By Nadia Ranaputri
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke.
Luc Besson's latest can be many things, spectacular spectacles or mind-boggling canvas with potential. However, it is anything but The Fifth Element.
Based on the French comic book by Pierre Christin and illustrator Jean-Claude Mézières, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets takes place in the distant future, where propelled by a rescue mission for a pearl-producing creature; DeHaan's Agent Valerian and Delevigne's Agent Laureline are on a race against time to stop an oncoming dark force that threatens to wipe out their world.
Valerian, as mentioned before, is a mind-boggling canvas. It's lightly sprinkled with that Fifth Element aspect, and you can say that it's just as ambitious, but beyond its visual spectacle, it's mostly bland. Think of it like this: it's a meal you get at a restaurant that looks mouth-watering or mesmerizing in terms of presentation, but once you start to devour said meal, it isn't as good as you expected it to be. That's what Valerian is. Much like the Wachowskis' Jupiter Ascending, it is a fine visual spectacle that seems to be more consistent than its muddled story.
If anything, it's the actors that should elevate the film should the story falter. Unfortunately, they don't. DeHaan, whose always proved to be a fantastic actor despite a faltering story; isn't doing much of a favor in Valerian. As the lead, there's nothing really interesting to dive in to from his character. His performance here lags far behind from his other fantastic roles. It lacks charisma, charm, and even some effort in selling the role of a badass space agent. When the lead isn't getting some rooting from the audience, something is definitely wrong. Not to mention his dwindling chemistry with Cara Delevigne, who's fairing much better in her role than DeHaan.
Valerian has plenty of interesting concepts presented in their runtime, yet it has such a rapid pace that you might as well forget about them. It even has the tendency to slow down for moments of flirtation between DeHaan and Delevigne, which add nothing beyond clichèd lines and lack of inflamable chemistry. There is no sense of reason as to why we should care about them, or their chemistry, even. There's nothing wrong with getting your story going, but if you're focusing on all the wrong places, then the film has every right to collapse upon itself.
But you have to give kudos to Luc Besson on creating a unique world that he'd been waiting years to bring to life. Having one hell of a color palette that's visually unique, Valerian isn't short on wonder, and their world bursts with immersive color, like a candy filling that bursts with flavor.
Ambitious on one-part, yet lackluster on the other, Valerian and the City of Thousand Planets has the outmost clear potential of being better than how it turned out to be. It could be a spectacle space romp for the ages, but its sense of an actual space adventure is overshadowed by its faltering story and its characters. Visual wise, it is really something to behold. Beyond that, its story, its sense of adventure, and even its characters, are the crumbling pieces beneath it.
Stars: 2.6/5
Trailer
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| Source: freehauleralcione.com |
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke.
Luc Besson's latest can be many things, spectacular spectacles or mind-boggling canvas with potential. However, it is anything but The Fifth Element.
Based on the French comic book by Pierre Christin and illustrator Jean-Claude Mézières, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets takes place in the distant future, where propelled by a rescue mission for a pearl-producing creature; DeHaan's Agent Valerian and Delevigne's Agent Laureline are on a race against time to stop an oncoming dark force that threatens to wipe out their world.
Valerian, as mentioned before, is a mind-boggling canvas. It's lightly sprinkled with that Fifth Element aspect, and you can say that it's just as ambitious, but beyond its visual spectacle, it's mostly bland. Think of it like this: it's a meal you get at a restaurant that looks mouth-watering or mesmerizing in terms of presentation, but once you start to devour said meal, it isn't as good as you expected it to be. That's what Valerian is. Much like the Wachowskis' Jupiter Ascending, it is a fine visual spectacle that seems to be more consistent than its muddled story.
 |
| Source: Entertainment.ie |
If anything, it's the actors that should elevate the film should the story falter. Unfortunately, they don't. DeHaan, whose always proved to be a fantastic actor despite a faltering story; isn't doing much of a favor in Valerian. As the lead, there's nothing really interesting to dive in to from his character. His performance here lags far behind from his other fantastic roles. It lacks charisma, charm, and even some effort in selling the role of a badass space agent. When the lead isn't getting some rooting from the audience, something is definitely wrong. Not to mention his dwindling chemistry with Cara Delevigne, who's fairing much better in her role than DeHaan.
Valerian has plenty of interesting concepts presented in their runtime, yet it has such a rapid pace that you might as well forget about them. It even has the tendency to slow down for moments of flirtation between DeHaan and Delevigne, which add nothing beyond clichèd lines and lack of inflamable chemistry. There is no sense of reason as to why we should care about them, or their chemistry, even. There's nothing wrong with getting your story going, but if you're focusing on all the wrong places, then the film has every right to collapse upon itself.
 |
| Source: kinoarena.com |
But you have to give kudos to Luc Besson on creating a unique world that he'd been waiting years to bring to life. Having one hell of a color palette that's visually unique, Valerian isn't short on wonder, and their world bursts with immersive color, like a candy filling that bursts with flavor.
Ambitious on one-part, yet lackluster on the other, Valerian and the City of Thousand Planets has the outmost clear potential of being better than how it turned out to be. It could be a spectacle space romp for the ages, but its sense of an actual space adventure is overshadowed by its faltering story and its characters. Visual wise, it is really something to behold. Beyond that, its story, its sense of adventure, and even its characters, are the crumbling pieces beneath it.
Stars: 2.6/5
Trailer
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