VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS – Review

Dane DeHaan stars in Luc Besson’s VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS.
Photo Credit: Lou Faulon. Photo courtesy of STX Entertainment. Motion Picture Artwork © 2017 STX Financing, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS is writer/director Luc Besson’s latest sci-fi action/adventure film, starring Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne as a team of special agents wisecracking and flirting their way through danger as they race to unravel the puzzle of what or who is threatening to destroy the interstellar city of Alpha. The film also stars Clive Owen, Ethan Hawk and singer Rihanna.

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS is spectacular visually, with one fabulous, colorful, fantastical vision after another, and the film completely delivers on that level.

The 3D action/adventure film is based on a French sci-fi graphic novel series, “Valerian and Laureline,” or just “Valerian.” The long-running comic series, which started in the late ’60s, has influenced a number of films, including French-born Luc Besson’s FIFTH ELEMENT. The comic is popular in Europe and published internationally, but it is less known in the U.S., so it does not get the boost of Marvel films here.

Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan, CURE FOR WELLNESS, CHRONICLE) and Sergeant Laureline (Cara Delevingne, SUICIDE SQUAD) are a team of special agents in the service of human intergalactic security force in the far future. Their boss, the Minister of Defense (award-winning composer Herbie Hancock), sends the team to retrieve a rarity being sold on the black market under the cover of a tourist attraction, a virtual-reality bazaar called Big Market. Immediately after, the pair are suddenly sent to meet with Commander Arun Filitt (Clive Owen, CHILDREN OF MEN) to deal with an evolving threat to the intergalactic city of Alpha, known as “the city of a thousand planets.” A mysterious “dead” area, which sensors cannot penetrate and from which no one returns alive, is growing in Alpha, and Valerian and Laureline are there to solve the mystery and stop the threat to the peaceful city.

Although Valerian is the ranking officer, the two really do work as a team, more like equals, in carrying out their assignments, where they seem somewhere between secret agents and cops. Valerian is the lead operative on the ground while Laureline tracks the operation, supplies a constant stream of intel, provides back-up and runs supporting operations. On assignment, Valerian and Laureline work flawlessly as a team. On a personal level, the two have a flirtatious relationship, with Valerian trying to put the moves on Laureline while she brushes him off with a series of biting quips.

The film is a good but not great sci-fi action movie, one that offers a little adventure fun, a bit of romance, and a lot of visual delight. While the sci-fi adventure film is a banquet of eye-candy, it does not succeed as well on story or character development. Fans of Dane DeHaan are likely to enjoy it but some viewers may feel they get too much Valerian and not enough Alpha, the city mentioned in the title.

Some viewers may have seen the movie’s utterly cool sci-fi trailer, set to the Beatles’ song “Because,” which gives a taste of the film’s beauty and where the song’s line “it blows my mind” is a particularly perfect match for the color-drenched fantasy images. Disappointingly, that classic song is not heard in the movie itself. The movie does open with David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” over a montage of a history of humans in space, and we also get Bob Marley and the Wailer’s “Jammin’,” but much of the Alexandre Desplat soundtrack is otherwise unremarkable. However, the mind-blowing, gorgeous visuals from the trailer are all there, and more. In fact, the eye-candy is much of the appeal of the film.

While VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS is a banquet of eye-candy, it falls short on the story and character development. Film-goers expecting another LUCY, Luc Besson’s exhilarating sci-fi starring Scarlett Johansson will be disappointed. This new film is more like the director’s FIFTH ELEMENT, a film also inspired by this comic book series, although more loosely. Another difference viewers might note is that this film seems more aimed at a younger audience. It is more a young teen movie than adult to teen fare.

The characters Valerian and Laureline have a kind of millennial feel to them, interacting with casual coolness and a bit of irony, and DeHaan and Delevingne make the most of that. Surprisingly, although we spend a lot of time with Valerian and Laureline, we learn less about who they are than you might think. Instead, the focus is on the romantic tension. The action is good but the plot seems rather standard, and mixes bits of STAR WARS’ Han and Leia vibe with a James Bond-like adventure and touches of AVATAR and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.

We learn little about Alpha, the “city of a thousand planets,” much less than expected, although we get a nice visual tour and a little verbal overview. At times, the film feels a bit like an extended version of the canteen sequence in STAR WARS. As fun as that is, it does not offer much plot, mostly atmosphere. You get to meet exotic life-forms and get teasers about intriguing cultures but not enough to satisfy curiosity. Even for the Avatar-like people who play a central role in the plot, we get only the barest glimpse of their culture, mostly that they are peaceful and in harmony with nature.

On the other hand, the film has the benefit of not being ponderously serious all the time, although it by no means reaches GUARDIANS’ level for comic fun. One wished the quips traded between Valerian and Laureline were a bit funnier but Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne give it a go and do generate a bit of chemistry. The dialog is not the best and often the film does not give them much to work with.

The best supporting performances come from Ethan Hawk and, surprisingly, Rihanna, in the singer’s first movie role. Hawk makes the most of his very brief appearance as a carnival barker-like pimp, Jolly The Pimp, a character that is comic and memorable. Rihanna plays Bubble, a sexy, shape-shifting creature called a Glamopod who works for Jolly, and helps Valerian in his effort to rescue Laureline (Laureline and Valerian take turns rescuing each other). Rihanna shines in a wonderful scene where she shape-shifts through a steamy performance that is part circus, part stripper and part Liza Minnelli in CABARET, but she also generates a touching sympathy as the enslaved character trying to escape.

Most disappointing is Clive Owen as the Alpha’s commander. The part seems like it should offer some room to work with, but Owen seems to be sleepwalking through the role, apart from shouting in one scene. It is a strange performance from the actor who was so good in CHILDREN OF MEN and other roles. Other parts are played well but without special note by Kris Wu and Rutger Hauer, and John Goodman and Elizabeth Debicki lend voices to a couple of characters.

Fans of Dane DeHaan should enjoy the movie. At 31, American actor Dane DeHaan already has an impressive film resume, including roles in the Beat generation drama KILL YOUR DARLINGS, the Depression-era moonshiner drama LAWLESS, the sci-fi CHRONICLE, the Cianfrance-directed THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, and as Harry Osborn in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2. DeHaan starred earlier this year in the atmospheric eerie horror film A CURE FOR WELLNESS. DeHaan headlines this truly international film directed by Frenchman Luc Besson and co-starring with Brits Cara Delevingne and Clive Owen and Barbados-born singer Rihanna.

The fantasy worlds and creatures rendered in astoundingly beautiful visual effects are worth the ticket price alone, dazzling in 3D and an immersive, imaginative delight. Despite its absolutely gorgeous visual world, VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS delivers less sci-fi wonder than it promises. Ranked among this summer’s special effects-laden fantasy offerings, this film is way better than Tom Cruise’s THE MUMMY but not up to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2. Still, while this sci-fi comic universe does not have that Marvel comic familiarity to help boost it in the U.S., the source material’s international popularity suggests potential, should director Luc Besson want to give it another go with a sequel.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars