This is a prime example of a movie that should have been crap, but wasn’t. For instance, here is actor Tommy Lister:
The Fifth Element
He fumbles out his lines in the movie, and it’s so bad it turns comical. This poor guy, for whatever reason, got cast as the PRESIDENT in the movie. But the performance basically serves as a backdrop for the rest of the strong acting cast, and it does it’s job highlighting some serious acting talent.
The movie has really over-the-top characters:
“I don’t want one position I want all positions!”
Heh. Anyway, the sheer acting talent might be what actually pulled it through into the gem it is. Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, and the best performances I’ve yet seen out of Milla Jovovich (she was perfect, somehow), Chris Tucker (he’s been worse in every other role), and Luke Perry (so awesome, I actually wish he was in more of the movie – something which I never thought I’d say about Luke Perry). Even Brion James was really good in the movie, something which I don’t think he was in any other movie. Brion James, for those of you who don’t know his name:
They somehow pulled off ridiculous costumes in the movie. Gary Oldman was barely recognizeable as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, what with his goofy accept, ridiculous hair, and that plastic thing on his head:
Everyone from Willis to Holm to Jovovich had at least some wardrobe shenanigans going on, orange rubber and shit. But the unbelievable thing is: They pulled it off. Every single one of them was awesome, and the movie ended up being amazing. I can watch this movie over and over, and even the music score is weird – techno something or other that somehow, like everything else, just works.
