--- title: "The Fifth Element" year: 1997 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-fifth-element" fi1m_score: 73 critics_score: 64 critics_reviews: 10 published: "2026-09-19T08:14:50.303667+00:00" updated: "2026-09-19T08:48:13.270444+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Fifth Element (1997) Directed by Luc Besson · 2h 06m · MPA PG-13 · Science Fiction, Action, Adventure **Fi1m score: 73** · Critics 64 from 10 reviews *In a sentence:* The end of the world, dressed by Gaultier and delayed by a radio host who will not stop talking > Luc Besson’s comic-strip future is one of the best-dressed places cinema has built, and the film sprints through it. The story is thin and Chris Tucker is an acquired taste, but the pleasure is real and mostly earned. ## Synopsis Egypt, 1914. A race of armoured aliens, the Mondoshawan, collect four elemental stones from a temple and promise to return them when the Great Evil comes back. Three hundred years later a ball of fire is heading for Earth, the Mondoshawan ship is shot down, and scientists in a New York laboratory rebuild the sole survivor from a single hand. She is Leeloo (Milla Jovovich), the fifth element, and she escapes by crashing through the roof of a flying taxi driven by Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), an ex-soldier who wants only to be left alone. The priest Cornelius (Ian Holm), keeper of the prophecy, needs the stones, which are with an opera singer at the resort Fhloston Paradise. The industrialist Zorg (Gary Oldman) wants them too. ## Review Luc Besson had made two small, sad films about lonely killers, [*Nikita*](https://film.one/film/nikita) (1990) and *Léon* (1994), and then he made this. *The Fifth Element* is a space adventure drawn in the flat bright colours of a French comic strip. Every five thousand years a Great Evil comes for the Earth; four stones and a fifth element can stop it; somebody has to fetch them. The film is a joy to look at and a chore to follow, and for most of its 126 minutes the looking wins. The look belongs first to Dan Weil, who builds a New York where traffic hangs in stacked lanes hundreds of storeys deep and a cab can shake off the police by dropping fifty floors. Korben Dallas’s flat is one room in which the bed slides into the wall and the shower slides out of it. Fhloston Paradise, the resort where the stones are hidden, is a cruise liner the size of a town. Jean-Paul Gaultier dresses everyone: the cab driver in an orange rubber vest, the heroine in a few white bandages, the villain with a plastic half-dome over one temple. Thierry Arbogast and Nick Tebbet light all of it in daylight. After a decade of futures shot in rain and neon, this one is orange and sky blue, and it cheers us before anyone says a line. Sylvie Landra cuts fast, most of all in the cab chase, which drops through a tunnel of traffic and out over the skyline without once losing the cab. Éric Serra’s score is nearly as busy as the pictures: jittery techno under the action, a twanging guitar for the villain, and a long operatic set piece in the middle of the film. A blue singer with tendrils down her back performs an aria in a hotel concert hall while, in a suite upstairs, Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) fights a room of soldiers, and the music slides from opera into drum machines and back with the fight cut to the beat. We grinned through the whole thing and were surprised at how happy it made us. It is the reason a good many people still love this film. Bruce Willis is the reason the rest of it holds. He plays Korben, an ex-soldier driving a cab, as a man who was tired before the plot arrived, and when a shrieking broadcaster or a green alien enters the frame he looks at it the way we would. Gary Oldman’s Zorg is an arms dealer with a Southern drawl and a limp, and he is having a splendid time; the script keeps him and Korben apart for the entire film, which is a strange thing to do with your two best actors. Ian Holm fusses nicely as Cornelius, the priest who knows the prophecy. Jovovich, whose Leeloo learns English from a screen in an afternoon, is asked to be a weapon, a child and a saviour in turn, and she does the fighting with conviction. As a person she is barely written. Then there is Ruby Rhod. Chris Tucker plays the galaxy’s favourite broadcaster in leopard print and a falsetto, and he is funny for about five minutes. He is in the film for closer to forty, and he spends most of the last act screaming in the hero’s ear during a gunfight. We started to dread his entrances, and by the final half hour we were tired, which a film this fast should never allow. The script, by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, has the same trouble everywhere: it announces the end of the world, then cuts to a joke about a fridge. The Great Evil is a ball of fire. Against Besson’s own films this is the loud one. *Léon* had one relationship and let it breathe; here the love between Korben and Leeloo is supposed to be the point of the story and gets about three scenes. Against the genre it does better. Few science fiction films of its decade look as if anyone enjoyed making them, and this one looks like a fairground. It runs 126 minutes and carries a PG, which will surprise anyone who remembers the body count in the hotel. Watch it with the sound up and save the plot questions for afterwards. There will not be many, because the film does not leave room for them. *Fi1m score 73, published 19 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (10) - **The Telegraph** (90/100, inferred): The piece celebrates the film as a thrillingly overblown, pop-art masterwork and one of the craziest and most pleasurable sci-fi films, whose inventive style influenced later fantasy cinema; the critic has loved it since first viewing and sees it as pure blockbuster fun. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/has-ever-sci-fi-movie-crazier-fifth-element/) - **The Times** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Besson’s film a riotously daft, fun sci-fi adventure that is light-years ahead in entertainment value compared to more serious entries like The Matrix, drawing on camp traditions like Flash Gordon with its flamboyant European style and strong supporting cast. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-fifth-element-pg-g0xc2r3d0zj) - **Empire**, Adam Smith (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's groundbreaking visuals as unlike anything seen before, with a bright, comic-strip-inspired future that could redefine sci-fi imagery. They note some conceptual overload and uneven comedy in the third act but conclude that the stunning look makes up for minor story issues. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/fifth-element-review/) - **Little White Lies**, Patrick Sproull (80/100, inferred): The critic celebrates the film's enduring off-kilter charm and visual inventiveness twenty years on. They single out its unique world-building and comic tone as setting the template for playful, idiosyncratic big-budget sci-fi. [Read](https://lwlies.com/in-praise-of/how-the-fifth-element-set-the-tone-for-modern-blockbusters) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kevin Thomas (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as a warmer, more fun, and campy sci-fi extravaganza with some of the most sophisticated and witty production and costume design imaginable. He singles out Bruce Willis as the true fifth element who holds everything together with smarts, style, humor, and humanity. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-05-09-ca-56892-story.html) - **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (4/5): The critic hails the film as a superb, socially conscious sci-fi adventure with slick satire, unusual visuals and futuristic thrills. They single out Gary Oldman's villain and the camp resort-planet sequence for particular praise. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-22s6v4/the-fifth-element/) - **Time Out**, GA (60/100, inferred): The review finds enjoyment in the lead performance, production design, costumes and effects. It criticises the messy narrative overloaded with eccentric characters and the film's hypocritical delight in violence. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-fifth-element) - **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (40/100, inferred): The critic views the film as a gaudy, big-budget French effort to play the Hollywood cartoon blockbuster game that prioritizes hot design and hollow excitement over plot coherence. She notes that Bruce Willis provides some much-needed ballast but that the film is pitched at a teen audience and has already lost its way. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/09/movies/world-saved-by-a-nude-babe-cool.html) - **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (**): The critic calls the film a largely misfired European attempt at an American-style sci-fi spectacular consisting of a hodgepodge of elements that do not coalesce. He singles out Bruce Willis as the only solid, recognizable presence amid the mishmash while criticizing the narrative, effects, and overall execution. [Read](https://variety.com/1997/film/reviews/the-fifth-element-1200449952/) - **The Hollywood Reporter** (10/100, inferred): The review finds the film a dimwitted, chaotic sci-fi mess lacking a coherent story amid its noise, costumes, effects and production design. It criticizes the generic plot, soulless techno elements and dopey design choices while noting the cast is reduced to spouting bad dialogue or wearing funny hairstyles. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/the-fifth-element-thrs-1997-review-1109146/) ## Details - **Director:** Luc Besson - **Director:** Luc Besson - **Screenplay:** Robert Mark Kamen, Luc Besson - **Story:** Luc Besson - **Cinematography:** Thierry Arbogast, Nick Tebbet - **Editor:** Sylvie Landra - **Music:** Éric Serra - **Production design:** Dan Weil - **Costume design:** Jean-Paul Gaultier - **Producer:** Patrice Ledoux - **Cast:** Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas; Milla Jovovich as Leeloo; Gary Oldman as Zorg; Ian Holm as Cornelius; Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod; Luke Perry as Billy; Brion James as General Munro; Tommy Lister Jr. as President Lindberg - **Runtime:** 2h 06m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 9 May 1997 - **Genres:** Science Fiction, Action, Adventure - **Budget:** $90 million - **Box office:** $264 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sg2RkdkSvk ## Where to watch in the US - Netflix: streaming, leaving 2026-10-01 - Tubi: free - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-19.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, CA, CH, DE, DK, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, JP, NO, NZ, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1998: Best Sound Editing (nominated) - BAFTA Film Awards 1998: Best Special Visual Effects (won) - César Award for Best Cinematography 1998: César Award for Best Cinematography (won) - César Award for Best Costume Design 1998: César Award for Best Costume Design (nominated) - César Award for Best Director 1998: César Award for Best Director (won) - César Award for Best Editing 1998: César Award for Best Editing (nominated) - César Award for Best Film 1998: César Award for Best Film (nominated) - César Award for Best Music Written for a Film 1998: César Award for Best Music Written for a Film (nominated) - César Award for Best Production Design 1998: César Award for Best Production Design (won) - César Award for Best Sound 1998: César Award for Best Sound (nominated) - Hugo Awards 1998: Best Dramatic Presentation (nominated) - MTV Movie Award for Best Fight 1998: MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (nominated) - Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects 1998: Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects (nominated) - European Film Award for Best Film 1997: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated) - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress 1997: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress (nominated) - Saturn Awards 1997: Best Costume (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Flash Gordon* (1980): The camp space serial Besson grew up on, with Queen doing the shouting - *Brazil* (1985), Fi1m 83: Gilliam’s cluttered, funny, sad future, where the ducts matter more than the plot — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/brazil.md) - *Delicatessen* (1991), Fi1m 83: French design run riot in a single building; grubbier, smaller, just as odd — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/delicatessen.md) - *Speed Racer* (2008): Another cartoon made flesh, colours turned up and story turned down, cheerfully - *Guardians of the Galaxy* (2014), Fi1m 80: The Besson template in American hands: a bickering crew, a bright galaxy, a mixtape — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/guardians-of-the-galaxy.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-fifth-element