We live in a world of inequality and injustice, where one's success, fame, and wealth are often determined more by their background than the effort and talent they put in. One of the most glaring examples of such injustice is the film industry. Judging by the case of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, all sci-fi spectacles based on popular comics aren’t created equal. Were it not for one minor but significant detail, the fate of this film could have been easily predicted. It could have counted on a small but influential group of fans who would go into ecstasy at the mere mention of the premiere and make pilgrimages to conventions and promotions; even before the premiere, it would have been clear that, regardless of what critics could have written, the film could expect good box office results and astronomical sums in the pockets of the studios. And all of this, of course, would not have prevented a few pathological individuals from making death threats against the families and pets of those critics daring to publicly deny that the said film was an undisputed masterpiece. Or, to be more precise, all of this could have been expected if Valerian were based on a comic published by DC, Marvel, or any other American publisher. Unfortunately for the screenwriter, director, and producer Luc Besson, the basis for his film, Valerian and Laureline, is a French comic. In the first decades of the 21st century, the idea that a comic can be made outside the US is simply unimaginable for most American comic fans, and they can expect to react to this "cultural appropriation" with extreme hostility. This was, to a degree, reflected both among the audience and the critics, and as a result, Valerian became one of the most expensive commercial flops of its time.
The plot of the film takes place in the 28th century, long after the International Space Station transformed into "Alpha," a space megalopolis where thousands of different species exchange knowledge and culture. Peace and order in it, as well as the rest of the universe, is the responsibility of a para-police service, whose members include Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and his subordinate Laureline (Cara Delevingne), whom he unsuccessfully tries to seduce. Valerian, over time, is also troubled by other problems, such as dreams showing an apocalypse experienced by sympathetic humanoids on a distant planet. This vision will later be connected to reality when he receives the task from his superiors to secretly obtain the so-called Mül converter—a device/creature that can replicate anything it eats, and it turns out that its owners are precisely the humanoids from Valerian's dreams. His mission is further complicated by a crisis that has erupted on "Alpha," namely an unknown force that has infected its centre and made it uninhabitable. Attempting to solve these problems, Valerian and Laureline face the realisation that some of their superiors hide dark secrets.
When it comes to Luc Besson, it is simply impossible to avoid comparisons with The Fifth Element, a film of the same genre and striking similar style he had directed exactly twenty years earlier. Besson created that quirky but extremely entertaining film in an attempt to make his own version of Star Wars, and Valerian could be described as his attempt to surpass his own previous work. Besson not only invested enormous amounts of money in the film but also tried to make this clear to the audience—whether through scenes showing that special effects technology had advanced in two decades, or through the range of the plot spanning eight centuries (enabled by a prologue that shows the beginnings of "Alpha" through documentary footage of the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975), or through a large number of the most bizarre and most peculiar alien species of all colours, shapes, and sizes. All of this, however, can hardly compensate for the fact that the beautiful and impressive visuals are held together by a script that is, at best, hollow. The "surprising" twist and the identity of the antagonist will be easily recognised even by a small child, and the main characters are quite bland. And this is not helped at all by the fact that the two protagonists are played by fashion models, obviously hired more for their looks than their acting talent (although DeHaan clearly showed some of it in Chronicle). The impression is much improved by Rihanna in a short, memorable episode of an alien entertainer, although her appearance is tragically brief. Although this was not enough to save Valerian from commercial failure and quick oblivion, the film still provides the audience, at least viewers less demanding and willing to consume light entertainment, with everything they are expected to consume from the Hollywood projects of the same type.
RATING: 5/10 (+)
(Note: The text in the original Croatian version was posted here.)
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-all photos via IMDb.com
When I first saw the trailers for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets two thoughts occurred to me. The first, that this film is yet another teen franchise meant to capitalize on the Twilight market. My second thought, that the colorful alien race (Pearls) is what those cursed sea monkeys were supposed to grow into. Not faceless, ugly microscopic brine shrimp. I thought I might find some redemption for my childhood.
