AsianTrumpSupporter
Platinum Member
This film got a lot of bad reviews, especially for the two lead characters played by Cara Delevingne (Laureline) and Dane DeHaan (Valerian). The biggest complaint I've heard is that it's hard to take these two seriously as bad ass agents, because they look more like teenagers. However, that is due to the French comic book, which is the basis for this movie:
The comic book ran from 1967 to 2010, and, in fact, some of the people who worked later on Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back were inspired by that comic book (along with Flash Gordon and Akira Kurosawa films):
I actually thought Cara Delevingne did a pretty good job, and she definitely had some kick ass moments. Dane DeHaan was a little more hard to buy, and he sounds like such a surfer bro, but he grew on me. He gets better as the film goes on.
The film is also quite funny at times. Sometimes the jokes fall flat, but there are some pretty amusing moments.
The special effects aren't the best I've ever seen, but they're definitely some of the most innovative/original. Some of the things that happen in this film are things that I have never seen in a movie before, and I liked that about it.
The movie kind of feels like Mass Effect (video game) meets Star Wars and Star Trek. While it's not completely predictable, you pretty much figure out early on who or what the main villain(s)/antagonist(s) is/are.
The action is pretty good, but it starts to feel like a video game at times. The CGI ranges from just decent to pretty amazing at other times.
One thing I can say is that this film is unique, and it's not a direct rip off of Star Wars or Star Trek even though it borrows a lot from that genre. However, the first Valerian comic book was released 10 years before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, so you can't really accuse the film of ripping anyone off since, if anything, everyone else has been ripping off this comic book series for a long time.
Since this is such a weird, unique film. I'll rate it based on the following categories with a final average rating at the end:
Action: 8/10
Acting: 7/10
Comedy: 7.5/10
Cinematography: 8.5/10
Art Direction: 8.5/10
Special Effects: 8.5/10
Story: 7/10
Originality/Creativity: 8.5/10
Final rating: 7.9/10
If you don't like sci-fi and/or CGI, you can knock off 1-2 points from that score. I generally don't like movies that are shot almost entirely on a green screen, but this was really the only way to make this movie without tripling or quadrupling the budget.
According to the director, Luc Besson, this is the film he wanted to make when he made Fifth Element, but the technology just wasn't there to make the film that he wanted. I like Fifth Element as well as Valerian. They're very different, but they share some things in common as well. I still think Leon (aka The Professional) is Luc Besson's best film so far.
John Goodman and Clive Owen were the best actors in this film, but Cara Delevingne does a great job as Laureline. Ethan Hawke was kind of wasted in this film, but he did fine for what his character was supposed to do. I heard a lot of hate for Rihanna's acting, but I actually thought she did a good job. I'd probably put her as the 4th best actor/actress in the film.
I might've even ranked Rihanna's acting higher if she had a bigger part, but she had a bigger part than I anticipated.
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