShapeshiftingFailure: A Mangalore shows strain while trying to keep human shape, even before the scanner detects him as non-human. |
| 385 | * ShootTheHostageTaker: After Korben takes out a few of his men, the lead Mangalore holds Cornelius hostage and threatens "One more shot, we start killing hostages! Send someone in to negotiate!" Korben's method of "negotiating" is to calmly walk in, BoomHeadshot the leader, then ask "Anyone else want to negotiate?" while waving his gun around at the rest. |
| 386 | * ShoutOut: |
| 387 | ** Korben Dallas' unusual first name has to be a reference to ''Magazine/HeavyMetal'' artist Creator/RichardCorben, given the many other references to European science-fiction comic books found in the film. |
| 388 | ** There are several to ''Franchise/StarWars'': the ships of Earth's military fleet look like bloated Star Destroyers, Major Iceborg (who was meant to pose as Korben's wife) has Princess Leia's ''Film/ANewHope'' hairstyle only cranked up to eleven, Vito Cornelius appears shortly after sporting a brown cape like Ben Kenobi, and at the temple in Egypt Ruby Rhod holds a neon light stick tightly like a Jedi Knight holding a lightsaber. |
| 389 | * ShutUpHannibal: Priest Vito Cornelius delivers an absolutely brilliant one to the choking Zorg after his villainous speech (see GoodNeedsEvil), by pointing out that his grand empire will come tumbling down all because of one... little... ''cherry''. Vito [[HonorBeforeReason smacks him on the back]], of course. The look on Vito's face as he [[SaveTheVillain Saves The Villain]] says it quite plainly: BeingGoodSucks. |
| 390 | * SightedGunsAreLowTech: {{Justified|Trope}} with the ZF-1, which has homing bullets. |
| 391 | * SkyscraperCity: Manhattan is so high it seems bottomless. We barely get to see its ground, except when Korben escapes the police. In one shot of the spaceport we see why: the Hudson and East rivers have been [[https://i.imgur.com/6W5InkH.jpg completely drained]], leaving Liberty Island (et al) high and dry. |
| 392 | * SleeperStarship: The shuttle to the space cruiser puts all of its passengers into 'hypersleep' just before takeoff, even though the trip takes just a few hours. |
| 393 | * SmartGun: The ZF-1 is packed with features, including "Replay", which sends every bullet [[HomingProjectile to the designated target]] no matter which direction the gun is actually pointing. |
| 394 | * SoldierVsWarrior: Zorg expresses his disdain for the Mangalores and their brutish unrefined warrior code. He expresses his love for a true killer; unfortunately that happens to be exactly what Korben Dallas is. |
| 395 | -->'''Zorg:''' I don't like warriors. Too narrow-minded, no subtlety. And worse, they fight for hopeless causes. [[HonorBeforeReason Honor? Ha!]] Honor's killed millions of people, it hasn't saved a single one. I'll tell you what I do like though: a killer, a [[ProfessionalKiller dyed-in-the-wool killer]]. Cold-blooded, clean, methodical and thorough. Now a real killer, when he picked up the [[SwissArmyWeapon ZF-1]], would've immediately asked about the little red button on the bottom of the gun. |
| 396 | * SpaceClothes: The film has a plethora of clothing made out of plastic and rubber. |
| 397 | * SpaceFighter: Fighters make a brief appearance, shooting down the friendly alien ship carrying the MacGuffinSuperPerson protagonist. Korben's first conversation with Finger implies that flying space fighters was among his duties in the army. |
| 398 | * SpaceSailing: All we see of Fhloston Paradise is an enormous flying luxury liner, which hugs the planet's surface during the day to drop off passengers at beaches, and ascends to the upper atmosphere at night to facilitate better views. |
| 399 | * StallingTheSip: In the opening scene, a concerned priest at an Egypt temple tries to poison the archaeologist to prevent him from discovering the secret of the Fifth Element. The archaeologist lifts the cup of poisoned water three times but always stops and eventually decides that they should toast with grappa instead. |
| 400 | * StarshipLuxurious: The Fhloston Paradise, which is designed to be a [[SpaceSailing luxury line in space]]. Its interior is a combination of a five-star hotel and the Sydney Opera House. It also works as a low-altitude airship so patrons can visit the beach. Sadly, though not surprisingly, it gets blown up at the climax of the film. |
| 401 | * StealthPun: The cop at the [=McDonald's=] Drive-Thru is played by Creator/MacMcDonald. |
| 402 | * StolenMacGuffinReveal: Twice Zorg discovers the box that was supposed to have the stones is empty, in the first cutting to Leeloo explaining where they went, and in the latter to Diva revealing to Korben that they're in her body. |
| 403 | * {{Stripperiffic}}: |
| 404 | ** Leeloo's "thermal bandages" cover just enough of her body to keep the film at PG-13. |
| 405 | ** The uniforms worn by the stewardesses, and [[ProductPlacement McDonald's]] waitresses. |
| 406 | ** Zorg's male guards get in on the act, with tiny biker shorts. |
| 407 | ** The woman a Mangalore disguises as in the airport. She is wearing a see-through plastic skirt, over fishnet hose and a thong. In public. She fits right in. |
| 408 | * StupidCrooks: Aside from wearing a picture of Korben's hallway on his head, the mugger who holds Korben up has no idea what he's doing, and Korben easily and peacefully disarms him and stores the gun among many other previously appropriated weapons, even amusedly complimenting him on his "hat". |
| 409 | * SuperMultiPurposeRoom: Not actually a hideout, but Korben's apartment has a lot of super multi-purpose room features, [[MundaneUtility simply as a space-saving convenience.]] |
| 410 | -->'''Leeloo:''' Auto''wash''! |
| 411 | * SwissArmyWeapon: The ZF-1 is every gun imaginable combined into one big thing. |
| 412 | * TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath: Zorg defuses his own bomb, five seconds before it was set to go off, and breathes a sigh of relief. Then a dying Mangalore sets his own bomb, with a five-second timer. |
| 413 | * TapOnTheHead: Cornelius gets the tickets to Flhoston Paradise by cracking Korben on the back of the head with one of his military trophies. When Korben gets back to his feet, he looks more pissed off than anything. Then again, he was only down for a few seconds, so it's possible he wasn't unconscious, only stunned. |
| 414 | * TechnologyPorn: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-uvOpMyPgI Leeloo's reconstruction]]. Could also be considered a pun. |
| 415 | * TemptingFate: |
| 416 | ** Korben, as he's funneled into the VIP lounge to appear on Ruby Rhod's radio show. |
| 417 | --->'''Korben:''' ''[to flight attendant fangirl]'' Yes, I'm sure you're very excited, but I'm on my vacation, and I don't want to be bothered. I'd like to remain anonymous.\ |
| 418 | ''[cue massive fanfare, followed by Ruby Rhod sliding into the scene wearing a mic/headset]''\ |
| 419 | '''Ruby Rhod: ''[[IncomingHam KORBEN]] [[SayMyName DALLAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!]]''''' Here he is, the one and only winner of the Gemini Croquette contest! |
| 420 | ** Later, when Cornelius and Ruby Rhod find the bomb left by Zorg... |
| 421 | --->'''Cornelius:''' It's a -- it's a -- it's a -- it's a -- it's a -- it's a...\ |
| 422 | '''Ruby Rhod:''' No no no no no no. 'Cuz if it was a bomb, the alarms would go off 'cuz all these hotels have bomb detectors, right?\ |
| 423 | ''[the alarms go off]'' |
| 424 | ** On the other hand, in his opening scene Korben wishes for one perfect woman. He gets her. |
| 425 | ** General Munro is told the glass Leeloo is behind is unbreakable. She punches her hand through it and slam-dunks him. |
| 426 | ** "We got lucky. If they don't chase you after a mile, they don't chase you." Cue three police flyers in New York on Korben's tail. "I think we're safe for a while." Cue half a dozen cop flyers waiting in ambush with MoreDakka. |
| 427 | ** After General Staedert fires at the evil sphere, the President asks, "Did you destroy it?" to which Staedert replies "I'm about to, sir." Actually, it's the other way around. |
| 428 | %%* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Again, Leeloo. |
| 429 | %%* TheTaxi: Dallas's job. |
| 430 | * ThisIsGonnaSuck: Korben gets a second-hand case of this during the police control, when his neighbor opts to flip the police off and shout "SMOKE YOU!" instead of cooperating. Korben visibly winces when he hears it, and mutters "wrong answer" just before the gunshot. |
| 431 | * TimeBomb: There is one in the hotel room. The heroes do take a moment to decide whether or not they can disarm it, then decide to just run away from the thing. The villain who set it up does disarm it with five seconds on the timer. Then one of the aliens he pissed off earlier arms his own -- ''starting'' with a five-second timer. Presumably just so that anyone who saw it when it was activated would have time to soil themselves before they died. |
| 432 | * TitleDrop: The archaeologist in the opening scene mentions a "Fifth Element" needed for the ritual. |
| 433 | * TrashOfTheTitans: The airport has a mountain ridge of trash running through it due to the janitorial staff being on strike. |
| 434 | * TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: The movie as a whole doesn't pay a lot of attention to the logical progression of time. When the 23nd century sequences begin, it's said that the "Evil" will arrive in only ''48 hours'', yet far more than 24 hours worth of activities take place (not the least of which is the recovery of Leeloo's remains) before Korben Dallas is assigned to go to Fhloston Paradise several hours after it is mentioned that the Diva will be performing "in four hours". Yet Fhloston is located in another solar system, so to travel there requires the passengers to be put to sleep for an unknown length of time, and it's later indicated that the actual concert takes place about a day after the flight. Oh, and we also have to factor in the flight back to Egypt and getting to the chamber. Did I mention all of this is supposed to have taken place in ''less'' than 48 hours? |
| 435 | * TreasureChestCavity: Plava Laguna keeps the stones inside her chest for safekeeping. Well, OK, not her chest, her stomach. There's a couple of things in the way [[IncrediblyLamePun for them to be in her chest]]. |
| 436 | * {{Troperiffic}}: It's all there: MysteriousWaif, SissyVillain glowing with cartoon villainy, [[TestosteronePoisoning Ultra-manly man]] ActionHero played by Creator/BruceWillis, RubberForeheadAliens, [[FlyingCar hovercar]] [[ChaseScene chases]], WaifFu, [[EldritchAbomination the Ultimate Evil]], and the world being saved through ThePowerOfLove.[[note]]well, WordOfGod says sex, but close enough[[/note]] This movie is a lovingly prepared four-course meal of cheesy sci-fi tropes. And it makes sense to know Luc Besson started to write this as a teenager reading lots of sci-fi comics. |
| 437 | * TrophyViolence: After the military rigs the contest so that Korben can go to the resort and get the sacred stones, Father Cornelius tries to talk him into handing over the tickets. After the cops interrupt him, Korben brings Cornelius and Leloo out of hiding. While Korben is distracted, Cornelius grabs a bronze trophy, knocks him out and takes the tickets. |
| 438 | * TrueLovesKiss: At the end, Korben's kiss gives Leelo the strength to activate her Fifth-Element power needed to destroy the Dark Planet. |
| 439 | * TryAndFollow: When chased by police in his cab, Korben is able to lose his pursuers by taking a dangerous route downwards into heavy traffic and then into a thick fog. |
| 440 | * TwoScenesOneDialogue: Twice. Both times used to hilarious effect. |
| 441 | -->'''Zorg:''' ...This case... is empty!\ |
| 442 | ''[cut to Leeloo laughing]''\ |
| 443 | '''Cornelius:''' What do you mean, "empty"?\ |
| 444 | ''[cut back to Zorg with the empty case]''\ |
| 445 | '''Zorg:''' Empty -- the opposite of full. This CASE IS SUPPOSED TO BE FULL! Anyone care to explain?!\ |
| 446 | ''[cut to Leeloo explaining]''\ |
| 447 | '''Cornelius:''' We're saved.\ |
| 448 | ''[cut to Zorg]''\ |
| 449 | '''Zorg:''' [[IronicEchoCut I'm screwed]]. |
| 450 | * UnflinchingWalk: Though he actually stops just prior to the explosion, Zorg qualifies when he tricks the Mangalores into blowing themselves up. He doesn't even flinch at the big boom in the tunnels, while his assistant freaks out. |
| 451 | * TheUnfought: Korben Dallas and Jean-Baptiste Emanuel [[TheDragon Zorg]] never fight or even communicate directly in any way across the film. The closest they come to one another is being mere meters apart as Korben and the heroes step on to one elevator, and Zorg steps off another elevator, catching the briefest of glances at him as the doors close and then continuing on his way. Zorg does encounter the ActionGirl, Leeloo, but at this point she's outgunned and has to retreat. Instead, Zorg meets his end thanks to his own underlings. |
| 452 | * UnitedSpaceOfAmerica: The movie has the President of the Federated Territories, of which Earth, specifically New York, appears to be merely the capital city. This is possibly meant to reference the United Nations. According to the novelization, this Federation's predecessor IS the U.S. |
| 453 | * UniversalDriversLicense: At one point, it's explained that Korben's training and experience in his former military unit qualifies him in the operation of a list of vehicles that extends to several pages. |
| 454 | * UnknownRival: |
| 455 | ** Korben and Zorg never meet or even know about each other and that they're competing for the same goal. They come within feet of one another on an elevator landing and Zorg just keeps on walking because, again, he doesn't even know Korben ''exists''. Korben doesn't know Zorg is behind the Mangalores' activities or that he's working for Mr. Shadow. For that matter, Korben knows nothing of Mr. Shadow -- only that it's an encroaching threat. Also, Zorg has no idea that Korben stopped the Mangalores on the cruise ship or that he's helping Leeloo. Zorg doesn't even know who Leeloo is when he tries to kill her, not even knowing that if he had succeeded, he would have no need for the stones. Only Cornelius has met Zorg and then only briefly on screen. The most direct harm that Zorg ever does to Korben in the film is to fire him from Zorg Industries... via a form letter... that Zorg didn't even write himself... or send himself. |
| 456 | ** In the novelization, they do run into each other, and Korben proceeds to beat the shit out of him for "hurting his wife" after Zorg finds out he ran out of bullets ([[MoreDakka all 3,000 of them]]). |
| 457 | * UpdatedRerelease: This movie has been re-released more than once because it is great for showing off new high-end [=TVs=]. It's nearly always kept prominently displayed as a result. |
| 458 | * ViciousCycle: An evil planet that comes to life every five thousand years attempts to collide with the Earth, causing a chain reaction that would destroy all life in the universe. This can only be prevented by the use of an ancient superweapon and, in the film, ThePowerOfLove. The shot at the end when we see how close the planet got to colliding with Earth also has our eerily similarly-sized moon lingering in view as well, implying that its origins were from a previous time this happened (and that it was also a very close call) (The novelisation confirms that the Moon is the remains of a previous evil planet). |
| 459 | * VictorySex: [[spoiler:At the end of the film, the President of TheFederation can't congratulate Korben Dallas and Leeloo on saving Earth because... they're busy. They need... five more minutes.]] |
| 460 | * VictoryThroughIntimidation: "Anyone else wanna negotiate?" - Korben Dallas, after some AggressiveNegotiations. |
| 461 | * VillainousBreakdown: Zorg has one surprisingly early when the Mangalores fail to deliver the stones. He then has an even bigger one when he himself fails, though this is justified as he knows what will happen if he [[YouHaveFailedMe fails Mr. Shadow]]. |
| 462 | * VisualPun: |
| 463 | ** The cops that come to arrest Korben's obnoxious neighbor, mistaking him for Korben, ''literally'' "[[LiteralMetaphor bag him.]]" |
| 464 | ** One of Zorg's minions spies on the Federation President with a [[AnimalEspionage cockroach that's been fitted with a transmitter.]] They're [[LiteralMetaphor bugging the conversation.]] |
| 465 | * TheVoice: |
| 466 | ** Korben Dallas's mother is heard but never seen. |
| 467 | ** Finger, Korben's boss at the cab company. He doesn't seem unreasonable on the phone, but Dallas seems genuinely worried about crossing him. |
| 468 | ** The Evil as well, assuming the giant mass we see isn't actually "Mr. Shadow", just [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm what it can be perceived as in normal spacetime]]. |
| 469 | * VoluntaryShapeshifting: The Mangalores can shape-shift to impersonate humans, right down to changing their physique. However, it's implied it is a very difficult feat to perform. Aknot re-uses the same form throughout the movie and only ever speaks in the Mangalores' distinctive, gravelly voice. Another struggles to even keep the shape-shift under control, visibly grimacing while his eyes bulge and forehead shifts between human and Mangalore, and when he speaks he cannot disguise his voice. Later a Mangalore impersonates a human voice and claims to be room service, but doesn't even attempt to hide their appearance. The only Mangalore that manages to nail both appearance and voice is the woman at the airport, and even she drops back to her Mangalore voice the moment she's out of earshot. |
| 470 | * WallOfWeapons: After disarming the thief in the beginning of the film, Korben takes his gun and deposits it in a storage container that lowers down from the ceiling, which is ''filled'' with various guns haphazardly chucked into it, the implication being that Korben has done this dance many times before. |
| 471 | * WasntThatFun: Ruby Rhod proclaims the attack of Fhloston Paradise as the "best show I ever did." |
| 472 | * WeAreStrugglingTogether: [[TheFederation The Federated Territories]], [[BenevolentPrecursors the Mondoshawans]], [[AncientOrderOfProtectors their priests]] and [[TheHero Dallas]] are all fighting for the common goal to stop the BigBad from destroying all life, but half the movie's conflict is them working against each other. The Mondoshawans distrusted mankind and kept [[MacGuffin the elemental stones]] necessary to stop the Evil out of their reach. The government is trying to contain Mr. Shadow in any way they can, but they ignore the Mondoshawan high priest's advice. [[MysticalWaif Leeloo]], who is also [[PhlebotinumGirl the weapon created to stop Evil]] becomes a fugitive after being revived by the government, escaping their facility, [[CrashIntoHello crashing into Dallas' cab]], which also makes him pursued as an accomplice. The priests themselves also distrust Dallas, thinking he is a nobody who got dragged into a mess he can't possibly understand, despite him being a former soldier who was reactivated to find the stones by his superiors from TheFederation. |
| 473 | %%* WeDoTheImpossible: Korben |
| 474 | * WeOnlyHaveOneChance: With the Great Evil imminently bearing down on Earth in the climax, the main characters are in a remote temple, activating the only weapon that can stop it. The activation is revealed to need a source of each element. Blowing is all it takes for Wind (though the realization about this is accidental), dust makes up for Earth, and sweat provides Water. But they still need a Fire source. Korben has a matchbox with ''one'' match... Even then, the ''fifth'' element (Leeloo) has to do her part as well afterwards. |
| 475 | * WeWillAllFlyInTheFuture: As typical of the genre, especially for 90s sci-fi blockbuster, cars in the world of ''The Fifth Element'' are airborne hovercraft that travel miles above the ground. Korben's flying taxi was even the centerpiece of a lot of the film's marketing material, believe it or not. |
| 476 | * WhatDoesThisButtonDo: When the case Zorg hired the Mangalores to bring him is empty, Zorg reneges on the deal of giving them four crates of the new [[SwissArmyWeapon ZF-1]], however, when Aknot insists on compensation for risking their lives [[ExactWords to bring him the case]], Zorg orders that they be given one crate, "for the cause." Outside the meeting he tells his assistant: |
| 477 | -->'''Zorg:''' I like killer. A real dyed-in-the-wool killer. Cold-blooded. Clean. Methodical. Thorough. A killer, when he picked up the ZF-1, would've immediately asked about the little red button on the bottom of the gun. |
| 478 | --> ''[As the other Mangalores [[FunnyBackgroundEvent play around with their ZF-1s]], Aknot curiously notices the red button and presses it, [[StuffBlowingUp resulting in the self-destruct mechanism going off]]]'' |
| 479 | * WhenThePlanetsAlign: The archeologist in the opening scene explains that the EternalRecurrence occurs when three specific planets are in eclipse. |
| 480 | * WheresTheKaboom: In the climax when the countdown for the Dark Planet to hit Earth reaches zero, the President braces and awaits the explosion only to be surprised when it doesn't happen. |
| 481 | * WolfWhistle: When Ruby Rhod sees the sexy stewardess he intends on wooing, the background music of his radio show turns into a wolf howling. |
| 482 | * WorldOfHam: Vito, the military, the President, Zorg, and Ruby Rhod (who seems to be able to induce hamminess in people who are talking ''about'' him and people he is ''talking to''). |
| 483 | * WritersCannotDoMath: In the 1914 prologue, the Mondoshawan's claim that they'll return the stones and the Fifth Element in three hundred years in time to protect the Earth from the Great Evil. And yet, the year it shows up is 2263, as opposed to 2214. Unless a Mondoshawan year is a little longer than an Earth's year. |
| 484 | * XenoNucleicAcid: Leeloo's DNA is briefly shown containing numerous helices compacted together. A scientist also comments that she has 200,000 "memo groups" compared with the 40 of humans,[[note]] Or in the French version, 200 billions to the humans' four[[/note]] which is pure {{technobabble}}. These are supposed to be signs of Leeloo being a genetically engineered perfect being. |
| 485 | * YouAreAlreadyCheckedIn: Multiple people try to check in with Korben Dallas' identity. It becomes something of a RunningGag. Cornelius does it smartly, as he creates a multipass in the name of Korben ''David'' Dallas for his assistant David. The spaceport people have no idea what Dallas looks like or what his full name is. Thus, David can still respond to his given name and not look out of place. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, the shape-changing Mangalore boss tries to use the face of Dallas's neighbor, who had been picked up by the police when they mistook him for Dallas; it doesn't end well for him (we can also thank Cornelius for that, as he was the one who switched the door tags before the police came to arrest Dallas). |
| 486 | * YouHaveFailedMe: Used by Zorg on the poor underling who failed to impersonate Dallas. |
| 487 | -->'''Right-Arm:''' Sorry, sir, this will ''never'' happen again.\ |
| 488 | '''Zorg:''' [[PreMortemOneLiner I know.]]\ |
| 489 | '''''[BOOM!]''''' |
| 490 | * YouMonster: Priest Vito Cornelius tells Zorg "You're a monster", to which Zorg replies "[[CardCarryingVillain I know]]." |
| 491 | * YouWereTryingTooHard: After trying numerous ways to activate the four elemental stones, they all give up. David laments "We're not going to make it..." and sighs, inadvertently activating the wind stone. Turns out the stones need their classical element to activate (wind for wind, earth for earth, water for water, fire for fire). |
| 492 | * YouWillBeSpared: This happens between Zorg and Cornelius. |
| 493 | -->'''Jean Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg''': You saved my life, and in return I'll spare yours... for now. |
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