Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

I've long been a fan of writer/director Luc Besson, especially his films Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element. When I saw the first trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets I was immediately psyched. I knew I had to see this movie based on the stunning visuals alone. Does the finished film live up to the early promise of those trailers, along with Besson's previous films? Yes and no, sadly. There is a lot to love with this movie, but it does have a couple flaws as well. 

The City of a Thousand Planets started from humble beginnings as a Space Station of Earth, but slowly grew as more countries contributed to it until one day it had it's first alien visitors. From there, other aliens came too and station became a place for different beings to come together to share ideas and technology with one another. Eventually, the station grew too large to remain in Earth's orbit and was sent off into space, becoming it's own city known as Alpha. The city is home to thirty million residents of over a thousand different planets, each with their own specialty that contributes to the functioning of the city. Hidden among the city residents are the last surviving residents of destroyed planet Mul and they are in danger because the person responsible for the destruction of the planet is seeking to wipe them out as the last witnesses to what happened. Tasked with finding out who that is and stopping them is Major Valerian (played by Dane DeHaan) and his partner Sergeant Laureline (played by Cara Delevingne). 

Luc Besson wrote and directed the film, based on the comics by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres, and brings it's universe wonderfully to life with some of the most dazzling and imaginative imagery I've seen on screen in a long, long time. It is very much in the same style as Besson's The Fifth Element in it's design, but on steroids (which makes sense since the Valerian and Laureline comics heavily influenced that film). In the well worn era of science fiction, Besson and his crew manage to come up with some genuinely imaginative visuals. There are some unique action sequences to, such as an extended action sequence where Valerian and Laureline have to infiltrate a giant marketplace, which exists in a seperate dimension, but through special glasses and trans-dimensional box, they are able to interact with the marketplace to retrieve an important object. It's a wild concept and something I greatly enjoyed seeing play out on screen. There is another sequence that is a chase through the city that really shows how this patchwork came together as Valerian is running through walls and running on top of various tunnels. Besson's unique, candy-colored style for this film more than anything is what people will remember. 

Where the film falters is the storyline. It's not overly original and not something we haven't seen before. I didn't mind it so much because the film did sweep me up into everything fairly easily. But looking back, there isn't much there that I haven't seen elsewhere. The film certainly has a great cast starting with it's two leads, Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. There is a problem with the two of them together though as Valerian and Laureline are supposed to be a romantic couple in addition to working partners but I never once bought that they were in the slightest bit in love with one another as Dane and Cara have exactly zero chemistry with one another. Valerian states at one point in the film he is ready to settle down with Laureline but she doubts him and I did to because there was absolutely nothing between them. It wasn't enough to wreck the movie for me, but it was a decided problem. I liked Dane and Cara a lot as their characters but they just didn't seem that romantically inclined. Then again, romantic subplots were never Luc Besson's strong suit to begin with. I never really bought Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich as a romantic couple in The Fifth Element either, aside from some initial lusting from Willis when he first meets Jovovich's character. 

The film has a rather nice supporting cast that includes Clive Owen as Valerian and Laureline's commanding officer, Rihanna as a shapeshifting alien dancer who performs a private show for Valerian that was nothing short of mind-blowing. Much to my surprise Ethan Hawke pops up as the owner of the club she performs in. The film is also populated with countless alien species, all brought wonderfully to life by the various actors voicing them as well as the special effects pros creating the assorted creatures. More than anything, I think it's the assortment and depth of characters presented throughout the film that had me more engaged than anything. As a fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, this was definitely well within my wheelhouse.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets disappointingly did not do well at the U.S box office, coming in at fourth place, which is a shame because despite it's faults I really did enjoy this film quite a bit. Yes, the plot may not have been the most original and the romantic chemistry between the leads was lacking but there is so much imagination on screen that despite it all this film really was breathtaking. That alone makes me want to recommend it as worth seeing on the big screen. It's a big, fun and wild Sci-Fi ride and it knows it too. It never takes itself too seriously and is content with just being great entertainment. As a summer movie, you can't ask for much more.