Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
{4/5} “I’m sorry, you’re a great driver. You’re the best driver in the entire universe.”
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, released in 2017
Valerian and Laureline are special operatives who undertake dangerous missions in the far reaches of the galaxy. They return to Alpha, a huge space colony, after another successful mission. There they find that someone is attacking the colony with radiation — they’re assigned to protect the man in charge of defeating the attack. Meanwhile, Valerian asks Laureline to marry him.
It’s visually stunning and it’s mildly amusing.
The story feels a bit old fashioned. It’s based on a long-running series of comic books.
The main characters don’t quite have what it takes to carry the movie — that might be the acting and/or the dialogue. It’s not as good as The Fifth Element but it’s better than Lucy.
It’s not quite a great movie, but it’s fun.
Stars Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. Directed by Luc Besson (Lucy). The music by Alexandre Desplat didn’t really stand out.