Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets (Dir. Luc Besson, 2h 17m)

Franco-Belgian comics, with the possible exception of Asterix and Obelix and Tintin have never really gained the wide-spread popularity of their American and even British  counterparts-yet their visual style, typified by the singular genius of Jean "Mobeius" Giraud is everywhere in American science-fiction, from Blade Runner and Alien to Tron and the Fifth Element. Now, some twenty years after the latter, and based upon another Gallic comic book series, Luc Besson brings us an adaption of the Valerian and Laureline series. The problem is that (the word salad-entitled) Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets is, much like its star, Dane DeHaan-it may be easy on the eye, but it seems to have little to say, and when it does it's nothing new-yet, it can't be denied that it is stunning to look at.

Yes, Valerian is a stunning visual picture, not only in the world it builds, but also in the creatures that inhabit it, from a strange trio of truth-selling pigeon-beaked individuals (The Shingouz), to a shape shifting dancer and actress played with surprising charm and tenderness by popstar Rhianna, to the Pearls, that call to mind a more graceful equivilent of the Kamino aliens from Attack of the Clones, to the dizzying number of creatures, monsters and people who inhabit both the multi-dimensional market and Alpha itself.

Below the surface, however, this is something we've sadly seen a lot of times before-teetering sky-scrapers that seem to stretch from the ground far into the sky, with life occurring on many levels? Straight out of Blade Runner and the Star Wars (often regarded as influenced by Valerian itself) prequels. A motley crew of monsters, some graceful, some ugly, some mechanical, some organic...uh, Star Wars (again), and the Fifth Element. Wooden flat protagonists, (despite how much Cara Delevingne tries to hold her end up as the no-nonsense, driven and intelligent foil to the often boorish and dull Valerian, and she is by far the best thing in this film), a flat, often messy story and a romance that sounds like the sort of hackneyed romance on day-time television? Why, it must be Star Wars! 

Besson, however, routinely goes one better than Lucas ever did in his visuals-the opening space shots call to mind 2001, albeit less balletic, the space station and the market are like Scott's Los Angeles of 2019 or Lucas's Coruscant on steroids-grimier but more realistic-one particular chase throws us through a dozen different biomes, all perfectly realised-the alien species are all remarkably individualistic, and unlike, with the exception really of the Pearls, almost anything as bold as we've seen since the original Star Wars trilogy. Besson may be building upon familiar blocks but he's building higher and more extravagantly than even he did in Fifth Element.

Yet, for all its weak plotting, Valerian starts with a superb opening hand, with a spectacularly paced sequence, scored by David Bowie's Space Oddity  of first nations (largely the USA) meeting nation, first the USSR then China, India, Japan, and others through the air-lock door of docked spaceships, then humanity meeting aliens of dizzying shapes, sizes, and tech levels, leading to the space-base Alpha, a mass of interconnecting remnants of these meetings eventually being jettisoned into space in order that it doesn't damage nearby Earth.

From this, we're introduced, via an introduction to the Pearl species and the massive destruction of their planet by forces unknown, to Valerian and his partner/girlfriend/subordinate, Laureline, who are charged with retrieving, via a duo-dimensional market, the last creature of its kind. This, honestly, is the best sequence of the film, not only in its executing and shooting, but in the way that Valerian and Laureline bounce off each other-this is almost certainly where they are most likable, their bantering natural, their teamwork fluid-a couple of lines are a little leaden.

The rest of the film floats between creaky dialog, creaky romance, creaky plot (complete with government conspiracy, a race trying to get back (well, re-create) home on a marble and a nigh extinct critter, detours that seem to be there to purely allow Besson to show off his visual ideas...and yet...And yet, and yet, for all its B-Movie creakiness, (albeit ramped up to $210 million-worth of it), for all its weak romance, for all Dane DeHaan's thickheadness and woodenness (ironically thus playing the character as he appears for the greater half of the volumes (or albums) of the original comics), this is still an enjoyably wild and imaginative film.

Every second of it something interesting is happening, visually or otherwise-if the rest of the film had the dynamism and the writing of the first twenty minutes, it would be a much better film but what we got is still shot through with visually arresting moments. Sure, there may not be much brain at points but when it looks this good, it's at least worth a look.

Rating: Recommended