10 Sci-Fi Movies That Ignored The Critics

10. The Fifth Element

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 71%

Metacritic Score: 52

Luc Besson has not had an easy run from critics throughout his career, and yet every film he makes contains a vibrant and kinetic auteur energy that is impossible to deny. There is perhaps no better example of this than The Fifth Element (1997). Despite a strong response from audiences, critics were very much split, and tended towards the negative in their appraisal of the film.

The first reviews out the gate were generally unfavourable, taking aim at the film's overblown, sometimes slapstick style, centring on Chris Tucker's performance as the loud, camp intergalactic radio host Ruby Rhod and working outwards from there.

Yet, it went on to become a commercial success – the best-selling French film at the international box office until 2011's Intouchables, in fact – and a cult film to boot, revered by fans of the genre to this day.

The Fifth Element inspired such a sea-change that it gradually won critics around post-release, as both they and the fans came to understand and appreciate the film's eccentric stylings. Yet, while critics now regard the film in a generally positive light, they have still yet to fully appreciate it on the same level as its dedicated fanbase.