Primarily set in the 23rd century, the film's central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Willis), a taxicab driver and former special forces major, after a young woman (Jovovich) falls into his cab.

To accomplish this, Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defence of Earth against the impending attack of a malevolent cosmic entity.

He hired comic artists Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières, whose books inspired parts of the film, for production design.

The Mondoshawans' current human contact on Earth, priest Vito Cornelius, informs the president of the Federated Territories of the great evil's history and the weapon that can stop it.

From this, the government uses biotechnology to recreate the original occupant of the sarcophagus, a humanoid woman named Leeloo, who remembers her previous life.

Alarmed by the unfamiliar surroundings and high security, she escapes and jumps off a ledge, crashing into the flying taxicab of Korben Dallas, a former major in Earth's special forces.

[9] Brian Ott and Eric Aoki writing in the feminist journal Women's Studies in Communication considered gender to be one of the film's central themes.

The authors criticized the film for erasing women from the introductory scenes, noting that only two appear in the first 20 minutes: an androgynous, mostly speechless presidential aide and Leeloo, undergoing reconstruction.

When females appear in the film, they are presented as passive objects, such as the sexualised flight and McDonald's attendants, or stripped of their femininity, such as the "butch" Major Iceborg.

Except for Tiny Lister's portrayal of the president, Brandt said that all males in the film were shown as unmanly as possible in various ways, such as Ruby Rhod's effeminacy, Vito Cornelius's clumsy form of speech, and General Munro's stupidity; their purpose was to make Korben's masculinity appear "god-like" by comparison.

[11] In the book The Films of Luc Besson, Susan Hayward considered The Fifth Element to be a classic story of a man "making his break from the tribe, proving his manhood, overthrowing the malevolent forces, and killing the chief, finally to reap the rewards of security and marriage".

[14] Hayward said the film was skeptical of capitalist consumerism, in so far as the gadgets Zorg collected in his office suggested that he had an unhealthy obsession for technology.

[16] The original story was set in the year 2300 and was about a "nobody" named Zaltman Bleros (later renamed Korben Dallas), who wins a trip to the Club Med resort on the planet Fhloston Paradise in the Angel constellation.

[21] Mézières had designed The Circles of Power (1994), which contains a character named S'Traks, who drives a flying taxicab through the congested air of the vast metropolis on the planet Rubanis.

During this time, Besson approached both Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson for the lead role, and also considered Julia Roberts for Leeloo.

[44] Besson demanded that most of the action shots take place in broad daylight, as he was reportedly tired of the dark spaceship corridors and dimly lit planets common in science-fiction films, and wanted a brighter, "cheerfully crazy" look as opposed to a gloomy, realistic one.

[47] Jovovich's costume worn from when her character was first revived was inspired by typical hospital dressing and bandages that provided minimal modesty.

[10] Musician Prince was originally cast to portray Rhod, but could not schedule filming around his Jam of the Year World Tour dates.

[58] Motion-control cameras moved throughout the scale sets, and the data they collected were exported to track and generate the computer animation and particle systems.

He relies chiefly on the use of orchestral textures, such as the oboe and strings heard as the surgeons prepare to regenerate Leeloo, and the pizzicato as she is reconstructed.

Serra also used many non-French influences, such as the Stalinist fanfare heard before the spaceport sequence, the reggae piece played in preparation for the flight, and the hula music that greets the passengers as they arrive in Fhloston.

[63] More conventional scoring techniques are present in the leitmotif that first sounds when Professor Pacoli mentions the fifth element, the militaristic snares as the warship prepares to attack the dark planet, and the Mahlerian funereal piece heard when Leeloo learns about war.

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times described the film as an "elaborate, even campy sci-fi extravaganza, which is nearly as hard to follow as last year's Mission: Impossible."

The site's consensus reads: "Visually inventive and gleefully over the top, Luc Besson's The Fifth Element is a fantastic piece of pop sci-fi that never takes itself too seriously.

[96] Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean Giraud sued Besson after the film was released, claiming The Fifth Element had plagiarised their comic The Incal.

The case was dismissed in 2004 on the grounds that only "tiny fragments" of the comic had been used[97] and Giraud had been hired by Besson to work on the film before the allegations were made.

[104] Doug Perry from IGN wrote: "Take Tomb Raider, add in Leeloo Multipass and boring puzzles, and you've got Fifth Element.

[128] Ben Williams from Blu-ray.com stated the remastered version "absolutely" made up for the substandard initial release, and praised its high video and audio quality; however, he criticised the continued lack of special features.

Lavish visuals and entertaining performances from Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, and Gary Oldman make this movie worth watching.

"[136] In some circles, the film has gained a "so-bad-it's-good" status; Meredith Woerner of io9 listed The Fifth Element as one of "The 20 Best Worst Science-Fiction Movies of All Time.