Luc Besson apparently started working on The Fifth Element back in high school, a full 22 years before the movie's release. It's impressive that after all that time, instead of producing a sanded-down and boring vision of the future, what he managed to bring to the big screen was something genuinely unique: a fun and bright future.

The Fifth Element places you smack in the middle of the future, in an instantly recognizable New York. Instead of a cyberpunk or grimdark future, we get a used and optimistic one. You can tell people live here, and that the world extends far beyond what we see. Like Star Wars, you get the sense that even without the viewer—or even the protagonists—the world would continue to exist.

Starring Bruce Willis, doing his best impression of a put-upon working stiff, just a guy trying to get by. Like Die Hard, it works for him here. He plays Corbin Dallas, a cab driver, veteran, and war hero. Through a stroke of luck, a beautiful young woman crashes through the roof of his taxi. This woman, Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich, is the perfect weapon, designed to combat an ancient evil. Helped along the way by a priest, played by Ian Holm, and a popular DJ, played by Chris Tucker, this unlikely team travels across the galaxy trying to protect Leeloo from Zorg, a bloodthirsty capitalist who is helping the ancient evil.

That's a mouthful. It sounds like something a kid, maybe even a smart kid, would slap together, sketching it out in a notebook in the middle of history class. But it works. Everyone has chemistry. Bruce and Milla, Bruce and Ian, Ian and Chris—each potential pairing works together so well. The world is colorful and unique, and though it feels familiar, this future feels new and vast. This is a future begging to be revisited time and time again.

Besson's direction is at its best here. The action is easy to follow, fun, funny when the scene calls for it, and everyone involved is clearly game for whatever the movie asks of them. This movie shares DNA with Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and the very best buddy-cop films.

It's hard to gush about this movie because nothing about it is really new. It didn't break any new ground in story, storytelling, action, or setting. The MacGuffin is predictable, if not outright cliché. If anything, the movie is a little overstuffed, but Besson keeps it moving. The cast works together well, and the score is a little all over the place. This movie is a great example of being more than the sum of its parts.

I'm glad I saw this in theaters, and I haven't passed up an opportunity to see it on the big screen whenever an anniversary rerelease comes around.