Review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) by The D — 20 Jul 2017

This beautiful specticle of a movie gets 3 Icees out of 5.  As mentioned in the previous sentence, this movie truly is beautiful.  Think of the first time you saw Avatar.  The mystical beauty... This movie follows that same mold with some beautiful sets, VGI, characters and other various cinematography tricks.  Now, in the vein of full disclosure, I didn't think the actual movie of Avatar was all that good.  I know I'm in the minority here but to me if you cut away from all the beauty and 3D impact (this was one of the first 3D movies to come out for 3D TVs), I just didn't think it was all that good.

Now with Valerian there are some similarities to that.  The plot can bog down at times and there are a couple of scenes that seem to go on forever (or at least much longer than they needed to.  Also, there was a "plot twist" that you could see coming from a mile away. Don't believe the trailers (a trend that is frustratingly growing) as there isn't as much action as the trailers would lead you to believe.

I've read some other reviews that bluntly stated that Dane DeHaan was miscast for the role, and I get that.  He was supposed to play this cocky ladies man type of character and that just didn't seem to fit him, but I almost found that an endearing quality.  It's almost like he was trying to be something he's not.  I don't know... maybe I like the visual effects so much I am trying to make up for other shortcomings... perhaps.  I did think that Cara Delevinge played her role perfectly as Sergeant Laureline.  In fact, it could be argued that the way this movie was edited it seemed like she was the primary character and not Valerian, and I actually thought that worked.  It was good to see her actually get a chance to act (she didn't really get that opportunity in Suicide Squad).

If you're looking for a beautifully made movie with a decent story, this one might fit the mold.  There is no story during or after the credits.

Enjoy...