Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) Review

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Review

Director: Luc Besson

Screenwriter: Luc Besson

Producers: Luc Besson and Virginie Besson-Silla

Starring: Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, 

Composer: Alexandre Desplat

Cinematographer: Thierry Abogast

Editor: Julien Rey

Production Company: EuropaCorp

Part I: Introduction

I wasn't really that excited for this movie. I was curious to see how it would turn out. I've seen the trailers and it was very easy to make fun of it because of how much CGI they poured into this movie. This movie could have easily been a disaster, or at least that's what I was thinking. It could either be CGI garbage or a visual masterpiece. Despite how much I was unsure of Valerian, I still gave it a chance. So, how was it? Is it good or bad? Actually, it's none of them.

Part II: Plot Synopsis

Valerian (played by Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (played by Cara Delevingne) are on a mission to Alpha, a cultural center for many species from all over the universe.  

Part III: Direction & Style

Direction
Luc Besson had an extremely ambitious vision when making this movie. On the visionary side, it's vivid and I appreciate his direction for that. But, I feel that he focused a lot on the visuals rather than developing the script.

Style
You can tell that Besson was inspired by a lot of space opera and that's clearly what this kind of movie is. It's essentially a space opera. And the visual style here definitely carries over from The Fifth Element, a movie that he's probably best known for.

Part IV: Visual Presentation

Cinematography & Framing
I'm not going to say I like the cinematography just because it's CGI-heavy because I didn't like it. Yeah, there will be some scenes where the visuals and the colors pop out and it's supposed to wow you, but that doesn't mean the cinematography is good. Aside from maybe two scenes where I liked its cinematography techniques, but the majority of it doesn't stand out to me in terms of composition and framing.

Camerawork
The camerawork wasn't awful. It was competent and I have no complaints when it comes to the camerawork and the direction of the action sequences.

Acting
I have some complaints about the acting. The acting wasn't terrible but the casting choices, to me, stuck out like a sore thumb. Actors like Dane DeHaan, Rihanna, and sometimes Cara Delevingne didn't offer good line delivery or just didn't play the role quite right. DeHaan, specifically, doesn't deliver.

Editing
As far as editing goes, there is probably like very minor editing errors that I probably spotted in the movie, but for the most part, I didn't see anything very obvious or anything very distracting.

Visual Effects & CGI
Now, here is where the movie kinda shines. The visuals and the CGI is clearly the forefront of this movie and this is what Luc Besson focused on. If you watch the trailers and TV spots, you'll see that the movie is pretty much all CGI except for a couple of scenes and the human characters obviously. And this is where this could have killed the film for me. I thought this movie was going to have bad CGI and it was going to be a CGI-fest. Does it have bad CGI? No, not in my opinion. Obviously, in a few scenes you will notice some details that don't look quite right. But, it's good CGI for the most part.

Part V: Sound Design and Musical Composition

Sound Design 

The sound design is competent. I don't have any issues with the sound design. 

Score

The score composed by Alexandre Desplat wasn't anything noteworthy in my opinion. I don't remember the score to be honest. It's bland. 

Part VI: Screenwriting & Character Composition

Script & Screenwriting

Unfortunately, the script is the weakest part of this movie and it drags the film down hard. The writing is weak. The storytelling is bad. There were a lot of moments where the script is trying to deliver a beat (when someone delivers a funny one-liner or a funny action to make the audience laugh) but it fails because the script has atrocious dialogue. This film clearly goes for spectacle over substance. It boggles my mind to how much effort and creativity went into the visuals and the concepts of these alien species and the overall visual design of the film. But yet the script is filled with some of the most painfully generic and uncreative garbage you can possibly imagine.

Character Composition

Character composition is not good here. The film relies a lot on the relationship between Major Valerian and Sergeant Laureline. It fails. First of all, Valerian (or at least the way they portrayed him) isn't likeable. And you don't really feel that he changed much aside from one thing. So, the movie already falls apart when you have the main character that has the movie's title named after him not be a likeable character who you want to follow. This relationship they tried to play off fails because the movie has terrible writing and poorly-written dialogue to give them any good or interesting banter.

Pacing

The pacing is terrible and it holds the film down for me. The plot is all over the place. For most of the film, there's not much rising action. Yes, there's action, but when we're analyzing plot structure, it lacks build up. The movie actually started pretty okay, then it drags throughout about 2 thirds of the movie. Then, once you get to the end, then all of a sudden there's the climax. It's not developed properly in my opinion and I wish that Luc Besson didn't focus so much on visuals and developed his script more efficiently.

Part VII: Verdict & Conclusion

See, Valerian isn't a terrible movie (almost). I think this film has a level of competency in it, but it suffers from a load of problems. While it does have good visuals (for the most part) and has great potential, unfortunately, the visuals get immediately bogged down with its script problems and other technical issues. Some of the odd casting choices, poor pacing, the plot is all over the place, the score is a bit bland, and its overall storytelling delivery just falls flat on its face. A lot of things happen, meaning that there are some action sequences here and there to keep your attention, but not much of it means anything. Maybe the visuals and the action will keep you entertain, but it didn't for me.

Score: C-