Valerian (Final Trailer)

[Nutso]

▶ In Cinemas August 2
▶ Starring: Cara Delevingne, Dane DeHaan, Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke, Rihanna, Mathieu Kassovits
▶ Directed by Luc Besson

Synopsis:

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS is the visually spectacular new adventure film from Luc Besson, the legendary director of Leon, The Fifth Element and Lucy, based on the ground-breaking comic book series which inspired a generation of artists, writers and filmmakers.

In the 28th century, Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are a team of special operatives charged with maintaining order throughout the human territories. Under assignment from the Minister of Defense, the two embark on a mission to the astonishing city of Alpha—an ever-expanding metropolis where species from all over the universe have converged over centuries to share knowledge, intelligence and cultures with each other. There is a mystery at the center of Alpha, a dark force which threatens the peaceful existence of the City of a Thousand Planets, and Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.

Getting a Gangsta's Paradise vibe from the soundtrack.

[Mikey]

Still looks like a polished turd.

[Nutso]

Still looks like a polished turd.

What should it look like? I've never read Valerian.

[Mikey]

Me neither. What I meant was that it's pretty on the surface, but the content seems like crap.

[Bryan Moore]

Oh this looks terrible.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I've never heard of this before a trailer in Guardians of the Galaxy II. Or if I did, I promptly forgot. I think that says all I need to say about if I'm interested in it.

[Graham Kennedy]

Saw this today.

The visuals are amazing. The story is okay.

Unfortunately, that's really all there is good to say about it.

The biggest flaw is the characters. I find myself thinking about Fifth Element. Look at how much you learn about Dallas in that movie - he's down on his luck, driving cabs and not even doing well at that, he's hassled by his mother, he's fired... and above all, he's obviously desperately lonely. You can see why he would fall in love with Leelu - and as you see her own strengths and vulnerabilities, you can see why she would fall in love with him. Best of all, the resolution of the plot itself depends on his declaring his love for her, which ties all the elements together in a lovely emotional bow for the audience.

Valerian... well, he's a womaniser. But within minutes of meeting him, he declares that he's in love with his partner now, and wants to marry her. Why? We don't know. There's never any reason for it, never any real exploration of why he wants to change. It is literally just "I am in love with you now. Let's get married." And other than that, the ONLY things we ever learn about him is that he's good at his job.

Scant as it is, that's more character development than Laureline gets. She's also good at her job. Maybe better than he is. She doesn't believe he's really in love with her, until at the end she does. And... that's it.

We see plenty of visuals of their world, but we actually never learn much of what it's like to inhabit it. We see Dallas at home, we see how he lives. We see him at work. We see him having lunch! We see people on holiday, having sex, talking to relatives. In other words, we see something of how people live in that world.

In Valerian, we see very little of that. As far as I can recall, we literally never see Valerian and Laureline doing anything that isn't directly related to work. They have no personal lives, AT ALL, except that he tells her now and again that he loves her.

So yeah... not a great movie. Not even really a good one. Because it's lovely to look at, it rises to "okay".

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Saw this today.

The visuals are amazing. The story is okay.

Unfortunately, that's really all there is good to say about it.

The biggest flaw is the characters. I find myself thinking about Fifth Element. Look at how much you learn about Dallas in that movie - he's down on his luck, driving cabs and not even doing well at that, he's hassled by his mother, he's fired... and above all, he's obviously desperately lonely. You can see why he would fall in love with Leelu - and as you see her own strengths and vulnerabilities, you can see why she would fall in love with him. Best of all, the resolution of the plot itself depends on his declaring his love for her, which ties all the elements together in a lovely emotional bow for the audience.

Valerian... well, he's a womaniser. But within minutes of meeting him, he declares that he's in love with his partner now, and wants to marry her. Why? We don't know. There's never any reason for it, never any real exploration of why he wants to change. It is literally just "I am in love with you now. Let's get married." And other than that, the ONLY things we ever learn about him is that he's good at his job.

Scant as it is, that's more character development than Laureline gets. She's also good at her job. Maybe better than he is. She doesn't believe he's really in love with her, until at the end she does. And... that's it.

We see plenty of visuals of their world, but we actually never learn much of what it's like to inhabit it. We see Dallas at home, we see how he lives. We see him at work. We see him having lunch! We see people on holiday, having sex, talking to relatives. In other words, we see something of how people live in that world.

In Valerian, we see very little of that. As far as I can recall, we literally never see Valerian and Laureline doing anything that isn't directly related to work. They have no personal lives, AT ALL, except that he tells her now and again that he loves her.

So yeah... not a great movie. Not even really a good one. Because it's lovely to look at, it rises to "okay".

That sounds about right. I'd seen it a couple of days ago and gotten the same overall "meh but pretty" vibe but hadn't tied together quite why, but this is basically it. It's visually spectacular, and has amusing situations and elements. The overall plot even makes some sense except there's no reason the characters do what they do. It might or might not be better in the original source material but here, he loves her because the plot says so.

Thus, even when the resolution here also hinges on a demonstration of love (trust specifically) there's really no reason behind it

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Saw this today.

The visuals are amazing. The story is okay.

Unfortunately, that's really all there is good to say about it.

The biggest flaw is the characters. I find myself thinking about Fifth Element. Look at how much you learn about Dallas in that movie - he's down on his luck, driving cabs and not even doing well at that, he's hassled by his mother, he's fired... and above all, he's obviously desperately lonely. You can see why he would fall in love with Leelu - and as you see her own strengths and vulnerabilities, you can see why she would fall in love with him. Best of all, the resolution of the plot itself depends on his declaring his love for her, which ties all the elements together in a lovely emotional bow for the audience.

Valerian... well, he's a womaniser. But within minutes of meeting him, he declares that he's in love with his partner now, and wants to marry her. Why? We don't know. There's never any reason for it, never any real exploration of why he wants to change. It is literally just "I am in love with you now. Let's get married." And other than that, the ONLY things we ever learn about him is that he's good at his job.

Scant as it is, that's more character development than Laureline gets. She's also good at her job. Maybe better than he is. She doesn't believe he's really in love with her, until at the end she does. And... that's it.

We see plenty of visuals of their world, but we actually never learn much of what it's like to inhabit it. We see Dallas at home, we see how he lives. We see him at work. We see him having lunch! We see people on holiday, having sex, talking to relatives. In other words, we see something of how people live in that world.

In Valerian, we see very little of that. As far as I can recall, we literally never see Valerian and Laureline doing anything that isn't directly related to work. They have no personal lives, AT ALL, except that he tells her now and again that he loves her.

So yeah... not a great movie. Not even really a good one. Because it's lovely to look at, it rises to "okay".

Graham, you could've made some serious bread as a movie critic.

[Mikey]

Huh. Without having seen the movie,

Still looks like a polished turd.

I am a psycho!!!

- I mean, psychic.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Huh. Without having seen the movie,

Still looks like a polished turd.

I am a psycho!!!

- I mean, psychic.

Take the third option and both?

[Graham Kennedy]

If anybody else does see it, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. I think this could have been amazing, but sadly fell far short. It would be interesting to see what others thought.

[Teaos]

I have heard good reviews on it in general.

[Bryan Moore]

I find Cara Delivigne slightly less visually and emotionally appealing as a person than Hillary Clinton, Rosie O'Donnell, or that pile of corpses from that zombie movie...

Was she anything other than terrible in this?