The Fifth Element

Name: The Fifth Element

Directed by: Luc Besson

Written by: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen

Story by: Luc Besson

Produced by: Patrice LeDoux

Cinematography: Thierry Arbogast

Production Design: Dan Weil

Film Editing: Sylvie Landra

Music by: Eric Serra

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Producer/Release: 20th Century Fox

Airdate: May 9, 1997

Length: 2 hours, 7 minutes, 10 seconds

Budget: $90 million

Box Office: $263.9 million

Pixar Movie Number: 100

The Fifth Element is the 100th Pixar movie in the 100th anniversary directed and co-written by Luc Besson. It stars Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman and Milla Jovovich. Primarily set in the 23rd century, the film's central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Willis), a taxicab driver and former special forces major, after a young woman (Jovovich) falls into his cab. Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defence of Earth against an impending attack.

Besson started writing the story that became The Fifth Element when he was 16 years old; he was 38 when the film opened in cinemas. Besson wanted to shoot the film in France, but suitable locations could not be found; filming took place instead in London and Mauritania. Comics writers Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières, whose comics provided inspiration for parts of the film, were hired for production design. Costume design was by Jean Paul Gaultier.

The Fifth Element received mainly positive reviews, although it tended to polarize critics. It has been called both the best and worst summer blockbuster of all time. The film was a financial success, earning more than $263 million at the box office on a $90 million budget. At the time of its release it was the most expensive European film ever made, and it remained the highest-grossing French film at the international box office until the release of The Intouchables in 2011.

Plot
In 1914, aliens known as Mondoshawans arrive at an ancient Egyptian temple to collect, for safekeeping, the only weapon capable of defeating a great evil that appears every 5,000 years. The weapon consists of four stones, representing the four classical elements, and a sarcophagus containing a fifth element in the form of a human, which combines the power of the other four elements into a divine light capable of defeating the evil. The Mondoshawans promise their human contact, a priest from a secret order, that they will come back with the element stones in time to stop the great evil when it returns.

In 2263, the great evil appears in deep space in the form of a giant ball of black fire, and destroys an attacking Earth spaceship. The Mondoshawans' current contact on Earth, priest Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm), informs the President of the Federated Territories (Tom Lister Jr.) of the history of the great evil and the weapon that can stop it. As the Mondoshawans return to Earth they are ambushed by Mangalores, a race hired by the industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman), who has been instructed by the great evil to acquire the stones.

The Mondoshawans' spacecraft is destroyed, though the stones are not on board; the only item recovered is a hand of The Fifth Element. Scientists take it to a New York City laboratory and use it to reconstruct a powerful humanoid woman who takes the name Leeloo (Milla Jovovich). Terrified of the unfamiliar surroundings, she breaks out of confinement and jumps off a high ledge, crashing into the flying taxicab of Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a former major in the special forces.

Dallas delivers Leeloo to Cornelius and his apprentice, David (Charlie Creed-Miles), whereupon Cornelius learns that the Mondoshawans entrusted the four element stones to the alien Diva Plavalaguna (Maïwenn Le Besco), an opera singer. Zorg kills many of the Mangalores because of their failure to obtain the stones, but their compatriots determine to seize the artifacts for themselves. Upon learning from the Mondoshawans that the stones are in Plavalaguna's possession, General Munro (Brion James), Dallas' former superior, recommissions Dallas and orders him to travel undercover to meet Plavalaguna on a luxury intergalactic cruise; Dallas takes Leeloo with him. Meanwhile, Cornelius instructs David to prepare the ancient temple designed to house the stones, then stows away on the space plane transporting Dallas to the cruise liner.

Plavalaguna is killed when the Mangalores attack the ship, but Dallas succeeds in retrieving the stones from the Diva. During his struggle with the Mangalores he kills their leader. Meanwhile, Zorg shoots and seriously wounds Leeloo, before finding a carrying case that he presumes contains the stones and takes it back to his spacecraft, leaving behind a time bomb that forces the liner's occupants to evacuate. Discovering the case to be empty, Zorg returns to the ship and deactivates his bomb, but a dying Mangalore sets off his own device, destroying the ship and killing Zorg. Dallas, Cornelius, Leeloo, and talk-show host Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker) escape with the stones aboard Zorg's spacecraft.

The four join up with David at the weapon chamber in the Egyptian temple as the great evil approaches. They arrange the stones and are able to activate them with their corresponding elements, but having witnessed and studied so much violence, Leeloo has become disenchanted with humanity and refuses to cooperate. Dallas confesses his love for Leeloo and kisses her. In response, Leeloo combines the power of the stones and releases the divine light on the great evil and destroying its power, causing the planet to be proclaimed dead by Earth scientists as it becomes another moon in Earth orbit.

Voice Cast
▪	Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas

▪	Gary Oldman as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg

▪	Milla Jovovich as Leeloo

▪	Ian Holm as Father Vito Cornelius

▪	Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod

▪	Charlie Creed-Miles as David

▪	Brion James as General Munro

▪	Tricky as Right Arm

▪	Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr. as President Lindberg

▪	Christopher Fairbank as Professor Mactilburgh

▪	Lee Evans as Fog

▪	John Bluthal as Professor Massimo Pacoli

▪	Luke Perry as Billy Masterson

▪	John Bennett as Priest

▪	Kim Chan as Mr. Kim

▪	John Neville as General Staedert

▪	Al Matthews as General Tudor

▪	Maïwenn Le Besco as Diva Plavalaguna

Media Release

 * The Fifth Element is released on video and DVD in December 10, 1997.

Aspect Ratios
2.35:1 (CinemaScope) 1.85:1 (Widescreen and Full Open Matte)

DVD Main Menu

 * Play Movie
 * Scene Index
 * Special Features
 * Behind the Scenes and Deleted Scenes
 * Commentary with Bruce Willis and Luc Besson
 * Blooper Stuff
 * Languages
 * English
 * Canadian French
 * Latin American Spanish
 * Brazilian Portuguese
 * German
 * Italian
 * Czech
 * Slovak
 * Slovene
 * Hungarian
 * Polish
 * Croatian
 * Japanese
 * Russian
 * Subtitles
 * English
 * French
 * Spanish
 * Portuguese
 * German
 * Italian
 * Czech
 * Slovak
 * Slovene
 * Hungarian
 * Polish
 * Croatian
 * Japanese
 * Russian

Previews

 * A Bug's Life Teaser Trailer (In Theaters November 1998)
 * Toy Story 2 Teaser Trailer (In Theaters November 1999)
 * The X-Files Trailer (In Theaters June 1998)
 * Antz Trailer (In Theaters October 1998)

Quotes

 * Leave this page on here: "Quotes".