The Fifth Element
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) | Release Date: May 9, 1997 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
9
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
The cast is a delight, but it's Willis who is the film's true "fifth element," giving it life, depth and humanity. Read full review
80
Washington PostRita Kempley
An entertaining tangle of pop aesthetic and comic book myth that occasionally bogs down, but manages to be ingratiating for all its defects. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Although the film tends to suffer from a severe case of overt preachiness in the third reel (shades of James Cameron's "The Abyss"), it's still a wonderfully visual, exciting ride. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
What an attempt, and what a work of the imagination. The Fifth Element' will change the look of science fiction and will probably be imitated for years. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's ludicrous, but it's fun. Besson is a filmmaker so in love with his own daffy excesses that he's able to pull us, laughing, right into his world of loony pop. [9 May 1997]
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I would not have missed seeing this film, and I recommend it for its richness of imagery. But at 127 minutes, which seems a reasonable length, it plays long. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Too long by half, burdened with shabby F/X and offering up some seriously weird performances, this pricy foray into science fiction is a muddle of miscues and narrative bloat--along with a lot of frivolous fun. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
There’s so much high-voltage fun running throughout this comic sci-fantasy -- engineered gleefully by director Luc Besson -- you’re hard-pressed to be unaffected. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The future-shock details are witty, the sets and skyscapes spectacular. Besson may not be a good director, exactly, but he's a wizard at retrofitting cliches. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The movie unreels like a depressive in a manic phase, a frenzy of lightning-fast cuts, cuts, cuts. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The action is fast, furious, and as wacky as science fantasy gets. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
As a yammering, swishy talk show host, Chris Tucker is flat-out incomprehensible, while Mr. Oldman preens evilly enough to leave tooth marks on the scenery. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Besson may have misfired with The Fifth Element, but at least he does it with flair and a sense of humor. Read full review
50
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
But for all the fancy-schmancy effects (budget: $90 million-plus), the vision of a hypercongested metropolis is not much more sophisticated than an episode of "The Jetsons." [9 May 1997]
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
This is a prodigious something. It's just difficult to say whether that something is good or evil. Read full review
50
Film ThreatJimmy Chertkow
The story is such a cut-rate kid's sci-fi fairy tale that at one point Evil actually calls Gary Oldman on the phone (and it isn't played for laughs). Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
It's all densely imagined and more than a little goofy -- perhaps too goofy for the average American viewer. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Ultimately a mess of diverse ingredients that sorely could have used a rigorous screening process to eliminate all the chaff. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverPeter Rainer
With Besson, it's all eye candy; despite all of his mythic posturing, his loop-the-loop camera moves and in-your-face fandangos are the true substance of his films. And that's not much substance. He's a dry-hump orgiast. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
Even the revelation of what the fifth element is at the end is disingenuous--in fact, the archness of this whole project is repellent. Read full review
20
SlateDavid Edelstein
It may or may not be the worst movie ever made, but it is one of the most unhinged. Read full review
10
SalonScott Rosenberg
As you sit through the interminable two-hours-plus that constitute The Fifth Element -- a colossally stupid, overbearingly pompous new movie by Luc Besson -- you can expect to become acquainted with boredom on the most elemental level. Read full review
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