Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets [DVD] [2017]

Sci-Fi, for those who love it, has to only meet minimal criteria. Writing: spend dollars on a credible story that keeps the audience wondering and adheres to some logical (even if only internal) explanation. This was messy, eventually unsatisfying, although it adheres to the comic book. But, I'll watch awful 50s Sci-Fi repeatedly, so I'm an easy sell. Characters: You've got to love the characters. The need to have some serious commitment to their story or else I won't believe it, either. Big miss. Spending money on actors who bring credibility makes a difference. The leads were cute. Chewbaca was cute, too. ET was cute. Not going to carry a movie alone. Careers may have ended here. Special effects. Now a necessity, these alone won't sell a movie. These were wonderful, often unique, but ultimately, not enough. Disappointing, frustrating, and not a very compelling re-watch. So much promise, so close, and yet, production money spent on all the wrong things.Too bad. I'm going to give it 3 stars, because it wasn't Battlefield Earth bad. It is watchable Sci-Fi for the die hard fan, dazzling and noisy. Not much else.

I have been a big fan of this director since 'The Professional', so I eagerly looked forward to this new release. I was thinking it might be just another space adventure, I did like 'The Fifth Element'. But I think this movie was less over the top with its characters, and the movie focused on, and stayed close to telling a special tale. The films plot had to move in a linear way to better serve the tale which begins as somewhat of a mystery. We begin the film on a very strange planet, a paradise that's about to be destroyed, The films story, though sometime meandering at times, was always visually entertaining and was well executed. I also liked the young cast members, and I hope that this movie has a sequel, because this cast worked well on screen. I recommend the movie and it was visually stunning at times in 4K.

I enjoyed the visuals in this movie and made the worlds feel alive and the cgi was well done. However in terms of the acting I was not a huge fan of the lead the movie was named after. Which is a shame because I thought the actor was fantastic in Lawless years back. I felt like the way he approached the character did not match the characteristics of what was written. It seemed to be written like a one liner classic James Bond type but was played off like a tough guy Solid Snake type. As for the story it was nothing special either. It became a movie where everything coincidentally comes together for plot purposes at times. Wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the movie picking it up but I will say I did enjoy it much more than I thought I would.

Let me first say that the Special Effects were a blast and that was the best part of the movie. The acting was subpar, but then again who is expecting Oscar material here, right? The "leading man" aka Dane DeHaan was a complete miscast. Not quite on level with Jesse Eisenberg in BvS, but VERY, VERY close. There are reviewers stating no chemistry between the leads and I place that blame on the DeHaan miscast as Delevingne proves she can "have chemistry' (see Suicide Squad). I got this on 4K during the Black Friday sale and that was about right in terms of price for this movie. Again if you take this film for light sci-fi fare then you will have a good time. The older kids will enjoy it.

I saw this in the theater with my French wife. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much after the recent attempts at starting space SciFi franchises--I'm calling you out, Jupiter Ascending and Ender's Game--and especially not from a predominantly French production crew. I was pleasantly surprised to find a convincingly constructed universe, sympathetic character development, and a plot that was interesting and original--ok, at least as much as A New Hope--so while it didn't blow my hair back, I enjoyed it enough that I'm hoping for a second movie. In the meantime, I'm watching this at home on the couch.

So I get that some viewers were disappointed because they were comparing the performance of the characters in the movie to the comics, which doesn't do the movie justice. If you just watch it purely from a cinematic standpoint, without comparison, you won't be disappointed. Fans seem to forget that movies based on anything are ALWAYS going to vary and take a few different directions. That's what is fun about it, is you get to revisit something beloved, but with a new twist. the effects were great. I absolutely enjoyed this movie. There is so much to see in it that you would need to watch it more than once to really see it all.

The movie contains stunning graphics! However, if we were to talk about the movie, the cast lacks the innovation that the characters in the Fifth Element gave us. The story is intriguing, but still lacks character development (mainly from the actors). Don't get me wrong, the actors are great, but not for these roles. However, if you are a Luc Besson fan, and loved the Fifth Element, I would get this film adaptation from visionary comic illustrator Jean-Claude Mezieres, in a steelbook collection! The Valerian Comic books out-dates Star Wars and was the main influence that transpired the Fifth Element. Something to think about!

This movie, Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, has interesting dynamics between the two young male and female pilot stars. It's also cool to learn about their characters' developmental backgrounds as the movie develops. But what I liked equally as much was the interesting sci-fi images of the "aliens and their unusual powers and philosophies!" Those were effectively counterposed to the somewhat expected "formula" general plot, and made the film worthwhile and kept it from being ho-hum boring and too predictable!