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TOMORROWLAND: Gary Oldman, Bruce Willis, and Milla Jovovich co-starred in Luc Besson’s fable about a cabdriver of the future who has more than a little in common with “Harry Canyon” from Heavy Metal. Courtesy: Gaumont/Columbia.
CREDITS
Gaumont/Columbia Pictures; Luc Besson, dir.; Besson, Robert Mark Kamen, scr.; John A. Amicarella, Patrice Ledoux, Iain Smith, pro.; Eric Serra, mus.; Thierry Arbogast, cin.; Sylvie Landra, ed.; Dan Weil, prod. design; Ira Gilford, Ron Gress, Michael Lamont, Jim Morahan, Kevin Phipps, art dir.; Jean-Paul Gaultier, costumes; Scott Nicholas Amendolare, model maker; William Aldridge, Nick Allder, Norman Baillie, Neil Corbould, F/X; Thaine Morris, pyrotechnics; Eric Barba, digital artist; Chris Barton, animatronic model designer; Jean Giraud, designer; 126 min.; Color; 2.35:1.
Bruce Willis (Korben Dallas); Gary Oldman (Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg); Ian Holm (Father Vito Cornelius); Milla Jovovich (Leeloo); Chris Tucker (Ruby Rhod); Maïwenn (Diva Plavalaguna); Luke Perry (Billy); Brion James (Gen. Munro); Tommy “Tiny” Lister (Pres. Lindberg); Lee Evans (Fog); Charlie Creed-Miles (David); Tricky (Right Arm); John Neville (Gen. Staedert); John Bluthal (Prof. Pacoli); Christopher Fairbank (Mactilburgh); Kim Chan (Mr. Kim); Sibyl Buck (Zorg’s Secretary); Indra Ové, Nicole Merry, Stacey McKenzie (VIP Stewardesses).
MOST MEMORABLE LINE
Time not important; only life important.
MONDOSHAWAN IN THE 1914 PROLOGUE
BACKGROUND
Luc Besson (1959–) was not, like Lucas or Spielberg (to whom he has been unfairly compared), a “film geek” from childhood. He had hoped to become a marine biologist, an interest that later inspired his 1988 film, The Big Blue. He turned to film at age seventeen after a diving accident dimmed his hopes for an oceanic career.
Yet, the comic books that he devoured in his youth, particularly those of Jean-Claude Mézières (Valérian and Laureline) and Jean “Moebius” Giraud, would prove influential. Both those BD (European graphic novel) avatars were invited to join The Fifth Element team as conceptual designers, though only Giraud’s name made it to the final credits. Mézières was then working on a piece called “Circles of Power,” featuring a flying cabdriver hero. Duly impressed, Besson added this to his script. Digital Domain created the actual airborne congestion seen in the final cut; those visuals are so highly saturated in detail that each of the “cars” has its own individualized license plate for full verisimilitude.
THE PLOT
In 2263, Dallas, a yellow cabbie of the skies, is stunned when a remarkable beauty, Leeloo, crashes through his roof. She will prove to be manna from above in more ways than one, a perfect embodiment of the Fifth Element, which, when combined with the better-known four, creates the necessary defense against evil incarnate that is about to descend on Earth. The hideous-looking but benign Mondoshawans have delivered her to Earth to ensure everyone’s salvation. But their mission may be thwarted by the malevolent shape-shifting Mangalores who have aligned with villainous corporate earthling Zorg. The grubby hero’s intentions initially are romantic, but he’s persuaded by a priest, his former commanding officer, and Leeloo herself that he must accompany bizarro media star Ruby Rhod on a pleasure cruise, where a performance artist holds the key (four mystic tablets) to humankind’s survival.
THE FILM
Despite mixed reviews from mainstream critics, the twenty-four hundred international artists, animators, and craftspeople who are directly involved with onscreen imagery and constitute the Visual Effects Society picked The Fifth Element as one of the fifty most influential cinéma fantastique films. Intellectual French critic Raphaël Bassan has defended Besson and his work on the grounds that such films constitute a legitimate movement, which in 1989, Bassan labeled Cinéma du look—that is, movies attacked for being all style, no substance. In fact, the meticulous attention to onscreen appearances in these films rates as so intense and detailed that the look or style transforms into an alternative substance owing to its very complexity.
THEME
The film, like so many other futurist pieces beginning with Metropolis, works on the level of Christian allegory. In the 1914 prologue, a young scientist, Billy, refers to the force of evil as a “snake act.” The Garden of Eden fable conveys the Hebraic belief that the snake—worshipped as the most wonderful of all animals by pagan sects because of its ability to form a complete circle with its body—is henceforth to be condemned. Throughout the film, circles are visually presented as symbols of evil, including the gigantic force that arrives from outer space. In almost all images featuring the evil earthling Zorg, actor Gary Oldman is framed onscreen within a circle, as are the wicked Mangalores. In contrast, hero Dallas is framed within images that appear to be pyramids. Similar to the one in which the prologue occurs, these pyramids also resemble the six extensions of a Star of David or the similar four pyramids implied by a cross, if straight lines are added to create a kite-like image of noncircular completion.
TRIVIA
Though Besson has claimed that there are no references to previous movies in this film, some sci-fi aficionados insist they note at least two: Willis’s hero shares a last name with Tom Skerritt’s character in Alien, and his character appears to be modeled in both personality and profession on Harry Canyon, the cabdriver in Heavy Metal (1981).
While stopping at a McDonald’s, Dallas spots a police officer who is played by actor Mac McDonald, best known for his work in the BBC sci-fi series Red Dwarf.
The Fifth Element is never actually identified, but instead merely described as something “perfect.” When asked by interviewers, Besson claimed that it is sexual intercourse.
The opera referenced in the Diva’s grand performance is Lucia di Lammermoor.