The Fifth Element (1997)

To quote a certain man... "OH MY GOD!! This is the greatest movie I've ever seen in my life!"
...OK, this is a bit exaggerated. It's not the greatest movie I've seen in my lifetime, but I do like it.

The pre-story takes place in 1914 when an alien race called the Mondoshawans come to Earth and land near an excavation site in a temple in some desert somewhere. They have come to retrieve the only weapon capable of defeating the 'Great Evil', four stones with symbols representing the four classic elements and the eponymous Fifth Element, which conjugates the other four elements into life, claiming the weapon to be 'unsafe' on Earth. They tell the humans that the Evil is coming to destroy all life and instruct them to pass on the information through generations in preparation for when the Evil will next appear.
The current setting is Earth in the year 2263. The Mondoshawans come back to Earth to return the weapon but are shot down by a rouge alien race called the Mangalores, battle-scarred from a recent conflict with Earth. The Mondoshawans are all but destroyed, but the humans find a part of the Fifth Element that they then use to create a human enbodiment later called Leeloo (played by Milla Jovovich), but she tries to escape the scientists and the police. She jumps from the building and ends up crashing into a taxi cab driven by Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a former army officer turned cab driver. After another pursuit from the police, Korben takes Leeloo to Priest Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) where they find out that Leeloo is infact the Fifth Element. She tells then that the Mondoshawans were not carrying the stones but had instead entrusted them to a diva who performs on a luxury intergalactic cruise ship, and that it is her task to retrieve the stones from her. Elsewhere, wealthy industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) is after the stones after being influenced by the Great Evil, but after he realises that the Mangalores were unsuccessful in finding the stones, he has them killed. The survivors seek revenge and decide to take the stones for themselves.
Korben and Leeloo are sent to the cruise ship 'Fhloston Paradise' pretending to be holiday makers after Korben wins a contest, rigged by his former generals in the Army so that he would win. On the way there they meet radio personality Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker) who serves as their escort for the trip. They all attend an evening peformance by the diva (who has the stones), but the Mangalores interrupt and shoot the diva on stage, and in the midst of this calamity, Leeloo is injured and left on the verge of death. Korben learns from the diva's dying words where the stone are, so he retrieves them and they all escape in time after a bomb, planted by Zorg when he goes on board to try and find the stones, explodes and destroys the ship with Zorg and the surviving Mangalores on board.
They all fly to Earth to the temple in the desert when they realise the Great Evil (in the shape of a huge planetary body) is coming to destroy Earth and all life on it. They prepare the weapon with the four stones for fire, water, wind and earth and Leeloo, the Fifth Element, in the middle. The weapon activates and stops the Evil a few miles from entering Earth's atmosphere. After this ordeal, they all part ways except for Korben and Leeloo, who have fallen in love. Aww...

Verdict: It's not brilliant I will admit, but I still like it. It's averaged rather well on places such as Rotten Tomatoes (about 70%) and got some good reviews. It's a really outlandish plotline but it's also believable and gripping at times, you see some really amusing characters and you may also like some of the comedy in it. I also really like the cameo appearance from comedian Lee Evans as a steward on the cruise ship, and I adore Tucker's performance as the radio guy; it's so suited to his style. I'm also moved by some of the morals protrayed, like in one scene where Leeloo finds out that the humans are seeming bent on anhiliation of one another from seeing images of war and conflict. The special and visual effects are also top-class.

Score: 77%, 3.5 stars, check it out!

all i have to say is corbin dallas multipass = epic win