It is based on a French science fiction comic book series, Valérian and Laureline, written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières. The comic book series ran from 1967 to 2010. Besson was a huge fan in his youth.
Many centuries into the future Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Sergeant Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are elite security operatives of the United Human Federation. Their latest mission will take them to Alpha, a giant city in space inhabited by thousands of species from different planets.
We have already found out in the opening sequences that Alpha had been a space station orbiting the Earth but due to its growing size it was blasted into space.
And we also know that in the recent past the planet Mül was destroyed. It was home to a peaceful humanoid species. We know about Mül because of Valerian’s dream. Which might have been more than a dream.
Mül was also home a strange little animal with remarkable properties. We know this animal is important and we know the pearl is important but we don’t know why they’re important.
There is is something wrong on Alpha. An inexplicable radioactive dead zone is slowly expanding and threatens the city’s existence. Security personnel have sent to investigate. None have come back alive. That’s why Valérian and Laureline were sent there.
Aliens have attacked Alpha and taken its commander prisoner. Valérian and Laureline have to retrieve him. This will involve a great deal of action and excitement and danger, and also mystery. Part of the mystery is hidden in the files that nobody but the commander can access.
This film suffers from some of the same flaws as Besson’s earlier science fiction extravaganza, The Fifth Element. The plot loses direction as Besson focuses too much on visual coolness, and he just offers us too much visual coolness. He just keeps throwing too many new cool visual ideas at us.
The lengthy subplot involving pop diva Rihanna as a shape-shifting stripper is an unnecessary distraction should have been cut. She can’t act, it’s too silly and it slows things down. The movie ends up being half an hour too long.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets suffered from the same problem as Disney’s John Carter a few years earlier. Both movies did quite well at the box office but they were both so expensive that they still ended up losing a lot of money. It’s a broken financial model, that makes it too risky to make blockbusters that are in any way original.
I did like the two leads. They’re likeable and we care about them. I like that Valérian is allowed to be a brave masculine hero rather than inept male who needs a Strong Competent Woman to rescue him. I like the fact that for most part Laureline is an old-fashioned Feisty Heroine rather than a girlboss. Valérian is her commander and she doesn’t constantly undermine him. Laureline is also allowed at times to behave like a woman. She doesn’t come across as a female character who could just as easily have been written as a male character.
I liked their relationship. He wants to marry her. She isn’t sure. It’s increasingly obvious that she loves him but she needs to be convinced that he’s ready for marriage. Marriage is something she takes seriously.
This is a much more successful film than The Fifth Element, partly because Gary Oldman and Chris Tucker are not in it. It isn’t ruined by incredibly annoying characters.
The best thing about it is that it has no connection to Star Wars or Star Trek or Marvel comics.
While it needed to be trimmed just a little Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a lot of fun. Highly recommended.
I’ve also reviewed some of the Valérian and Laureline comics - Valerian The Complete Collection vol 1. In the comics they travel through time a lot but for a standalone movie I think Besson made a wise decision in dropping that angle. The comics are fun!
And I've reviewed Besson's two great early movies, Léon: The Professional (1994) and La Femme Nikita (1990).
No comments:
Post a Comment