For the first five minutes or so of Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, we feel a faint glimmer of hope that we are seeing something truly special: an emotionally resonant big-budget sci-fi soap opera with seemingly impossible production values. The opening sequence of the titular city of a thousand planets forming as satellite combines with satellite, each new human race strutting into the station with the confidence of a people who've reached scientific ascendency, is pure visual poetry. Then the story starts. And Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne start talking. And everything falls to pieces. These two performers give baffling, wooden, painful performances where they spout nothing but exposition and rote melodramatic patter about their relationship/partnership/mutual loathing. The story makes no sense. My friend and I spent the entire time trying to explain away the massive plot holes and inconsistences (exactly how DID Rihanna's shapeshifting alien get fatally wounded?). Here is a truly beautiful film that shows off each penny of its $209 million price tag. Unfortunately Besson forgot that you also need a story, good characters, and good performances to make a film click.
5/10
0 Yorumlar