The Fifth Element is a 1997Science FictionFilm directed by Luc Besson, starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, Chris Tucker and Ian Holm. Not to be confused with Element Number Five.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 every five millennia and the weapons to defeat it: four stones representing 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. Just as the discovery is made, the Sufficiently Advanced Aliens who made the temple in the first place (and whom the priest, and all those who have come before him, have secretly served) arrive in a giant space ship and take away the stones and the sarcophagus, explaining that they are unsafe with the 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...2263, where 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 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-hairedMysterious Waif named Leeloo, who breaks out of the lab and dives into a taxi driven by ex-soldier Korben Dallas. With the Great Evil getting closer, Korben has to help Leeloo save the planet.
Aggressive Negotiations: Korben Dallas negotiates by shooting the leader of the Mangalores, knowing this will take the fight out of the others.
Dallas: Anyone else want to negotiate? Fog: Where did he learn to negotiate like that? President(with a glance toward the General): I wonder.
Air Vent Passageway: Played straight when Leeloo escapes the lab in the beginning. Subverted when she tries it against Zorg; he has a machine gun and the vent is noisy, so he does eventually hit her.
Attack Backfire: The big dark planet of evil is attacked by Earth's military with several rockets. Instead of the rockets hurting it, they cause it to get bigger.
Awesome But Practical: The Replay feature on the ZF-1 is cool. If you can hit your target once, you can proceed to send another few dozen at them with very little effort. Extremely practical. The first hit in a gunfight is often decisive, but armour can often stop a bullet, or you might graze them or not actually damage them badly enough to stop them. Or they could be a giant alien who needs more than one hit to take them down. That first hit will be even more decisive when it turns into 30 more hits while the shooter is behind cover.
Badass Adorable: Leeloo is cute, innocent, has No Social Skills, No Nudity Taboo and is perfectly capable of breaking every bone in your body without breaking a sweat. Which she will do if you cross her.
Ballistic Discount: 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. Turns out his insurance policy was to show them all the fancy special features except explaining What That Little Red Button Does — it's a high-explosive self-destruct.
Big Applesauce: Of all the places to bring a Supreme Being, it's of course New York City.
Birthmark of Destiny: Leeloo carries the symbols of the four elements in her wrist.
Brick Joke: When the Mangalore fail to deliver the stones to Zorg, he tricks them into blowing themselves up with the ZF-1's self-destruct function. Guess what happens to Zorg on the ship later? (See Karmic Death below.).
During one of the phone calls with Korben's mother (specifically; to the President because her son saves the Earth), she can be briefly heard alluding to previous scenes:
Camera Spoofing: 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.
The Cameo: The mugger waiting at Korben's door is none other than Gothika 's and La Haine 's french filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz
Zorg's hapless assistant Right Arm (who operates the cockroach bug and impersonates Korben at the spaceport) is UK trip-hop artist Tricky.
To be fair, Tricky's appearance is more like Hey, It's That Guy! than The Cameo, especially given he lasted half the movie.
The Mangalores' human disguises (and a lot of extras) are played by fashion models who worked with costume designer Jean-Paul Gaultier.
Fog, the nervous, stammering bellboy, is played by British stand-up comedian/occasional actor Lee Evans.
Camp Straight: Ruby Rhod and his entourage play every camp stereotype to the hilt, even though they're not gay. Just because Ruby's fabulous doesn't mean he doesn't love the ladies. A lot. According to the DVD Commentary, Ruby (originally named "Loc") is a combination of Prince and Lenny Kravitz.
Ruby even oddly uses the female pronoun when referring to himself on radio calling himself Miss Ruby Rhod.
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 the aberration as a manly man.
Chekhov's Gun: 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 shapechange.
Clone Jesus: Leeloo, though she isn't really cloned per se.
Creepy Monotone: The attendant that introduces Korben to his room.
Except when she talks about Ruby Rhod, then she gets all excited.
Crapsack World: If you really look at it, despite all the high tech gear, Earth, with it's overcrowded and polluted cities and oppressive police rule, really doesn't look like a good place to live.
Crash into Hello: Leeloo literally crashes through the roof of Dallas's car.
Dude, She's Like, In a Coma!: Dallas kisses an unconscious Leeloo. He realizes this was a bad idea when in the next moment she's woken up and is 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".
Dulcinea Effect: 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 Genre Savvy enough to realize that he's getting into far more trouble than he can really afford.
Element Number Five: We would have just called it The Fifth Element if this movie hadn't beaten us there.
Enforced Method Acting: The wonder on Bruce Willis' face when the diva sings is real. That was the first time he'd heard it.
Eureka Moment: After David's Chance Activation 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".
Evil Laugh: Zorg gets one and breaks down in tears.
Food Pills: 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 instant roast chicken with all the trimmings. Forget faster-than-light travel; that is clearly the pinnacle of human achievement.
Glass Cannon: As described by the Diva, Leeloo is more fragile than she seems; she can fight, but she can be hurt, and her heart is even more vulnerable than her body.
Going By The Match Book: Surprisingly, searching for and not finding matches is a repeated in-joke.
Harmless Freezing: General Munro and two of his men were stuffed in the freezer by Korben Dallas to hide them from the cops. He freed them after a couple of minutes when they were already frozen still. But later on the General seems to be OK again. *
In the novelization, it's Not So Harmless: the General is later described to have had a couple of fingers amputated as a result
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Heroic BSOD: Leeloo descends into despair as she sees 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 dictionary. This becomes an important plot point almost immediately afterward as she initially refuses to save the universe if war and violence are all it has to offer.
Much of the futuristic New York and the character of Korben Dallas pay homage to the Harry Canyon story from Heavy Metal.
The French comic series Valerian by Jean-Claude Mézières and Pierre Christin features a near-identical flying taxi in the album Circles of Power, though with driver whose personality has little in common with Korben's. Much of the costume inspirations also comes from this comic. Mézières was one of the film's Production Designers. The other was Jean Giraud aka Moebius)!
Hot Pursuit: How many police cars does it take to stop one taxi?
I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: The four element stones are held by Diva Plavalaguna (inside her body!) who hands them over to Dallas as she is dying.
And the Mondoshawan, twice: once with the key to the temple, and once with Leeloo herself.
Incredibly Obvious Bug: Literally: the bad guy uses a 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. Goodbye, eardrums! *
Informed Attractiveness: 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.
Innocent Fanservice Girl: Leeloo, who at first doesn't bother to hide her nudity when changing clothes. Then again, she is with two priests of the order that knows who and what she is.
Then again, she also undressed in front of Dallas even though he tried to kiss her while she was unconscious.
Instant Expert: 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.
Jewish Mother: Korben Dallas's mother seems to be this.
Karmic Death: Zorg, who is bombed when one of his own mercenaries sets one off, mere seconds after disabling the one he himself triggered earlier, and Mr. Shadow, who is killed by The Power of Love.
Further emphasized by the fact that 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.
Kavorka Man: Despite dressing and behaving in a fashion that evokes Camp Gay, the ladies love Ruby Rhod, and he loves them right back.
Laser-Guided Karma: Done to Korben as he's funneled into the VIP lounge to appear on Ruby Rhod's radio show.
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. (Cue massive fanfare, followed by Ruby Rhod sliding into the scene wearing a mic/headset) Ruby Rhod: KORBENDALLAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!! Here he is, the one and only winner of the Gemini Croquette contest!
Laser Guided Tykebomb: Leeloo acts very naive and flighty at times, but when it's time for business, just pray you're on her side and not her enemy.
Magic Countdown: Subverted when Zorg stops the bomb with 5 seconds to spare, and then the Not Quite Dead Mangalore sets off his own bomb with a 5 second countdown.
Mayfly December Romance: Leeloo and Korben. Hard to tell for sure though, it's possibly subverted. They never say if Leeloo is immortal or was just kept in stasis.
Nothing Can Save Us Now: "We're never gonna make it." Cue a clever action that does lead to them being saved
Nothing Can Stop Us Now: The general is assured that Leeloo's containment vessel is unbreakable. Thirty seconds later, she breaks through the glass.
With her bare hands, no less! Also counts as Special Effects Failure, as the obviously whole glass has quite clearly been replaced with a visible breakaway circle for Leeloo to punch, and the timing is slow enough that you'll probably notice it without having to pause.
Not With the Safety On, You Won't: Dallas helpfully tells someone trying to rob him that the gun isn't loaded, and even gives him time to push the button, turning the safety on.
Offhand Backhand: Done by Leeloo after brawling with a Mangalore strike force, and earlier (accidentally) by Ruby Rhod to a flight attendant with his mic/pimp-cane.
Oh Crap: Zorg has one of these in the form of a Little No before he realizes that the Proud Warrior Race is going to manually detonate the bomb anyway.
One Riot, One Ranger: Korben Dallas is sent to retrieve the elemental stones, rather than, say, intercepting the Diva with the Navy and avoiding the whole public-place hand-off thing.
Outrun the Fireball: Korben in the ship as the Mangalore bomb blows up the ship above Phloston.
Overly-Long Name: Leeloo Minai Lekarariba-Laminai-Tchai Ekbat De Sebat; she goes by "Leeloo Dallas" (Multipass) a few scenes later. "Ekbat De Sebat" is actually her title.
Gary Oldman, sporting a slicked-down partial Mohawk, a beard like a misplaced Hitler mustache, a southern accent and giving one of the most low-key but still awesome performances of his career.
Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr as the President, playing a more prominent and powerful role than his typical Scary Black Man parts.
Police State: 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.
Popcultural Osmosis: Flying cars in canyons from Blade Runner, but possibly also from the Metal Hurlant comics of which Luc Besson is inordinately fond. To the point of hiring Metal Hurlant artists as designers, as noted above.
Post Historical Trauma: Leeloo's breakdown towards the end, once reading about the dreaded W for War in the encyclopedia.
The Power of Love: What with the discussion between Leeloo and Korben near the end, people thought this was what the title referred to. Word Of God from director Luc Besson has clarified in an interview that the Fifth Element is actually sex.
Does that mean the beam that stops the dark planet is Leeloo having the ultimate immodest orgasm?
Rubber Forehead Aliens: Both played somewhat straight with Plava Laguna and averted impressively with the Mondoshawans. The Mangalores are a bit of a subversion, in that they appear to be inspired by Star Trek-type humanoid aliens but have high-tec anamatronic complete facial prosthetics that make them seem very authentic.
Rule of Fun: 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.
Sexy Backless Outfit: In an odd male example, one of Korben's t-shirts has a cut out at the back.
Shout Out: Korben Dallas' unusual first name has to be a reference to Heavy Metal artist Richard Corben, given the many other references to European science-fiction comic books found in the film.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: Priest Vito Cornelius delivers an absolutely brilliant one to the choking Zorg after his villainous speech (see Good Needs Evil), by pointing out that his grand empire will come tumbling down all because of one... little... cherry. Vito smacks him on the back, of course. The look on Vito's face as he Saves The Villain is practically audible; Being Good Sucks.
The uniforms worn by the stewardesses, and McDonald's waitresses.
Zorg's male guards get in on the act, with tiny biker shorts.
The woman 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.
Leeloo's "thermal bandages".
Summer Blockbuster: Whatever else the film has to offer, it was very successful as an exercise in spectacle and light entertainment.
Cornelius: It's a - it's a - it's a - it's a - it's a - it's a... 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? [the alarms go off]
2-D Space: The border of the Federated Territories is a massive line of buoys (presumably scanners) which detect incoming ships and turn green to indicate that they may pass. There's not even multiple lines.
Unflinching Walk: 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.
Updated Rerelease: 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.
Vicious Cycle: 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, The Power of Love.
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 the last time this happened (and that it was also a very close call).
Villainous Breakdown: 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 fails Mr. Shadow.
The Voice: Korben Dallas's mother is heard but never seen.
Waif-Fu: And another Leeloo trope. We are not at home to Mr Newton, no sir.
Wasn't That Fun?: Ruby Rhod proclaims the attack of Fhloston Paradise as the "best show I ever did."
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