Year: 1997 Director: Luc Besson Starring: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, and Chris Tucker.

Luc Besson’s 1997 technicolor fever dream is neither of those things. It is loud, messy, chaotic, impossibly stylish, and utterly glorious. If you grew up in the 90s, this movie was likely a staple of your weekend VHS rotation. If you are discovering it for the first time in 2024, you are in for a wild ride.

Here is why, nearly 30 years later, The Fifth Element remains the ultimate sci-fi comfort food. Let’s start with the obvious: the look of this film. Designed by legendary comic artists Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières, the world of The Fifth Element is a beautiful collision of the ancient and the futuristic.