Member review

20 years ago, Luc Besson released the Fifth Element, a critically acclaimed sci-fi action movie. Now, in 2017, the French director releases Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, based on the French comics series, Valerian and Laureline.

This is not as good as The Fifth Element. However, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets still remains to be an exciting visual delight, albeit with script weaknesses.

When I say visual delight, I mean it. If you've seen any of the trailers, you will definitely agree with me when I say that this film is absolutely LUSH. Luc Besson is so good at using computer generated imagery to build layers to such original worlds, and this definitely pioneers visual effects. I do not think there is a single shot where there is not some sort of magnificent visual treat on display, and yet you barely even notice it. Even when there are multiples of effects layers, they fit seamlessly and create eye candy. There is an emphasis on space-blue, aqua green, various shades of brown and yellow and pink. I could go on forever, but you get the gist: I could look at this movie all day (which I won't, because I've got holiday packing to do, but still, I could)

Also, the film really gives you the sense that you are on an adventure. We are travelling galaxies, different planets, like us ourselves our NASA scientists and astronauts discovering an entirely new part of the universe we never knew existed. Also, the action scenes offer some really high adrenaline, coupled with some great comic timing, visual nuggets, and a pounding score, and you have an entertaining adventure.

However, this is just the general aesthetic of the film, which if I was judging the film sorely on, it would automatically get a 10/10. Unfortunately, certain narrative elements do definitely need working on, and this is to a bigger extent than I was anticipating.

My biggest problem it's this film is that the main story itself of what's going on on Alpha is far too short and simplistic to stretch into 130 minutes. So the movie decides to clog up to the runtime with pointless filler that means zilch to the core plot. Everything from the 55-minute mark to the 90-minute mark (i.e all of the stuff with the randomly placed Rihanna) is just little scrapes and shenanigans that do suffer from a lack of threat or significance. You can remove this entire section of the film and I swear you are missing nothing of massive importance.

The storyline also isn't told necessarily well. I found the first 25 minutes to be very cluttered and disorganised, and it was only the third act that I thought greatly improved it.

Also, my other problem is with the main character, Valerian.

Not necessarily with the character, but with the actor, Dane DeHaan.

He isn't bad, it's just this character needed someone with a higher calibre as well as a slightly older age to really make the character work. Plus, Dane DeHaan's facial expressions give off the feeling that he could fall asleep in 10 minutes. There were some elements of the film that were lacking, and unfortunately, he wasn't great enough to elevate them.

However, his co-star Cara Delevingne, really added some thing to her character and was fantastic in the role. In fact, I would go as far as to say she was the main character of this movie instead of Dane DeHaan's Valerian.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets offers its audience a beautiful, deeply layered visual world that keeps delivering and a great fast-moving adventure feel. It's just a shame the script can't elevate that, as with unnecessarily filler, a below-average lead, and a sometimes chaotic narrative does diminish it from being great to just... well, quite good. This is definitely something for fans of Luc Besson and The Fifth Element, just don't go in expecting a perfect experience. Expect a visual heaven, and you will get one.

I will give Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets a 7/10.