Willis plays the former soldier turned taxi driver in The Fifth Element, a role that puts an American action lead inside a maximalist European science fiction comedy. He plays it entirely straight, which is the only approach that works: the film is absurd, and his refusal to acknowledge that gives it a centre.
He came to prominence through an American television comedy drama before an action film redefined the genre by making its hero vulnerable, frightened and outnumbered. He worked across comedy, action and drama for four decades, including significant collaborations with several major directors, and he retired from acting in 2022 following a diagnosis of aphasia later identified as frontotemporal dementia.
Recurring subjects: reluctance, ordinary men who keep going because nobody else will, and humour delivered under physical duress. He plays exhaustion and irritation better than triumph, and his action work established the template of the hero who bleeds, complains and improvises rather than dominating.
His action lead of the late nineteen eighties reshaped the genre, replacing the invulnerable protagonist with a fallible one, and its influence is visible in almost every action film since. His work with several auteur directors demonstrates a range his franchise roles tend to obscure.
For viewers who want action heroes who are outmatched. Suited to anyone approaching the science fiction comedy, and to those who know the action franchise and not the dramatic work alongside it.
