What do you get when you take a generous helping of The Fifth Element, a bit of Jupiter Ascending, and throw in a dash of just about every SciFi/Fantasy flick of the last twenty years? You get Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. And I don't mean that to be derogatory in any way. For years I've been lamenting that Hollywood never does anything new and with Valerian it has. I was truly and completely captivated and entertained by this flick and felt it was very much worth the price of admission. How often can you really say that these days?
Certain reviews have labeled it a hot mess, and yes, it's heavy on special effects—at times almost to the point of being overwhelming—but unlike certain other films (cough, Star Wars prequels, cough) I didn't feel they detracted from the story. I couldn't tell were CGI left off and practical effects began; a testament to the degree of technical expertise exhibited in the film. The aliens—as in The Fifth Element—were amazing. The actors' performances—while not exemplary—were at least convincing, and that's more than be said for a lot of recent films. This is really one of those movies that deserves to be seen on the big screen—as increasingly unpleasant as that experience has become.
And if nothing else it was a three hour escape from all things Trump.
The soundtrack ain't bad either…
Thanks for the good words! I'm going tonight!
We saw it tonight and (audience aside), enjoyed it immensely.