Review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) by Bingbong — 15 Aug 2017
I've never seen the comic strip on which this movie is based, but (obviously) the director has. And that's a problem, exemplified in the first scene between the two heroes. They have a kind of wrestling match on a sunbed on a beach, while spouting - as far as I can remember - plot lines which are lost in the jerky editing.It doesn't work: it looks false and contrived, the director force-feeding his audiance the comic book tropes that simply don't work on film. And this conceit appears several times, very often when the story is just getting a bit of steam up.
An opportunity missed. It could have been so, so much better if the director:
...had replaced the crass 'romantic' relationship between the leads by an unstated but palpable sexual tension. (Think of the X-Files).
.. had employed a really good scriptwriter, to simplify the plot and give the whole movie an over-arching narrative drive.
Boy, what a movie that would have been: like 'the fifth element' (one of my favourite, favourite films) on speed.
As it is, very enjoyable (worth an 8 out of 10) but it could have been so, so much better.
As I said: sadly, a missed opportunity.
This review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) was written by Bingbong on 15 Aug 2017.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has generally received mixed reviews.
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