Line #3 YMMV/TheFifthElement


1	* AlternativeJokeInterpretation: Korben telling the mugger to push the yellow button to load his gun, only for it to fizzle out. Did Korben trick him into turning on the safety, or did he genuinely tell him how to load it but knew it was a piece of crap that was likely to break?
2	* {{Anvilicious}}: War Is Bad. [[ThePowerOfLove "Make love, not war."]] [[GladToBeAliveSex Making love is much more fun]].
3	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
4	** Ruby Rhod. So much so that Empire Magazine voted him ''The most annoying character in Film History.'' He does have his fans, however, many of whom find him to be one of the funniest things in the movie.
5	** The Diva, whose performance is either SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic or a BigLippedAlligatorMoment, depending on who you ask.
6	* ClicheStorm: An example turned intentional. Creator/LucBesson was a teenager when he wrote the script, producing as a result a corny story filled with unsubtle inspirations from his beloved FrancoBelgianComics, but he elected to leave the plot mostly untouched when he got to make the film as a grownup. Given the film runs on RuleOfFun, the whole thing can be considered a {{Homage}} to those works instead.
7	* CompleteMonster: [[BewareTheSillyOnes Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg]] is a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive vicious businessman]] who undercuts his sillier moments by abandoning any semblance of humanity in the name of profit. Using the Mangalores to try and steal the stones of the four elements that would save the world from "[[EldritchAbomination Mr. Shadow]]", Zorg intends to allow Earth to be destroyed in return for a massive payment from Shadow. Attacking a luxury ship to Fhloston Paradise, Zorg stows aboard to shoot countless innocents dead, then tries to bomb the ship to escape with the stones. [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Loyal to none]], Zorg also seemingly sells weapons to the Mangalores, only for them to self-destruct and kill the loyal buyers, and fires one million taxi drivers [[LackOfEmpathy out of callousness]] during an economic downturn.
8	* CriticalDissonance: Surprisingly, it only has a 71% "fresh" rating on Website/RottenTomatoes from critics compared to the audience rating of 86%. Not only that but it has an even lower 52/100 Metacritic average from critic that indicates "mixed reviews", yet has a user score of 8.7/10 from general audiences, indicating "universal acclaim".
9	* FashionVictimVillain: Zorg's tailor needs to calm the hell down. ''Any'' aspect of his goofy outfits - the transparent clear-plastic dome that only covers half his head, the hideous haircut and "Hitler soulpatch", the pinstriped trenchcoats - would be bad enough on their own, but together they go so far beyond merely cheesy that they almost [[NarmCharm circle around to being totally awesome again.]]
10	* GeniusBonus: The dark, oily PsychicNosebleed that affects the battleship commander and Zorg is consistent with a subarachnoid hemorrhage seeping through a rupture in the skull; basically, it's a downplayed YourHeadAsplode caused by the BrownNote of Mr. Shadow's anger.
11	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The movie has a huge following in Russia, with the largest TV channels broadcasting it at least once a year.
12	* HarsherInHindsight:
13	** Terrorists shooting up an airport hits a little too close to home nowadays.
14	** Korben's kissing of Leeloo when she's asleep looks a lot less comic in the wake of the #[=TimesUp=] and #[=MeToo=] movements. Even more so now considering Creator/LucBesson was accused of rape.
15	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: The little loving smile that appears on Korben's face when he realizes his mom is on the phone, even though she is already in the middle of a thorough rant complaining about her son. It's just nice to see a son loving his mother, and enjoying talking... er... listening... to her, despite the fact that she keeps criticizing him.
16	* HilariousInHindsight:
17	** The multipass, a machine-readable all-purpose identification document? [[http://gizmodo.com/london-will-start-testing-fifth-element-style-multipass-1465894545 It might be coming sooner than you think it is.]]
18	** Looks like Leeloo was 3-D printed from a disembodied arm. Why couldn't we do that now? We can, sort of. Prosthetic hands, that is.
19	** The fact that the president is black became this when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States.
20	** One of Ruby's entourage is seen carrying a handheld camera and using it to take selfies... years before smartphones showed up and the concept of taking your own snapshots exploded across the culture.
21	** Having an ex-wrestler as President when celebrities are running for political office seems pretty prescient. And it's not [[Film/TheDarkKnight the only time]] Lister plays a ReasonableAuthorityFigure.
22	** After the increased celebrity status of [=YouTube=] "beauty gurus" like Jeffree Star and James Charles whose [[UncannyValleyMakeup over-the-top makeup]], [[ImpossiblyTackyClothes clothes]] and [[{{Main/Keet}} acting]] make Ruby Rhod look positively subdued, the character now comes across less as ridiculous and now amusingly prescient.
23	* LoveToHate: Zorg is a thoroughly despicable individual but he's also way too [[LaughablyEvil funny]] to totally hate.
24	* MemeticMutation:
25	** Leeloo Dallas Moool-tii-paass!
26	** "I am a meat popsicle." [[labelnote:explanation]] Korben's [[AskAStupidQuestion response]] to the cops asking if he is a human.[[/labelnote]]
27	** ''"GIMME DE CASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHH!"''
28	** Aziz, ''LIGHT!!''[[labelnote:Explanation]]In the open, the professor shouts this whenever Aziz, who is reflecting the sun into the temple, dozes off. Cue Billy marking the number of "Aziz Light"'s.[[/labelnote]]
29	** Much better, thank you, Aziz.[[labelnote:Explanation]]This is the result of the Mondoshawan ship shining their light into the temple. Even Aziz is confused.[[/labelnote]]
30	** BZZZZZZZZZZZZ!.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Ruby Rhod shooing off another bystander[[/labelnote]]
31	** "Green?" "Supergreen."[[labelnote:Explanation]]Dallas's ultimatum and Rhod's acknowledgement after the former threatens the latter into leaving him at peace, it fails.[[/labelnote]]
32	** "Anyone else want to negotiate?"
33	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK8ednS0skQ The Ruby Rap]]. Oh, ''god'', the Ruby Rap. When the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Nintendo Switch]] was revealed, there was a gif on the internet set to this bragging about how great it was going to be.
34	* MoralEventHorizon: Zorg crosses it the moment he tries to sell the stones to Mr. Shadow and thus nearly causing the deaths of millions of people on Earth.
35	* {{Narm}}: Leeloo being pushed over the edge into thinking HumansAreBastards by a shot of a nuclear explosion. It loses a lot of power when you realize: A) she has absolutely no context for what the image means, and B) seeing as it was filmed in the first place, it's probably just a test. A large part of the narm comes from the confusion as to ''how the hell hasn't she heard of war before?'' She's in the W letter of her encyclopedia, so presummably she's already learned the words "Battle" "Bomb" "Nuclear" "Atom" "Radiation" "Massacre" "Slaughter" "Soldier" "Gun" "Bullet" "Missile" and a pretty long list of warfare-related words that by all means ''should'' have familiarized her with war before.
36	* NarmCharm: The ''entire movie'', as Creator/LucBesson wrote it when he was twelve. The whole thing comes across like a two-hour long big-budget Saturday morning cartoon in live action, and is all the more entertaining because of it.
37	* NightmareFuel: The fact that the world seems to operate as a police state much of the time, as the cops can look into your home easily to check on you, point six remote guns at you for smacking a wall, or six cop cars can blast you with half a dozen machine guns '''each''' for being a ''suspected'' car thief.
38	* OneSceneWonder: So many.
39	** The alien opera diva doesn't have much screentime but her song is [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic utterly unforgettable]].
40	** The guy who [[BullyingADragon tries to mug Korben]] (played by Creator/MathieuKassovitz in a cameo), and his obnoxious neighbor ("''SMOKE YOU!''") who [[FlippingTheBird flips off the cops]]. Both appear for only those scenes, but they're widely seen as among the funniest in the whole movie.
41	** The Mondoshawans only appear in the opening, but their uniquely creative, cool-yet-strangely-adorable designs make them intensely memorable.
42	** The Thai man who delivers a meal to Korben's window and chats with him. He flies around the city in a vehicle that looks like a traditional SE Asian junk.
43	* ParanoiaFuel: It's established early on that Zorg's reach and influence are limitless, including having the police in his pocket. That's bad enough as it is, but then he kills one of his goons by blowing up the phone he's using. ''A completely random public pay phone'', right in the middle of a bustling spaceport. Even though he's shown doing it just this once, it implies that every pay phone in his area of influence is rigged like this...
44	* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: A spectacular example. ''The Fifth Element'' [=PS1=] game by the creators of ''VideoGame/NightmareCreatures'' landed on several worst-of lists that year. It got the first ''half-disc out of five'' rating in the ''Official US [=PlayStation=] Magazine''. Also counts as a PortingDisaster since the PC version got much better reviews. Curiously, the game has a respectable Website/IMDb rating of [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377917/ratings 7.6/10]], from a [[https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=video_game&release_date=,2000-12-31&sort=num_votes,desc disproportionately high]] number of votes, suggesting that a good chunk of these came from people who thought they were rating the movie.
45	* QuestionableCasting: Creator/TinyLister, President of the World? And he doesn't get [[Film/{{Friday}} a scene with]] Creator/ChrisTucker?
46	* RetroactiveRecognition: The kid who turns on the lights for the Priest during the opening scene grew up to be UsefulNotes/EnglishPremierLeague footballer Fitz Hall.
47	* SignatureScene:
48	** The moment where Leeloo (dressed only in bandages) throws herself out off the side of a skyscraper into the aerial traffic of future New York (before crashing into the back of Korben's taxi).
49	** Other contenders include her backflipping away from the Mangalores during the fight scene, striking a martial arts pose and making a BringIt gesture, and the scene where her body is reconstructed slice by slice using advanced medical technology.
50	** Zorg showing off [[SwissArmyGun the ZF-1]].
51	** The Diva Dance scene is for many people the ''only scene'' from this movie that they've seen or heard of.
52	* SpecialEffectFailure: Most of the effects work is at least good, but there are a few noticeable hiccups:
53	** The "unbreakable" glass container Leeloo breaks out of clearly has a nice circle of breakaway glass, visible for at least a second before she actually punches it.
54	** The black blood running down Zorg's head is creepy and all, but it ''really'' looks more like chocolate syrup, especially when smeared.
55	** The wall Leeloo jumps through after the bit with the glass container is clearly tin foil painted bronze.
56	** Diva is clearly Besson's then-wife wearing a bodysuit and prosthetics. The swirly head-tail jiggles and flexes a lot whenever she moves, making it look more like a foam hat than a body part.
57	** After Right Arm fails to get aboard the plane, Zorg detonates a bomb to kill him. After the explosion, you can clearly see the mannequin meant to be Right Arm still intact.
58	* SpiritualAdaptation:
59	** Often described as one of the best films based on European sci-fi comics, though not directly based on any. Instead, it's a mix of influences, and famed artists like [[Creator/{{Moebius}} Jean Giraud]] and Jean-Claude Mezieres did some concept art directly.
60	** Additionally, it is considered to be the best adaptation of ''ComicBook/{{Valerian}}'' ever made, with Mézières himself, one of the co-creators of the comic, even working on the production design.
61	* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: Creator/AlejandroJodorowsky and Creator/{{Moebius}} sued Creator/LucBesson claiming that the movie plagiarized their comic, ''ComicBook/TheIncal''. The case was thrown out due to the similarities being minimal and Moebius having worked on the movie as a concept artist.
62	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: One of the more common criticisms is how it comes off feeling like Zorg's doing his own thing during the trip to Fhloston Paradise. No FinalBattle. No real opportunity to show off his fancy gun. Nothing other than his brief run-in with Leeloo. Korben and Zorg don't even meet one another.
63	* UglyCute: Big mechanical aliens aren't usually most people's idea of "cute", but there's something very appealing about the Mondoshawans, with their chunky, rotund teddy bear-like bodies, spindly necks, and waddling gait. They're sort of like Pooh Bear wearing a spiky mechanical astronaut suit.
64	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The model work that went into future New York City is still impressive over twenty years later, especially considering that practical effects would soon fade in favor of CGI.
65	* {{Woolseyism}}: In the German dub, the Professor's question to the Mondoshawans "Are you German?" is replaced with "Are you from the Earth?"

Context YMMV / TheFifthElement