Review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) by Leelustig — 24 Jul 2017
Pros:
- Fantastic opening sequence.
- Has aliens. Cons: - Literally no plot whatsoever until the final 10 minutes of the film. - Pathetically bad attempts at humor by the Rihanna alien character. - The Rihanna alien character. - A tonalPros:
- Fantastic opening sequence.
- Has aliens.
Cons:
- Literally no plot whatsoever until the final 10 minutes of the film.
- Pathetically bad attempts at humor by the Rihanna alien character.
- The Rihanna alien character.
- A tonal mess.
- The entire film being shot in front of a green screen. Outdoor scenes look painfully fake.
- No narrative purpose to any of the action sequences.
- Lack of character development. - Lack of romantic chemistry between the leads (due to bad writing).
- Wooden acting by the two leads (again, I blame the writing).
- A giant waste of Ethan Hawke and a pretty decent waste of Clive Owen.
- Surprising lack of visual stimuli. Every "cool" scene was shown in the trailer and wasn't even remotely tied into the narrative.
This movie was a giant missed opportunity. I don't understand why the story didn't kick in until Act 3, and I think the movie would have drastically improved if that wasn't the case. What story they did have could have been interesting if it was actually fleshed out properly. A huge stinker.
This review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) was written by Leelustig on 24 Jul 2017.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has generally received mixed reviews.
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