The Fifth Element (1997)

Police: Are you classified as human?  Korben Dallas: Negative, I am a meat popsicle. 

So what happens when you cross a meat popsicle with aliens, crazy industrialist/ wanna be dictator, the 23rd century,  and the object of perfection?  Arguably Luc Besson's greatest movie ever.  In 1997 Luc got Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Milla Jovovich, Chris Tucker, and Tommy 'Tiny' Lister along with a cameo from Luke Perry (back when he had 90210 fame) for this roller coaster ride of a movie.
At the start of this flick we find out that the pyramids were built by aliens to house humanities last hope against... something.  Fast forward from the 20th century to the 23rd and the aliens are coming back to protect humanity when they are attacked and the weapon stolen.  Well add some science and cgi to the mix and they bring to life Milla Jovovich who can't speak a word of English.  She escapes and runs into Korban Dallas, or as he refers to himself as a meat popsicle.  Played by none other than Bruce Willis, Korban is an ex military black ops, recently divorced, smoking, one liner popping hero.  Some might see it as cliche, but we all know it equals pure AWESOME.  So hero meets Milla, or after much gibberish, Leeloo.  So they get chased, and chased some more, the military reinstates Korban to help solve the problem that he's already in the middle of, enter Ruby Rhod, the crazy DJ (one entertaining Chris Tucker) and the crazy industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, played by Oldman himself, and the movie just keeps going.  Jokes, puns, crazy awesome action and all stars at their best just makes this a thrill ride of all thrill rides.  It is Sci Fi action the way it was meant to be.  All story gets explained, some major themes running through the movie about love, war, the meaning/purpose of life all leading to the big question, is humanity worth saving?
Roger Ebert gave it 3 stars out of 4 saying "I would not have missed seeing this film, and I recommend it for its richness of imagery."  For me it is one of those movies that carefully balances the heavy emotion with humor leaving you feeling good at the end.  It is also one of those movies that make an hour and a half feel like two or three with the amount of stuff that goes on durning the movie.  It also maintains the quick, urgent pacing well with no real slow downs to give you the sense of urgency and impending danger.  Most movies fail at this and will have a fast pace that's interrupted by some lovey dovey scene in the middle.  There is slow parts, but they are logically placed (there's no way to really make a 3 hour space jump fast paced unless the bad guys are there on the ship. 

So I give this flick 5 out of 5 stars for excellent plot, graphics, quality, and of course the great cast and multipass.  This movie is  a excellent pick any day of the week.
The Fifth Element at IMDB