Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Review

Here’s an example of another film that peaked my interest with the trailers but given Luc Besson’s recent reputation (Lucy, The Family, Arthur and the Invisibles) does Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets reach the heights of Besson’s earlier material like Le Femme Nikita or The Fifth Element?

Based on the comics by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières, the plot follows Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan from The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and his partner Sergeant Laureline (Carla Delevigne from Suicide Squad), intergalactic space agents who go on various missions that lead them from a virtual market on a desert planet to space station Alpha, (think of it as New York or San Francisco in space) and discovering an unknown alien race on the brink of extinction.

This is a movie feels like a Wachowski picture (Jupiter Ascending, The Matrix Trilogy) in which pretty visual aren’t enough to salvage a rather dull sci-fi flick. Valeiran is your generic cocky protagonist who is full of himself but good at his field of work while Laureline is a bland love interest with the same level of emotion as Jyn Erso in Rogue One,making her previous role in Suicide Squad more memorable. We’re supposed to find their love/hate banter cute and funny except neither have a spark of chemistry for us to be invested in. Other principle actors include Clive Owen as a space general who from the moment he appears onscreen you know he’s the bad guy and Ethan Hawke who takes a cue from Chris Tucker role’s in The Fifth Element in a bizarre role that  isn't too over-the-top but is still weird to watch.

Speaking of which, the one standout in all this is Rihanna as a shape-shifting alien performer name Bubble. After a peculiar dance number, she surprisingly livens up the movie that for a split second I began to enjoy this only for it to be cut short as she doesn’t stay for that long. When Rihanna is the bright spot of a film you know something is amidst. The mysterious aliens are another interesting aspects of the movie but like Rihanna they aren’t in for that long but at least they have more screen time. Some of the action is cool especially a scene where Valerian races through the station’s sectors each with a different environment. Other than that the movie is a dull watch, that doesn’t have enough of the good elements for me to care about it.