If you know anything about Luc Besson, then you know that he is a fantastic genre director. He is well versed in the spy thriller, science fiction and drama genre and can pull them off brilliantly. Now, since he grew up with the comic series that this is based on; you would think it would be his magnum opus right? Well....
The Story - 5.5/10
The story follows Valerian and Laureline, who are two secret agents sent out for missions around the galaxy. In this particular instance, a huge space station known as Alpha is under threat from an unknown source. This is most troubling due to the fact that it holds hundreds upon hundreds of secrets, from hundreds upon hundreds of species. Now this should be a very simple premise to work with, but the film has pacing issues and needless twists and turns that it overcomplicates things. The progression of events doesn't make any sense and we aren't given that much reason to care. We aren't able to grasp the severity of the situation, because there are no reasons to do; aside from the fact hundreds of thousands of species live there. It also hops from planet to planet exactly like Rogue One and this presents pacing and time progression issues. The types of issues that you will always be bugged about throughout the film. But to give credit where credit is due, the film did try to portray a nice message. The fact that we can coexist, it is done through the beginning and meeting all the aliens and also the USSR. But this is brushed over and forgotten rather quickly so that is where it falters.
The Characters - 4/10
Dane Dehaan plays the titular character of Valerian and he is terrible. His acting is so deadpan and lifeless that you are bored throughout the entirety of the film. It doesn't help that many of his lines are cheesy and poorly written. Him and Cara Delevingne are meant to be the ones to carry the film, and they fail miserably. There is also an annoying plot point of him always trying to marry Laureline and it is completely pointless. He is extremely bland, shares little chemistry with his counterpart and we have no reason to care.
Cara Delevingne plays Laureline, Valerian's partner. She is just as bad as Dehaan, in that her acting is deadpan and lifeless. She has such a vacant expression and vocal tone that you start to care as little she does. Also another thing that I found disturbing (though it's more than likely just me), I originally thought that they were brother and sister. I mean they behave the same and have similar facial features. This was quite daunting when Valerian makes all of these advances. She essentially is as invested in the situation as Valerian is.
The Action - 6/10
One thing that I will comment on is the visual style of the film. It is unbelievably beautiful to look at, extremely creative and was admirable. But when the action of the film is concerned, it's decent. It's nothing spectacular but you also won't rant about how bad it is. That is essentially all that needs to be said about the action, it's fast paced, provides some thrills but won't leave you gasping for air.
Conclusion
This is an utter disappointment from Luc Besson. This is something you will want to skip this movie season. If you want a really riveting film experience, go and watch Dunkirk.
I am giving this a 5.5/10
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