Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The Fifth Element

I usually like really deep and meaningful movies a lot more than any others. Surprisingly, actions movies take my fancy once in a while and Bruce Willis usually stars in the more entertaining of the lot. "The Fifth Element" was a great action / sci-fi movie that I particularly liked and it managed to squeeze in a cute message just for good measure.

In 1914 in a ruined temple in Egypt, an archaeologist and a priest uncover ancient writings describing the arrival of a Great Evil every five millennia. The excavation is interrupted by the arrival of giant aliens called Mondoshawan. The Mondoshawan enter the temple and removed four stones corresponding with the four elements (water, fire, earth and air) from a hidden crypt inside the temple. They hide the stones until such time as the Great Evil arrives. They charge the priest with preserving the temple and its knowledge through the generations and promise to return with all the stones and the fifth element necessary to protect the world when the time comes.

In the year 2263, a Federal Navy space fleet is swallowed by a planetary eclipse, giving birth to the Great Evil that was foretold by the Mondoshawan. As they promised, the Mondoshawan come to earth to return the stones in order to stop the Great Evil. However, during their journey, the Mondoshawan's ship is shot down by a war-like alien race called Mangalores. From the wreck, scientists recover a fragment of one of the Mondoshawan with several living cells. From the fragment they clone Leeloo Minai Lekarariba-Laminai-Tchai Ekbat De Sebat (played by the beautiful Milla Jovovich), a supreme being. Leeloo escapes the laboratory and dives into a passing taxicab driven by Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a former major in the Federated Army's Special Forces. Korben brings an unconscious Leeloo to Priest Vito Cornelius.

The Mangalores meet Zorg (Gary Oldman), a wealthy industrialist who commissioned the assault on the Mondoshawan ship. Zorg offers to give weapons to the Mangalores in exchange for the stones inside the case salvaged from the crashed Mondoshawan ship. Unfortunately for Zorg, and the Mangalores who he subsequently kills, the case from the Mondoshawan ship is empty.

Meanwhile, at Cornelius's apartment, Leeloo reveals that the stones are actually safeguarded by renowned opera singer Diva Plavalaguna (Ma?wenn Le Besco), whom Leeloo must meet and that she is the fifth element necessary to save the world from the Great Evil.

The Galactic President learns about the stones and the Diva and drafts Dallas back into the Federated Army to retrieve the stones. Dallas is sent to Fhloston Paradise, a space liner where the Diva will be performing, as a winner of a contest. Dallas and Leeloo go to Fhloston Paradise where all hell breaks loose during the Diva's evening performance.

In order to save the world, Leeloo must take the four stones and herself to the ancient temple. When they finally get to the temple, a physically and emotionally wounded Leeloo questions the validity of protecting life that is not worth protecting. She is hesitant to provide the Divine Light needed to complete the process, fearing that humans will inevitably destroy themselves. As it turns out, the fifth element, necessary to save the world and protect it from the Great Evil, is Love.

It all just goes to show that, in the past hundreds of years, we humans have been destroying ourselves in many different ways and the reason life is worth living, is for the love we share. So save the world, spread the Divine Light, share the love.

Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.