Critics Of "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets"
San Diego Reader
July 21, 2017
Utterly unreal space story from Luc Besson (he of The Fifth Element fame), who seems to have watched James Cameron's Avatar and decided he could make it sillier, more scattered, and less emotionally engaging.
The visuals are amazing, but the witless banter recalls Katherine Heigl and Gerald Butler far more than it stirs memories of Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott.
Reportedly the most expensive European production ever mounted, the visually extravagant "Valerian" throws every Euro of its budget up on the screen, but there's little buoyancy to its spirit and not enough thrill in its action-adventure.
If nothing else, those who lament Hollywood's over-reliance on special effects have a shiny new example of such excess by way of Europe, situated in a faraway galaxy that mostly makes one yearn to escape into the sunlight of planet Earth.
Visually dazzling but narratively derivative and emotionally void, Luc Besson's out-of-this-world Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a Pop Rocks movie.
A family friendly procedural space opera fantasy adventure... Nicholas Hoult (would) have been a better choice for lead actor... (the film's) not great - questionably good but definitely okay.
