Gear up for Besson’s crazed sci-fi ‘Fifth Element’

Above : Ian Holm, Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich star in the 1997 sci-fi movie “The Fifth Element.” (Photo/Columbia Pictures)

Science fiction is never better than when it’s rendered in a crazed state.

Well, “better” might be a stretch. It’s probably more accurate to use the term “entertaining.” And certainly much of what the French director Luc Besson has churned out over the past four decades has been that.

Nothing the filmmaker has done, though, is more crazed than his 1997 sci-fi fantasy/adventure “The Fifth Element.”

In honor (if that’s the correct word) of the film’s 35th anniversary, it will screen both Sunday and Wednesday at the area Regal Cinemas theaters at Northtown Mall and Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone Stadium.

All screenings will be at 3 and 7 p.m.

The movie, which was both conceived and directed by Besson – though he cowrote the screenplay with Robert Mark Kamen – involves a McGuffin in the shape of Milla Jovovich. It is she who comprises the element of the film’s title and the key weapon to protect Earth from the re-emergence of something referred to as The Great Evil.

Jovovich is joined by Bruce Willis as her rogue/loser, at-first reluctant protector, while Gary Oldman is cast as their arch foe and several other stars fill various roles – including the late Ian Holm, not to mention Chris Tucker as an irritatingly loud talk-show host.

Not every critic was/is a fan. Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “Narratively challenged, visually monotonous and aurally overpowering, ‘The Fifth Element’ is a staggering accretion of all the wrong elements and some rather dopey ones as well.”

Which seems fair. But, then, so does the reaction of the late, great Roger Ebert , who wrote, “One of the great goofy movies – a film so preposterous I wasn’t surprised to discover it was written by a teenage boy.”

He’s referring to Besson, who apparently first dreamed up the movie at age 16 – the perfect age in which to dream up all sorts of crazed scenarios.

Especially those featuring a barely clad Milla Jovovich .