Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

There seems to be an obsession with Egypt and its mythology and other in many sci-fi flicks recently. I first saw one in Stargate, and then the Mummy and the Mummy Returns, and before the last two there was the Fifth Element. This is where a special being called Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) comes in.

She’s the embodiment of an Egyptian goddess who’s back on the surface of Earth after 5,000 years of dormancy. For some reason her hair is dyed red instead of black, but anyway… I'm not gonna dwell on that. She ends up in the Big Apple in the year 2150 let’s say. How and why she’s here, I still don’t know, even though I've watched it several times. Maybe it's the power of the Egyptian gods? Or a curse?

Anyway, her mission is to serve as the final link in a temple in the Egyptian desert with four pillars that harness energy with the elements of water, air, fire, and earth. She will be the final link to these four elements, which can then form into a powerful beam to stop a large meteor that’s recently been spotted heading towards Earth (hence the movie’s name) and will destroy the planet if it connects. Among those seeking to help her reach the temple is a priest named Cornelius (Ian Holm).

The graphics of the New York of the 22nd Century are very impressive, if only for the massive skyscrapers and the roads crisscrossing hundreds of feet above the ground. In the big series of canyons are long lines of taxis and hovering cars all over the place. (Mile-high-towers all around- mmmm, now this is my kind of world.) Among its denizens is a taxi driver named Korben Dallas (the ever-reliable Bruce Willis) who takes the sentient Being into his care and teaches her to read and speak through his personal computer. Cornelius, upon learning that Leeloo is in Dallas's care, he quikcly allies with him.

Somehow a villain has learned of the Being’s release into the world and the legend surrounding her, and is now seeking to profit from it. The guy is Zorg (Gary Oldman) who seems to wear a glass cup over half of his head (is that really a 22nd Century style?) and talks more hokey then Dr Arliss Loveless ever did (Wild Willd West anyone?). He hires a group of ugly aliens to help them hunt down the Being and try to prevent her from saving the Earth.

The Alien costumes (they look like mutant frogs with big ears for some reason) are obviously fakes; even their voices are enhanced. Equally laughable are the human costumes the aliens use to disguise themselves. Don’t you just love how two of them dress like punk-style Goths when trying to get on the spaceship- and speak with the intimidating tones. That you know is a dead giveaway to the receptionist who’s handling the tickets to the ship where everyone wants the last piece needed for the temple. Oh well, at least they don’t look the filthy drug dealers the way the Psychlos of Battlefield Earth did.

And what is Chris Tucker doing here? We first see him as a receptionist of sorts when Dallas and Leeloo board a ship traveling to a planet with a tropical climate. He dresses and behaves like a pansy for one, and his erratic behavior and pompous flair are completely inappropriate, that’s two. What worked for him in other moves such as rush hour doesn’t work here. I mean, this is supposed to be a sci-fi thriller, not some costume party junk. On top of that he always talks like the Micro Machine Man, and that’s unacceptable (number three).

Other than these two bad attributes, the film has its good sides. Bruce Willis is great as the apprehensive but brave Dallas. Ian Holm is also very convincing as the priest Cornelius. The graphics of the ship, the setting of the ship’s interior, and the firefight in the ship's auditorium (where Dallas tries to defend himself from the aggressive aliens) are all nothing short of spectacular.

As for Milla Jovovich, she looks a bit like an ordinary woman, and doesn’t look anything like the fresh-faced Jennifer Love Hewitt-type girls we’re used to. She’s more important for her acting (and fighting) ability then for her attractiveness, and maybe that’s for the better. It's clearly fun to see Jovovich fighting her way out of the aliens' clutches with punches, kicks, and pole swings. The Fifth Element overall is a fun adventure with a rather cheesy storyline as expected, and Jovovich does her part adding to the fun.

Oh, and did I leave out the blue-uniform receptionists on the ship and their polite demeanor? They're good eye candy LOL.

Bruce Wllis- Korben Dallas
Milla Jovovich- Leeloo
Gary Oldman- Zorg the Evil Dude
Chris Tucker- some Micro Machine Man wannabe
Ian Holm- Cornelius

Directed by Luc Besson

Recommended: Yes