'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' REVIEW: An ambitious Luc Besson joint that is

'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' is an original science fiction film directed by Luc Besson who has directed other memorable films such as Leon: The Professional (1994), The Fifth Element (1997) and Lucy (2014) and stars Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevigne, Clive Owen and Rihanna. The film is also based on the french comic book series 'Valerian and Laureline' created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières. When the trailers for this film were released I initially didn't find myself interested in watching it because it seemed to me like a horrible mixture of John Carter (2012) and Jupiter Ascending (2015). Both films that I found boring and generic, but after reading into what the premise of the film was and that it's being directed as well as written by Luc Besson who's had ups and downs in his directing career. When the final trailer for the film came out, I thought it looked epic. Especially the scene when Dane DeHaan's character was running through at least 7 different worlds, that's when I was in for this movie. After having seen it though, I was vastly disappointed.

This newest film by Luc Besson is about two special operatives Valerian (played by Dane DeHaan) and his 'girlfriend' Laureline (played by Cara Delevigne) who have to uncover a mystery of a space ship that lies within Alpha, a humongous space station that inhabited by thousands different species of aliens including humans. If they don't race and identify the menace right away, the future of the universe could be in danger.

Like any Luc Besson science-fiction movie, the film oozes with creativity and originality, even though it's based on a comic book. What I mean by originality is that it 'looks' original. From it's setting and the designs of the aliens, I could never compare them to other settings and aliens in sci-fi movie history. It also has a great premise that has the potential to have great underlying themes of unity with thousands of different species living alongside each other in singular planet. It's a very beautifully shot film with wide angle shots, definitely a spectacle. The action filmed is also well shot and staged such as the scene I said earlier. The film has also great special affects as typical with a Luc Besson sci-fi film.

On the other hand, I think this film has a little more bad than good. Starting with the main leads, I thought of them to be boring. The main guy Valerian definitely in the script wants to be conceived as a playboy Han Solo type, but Dane DeHaan doesn't really sell it all that well. His lines aren't delivered with the slightest of thrills or investment and so does Cara Delevigne's. The two leads also in the script are meant to have romantic chemistry with witty banter thrown in for good measure, but that's also lacking. Both of them don't seem to be very interested with each other and don't really emote in any way whatsoever. The brightest spot in this movie was a particular character Bubble (played by Rihanna). Bubble is an illegal immigrant dancing shape-shifting alien who tags along with Valerian on his quest for a while, but did find her to be very interesting and thought I'd like to see a movie surrounding her in film's setting and not the two leads.

The plot of this film I'd say on the surface is not a bad one, but a very underdeveloped one. In fact, it feels like 4 different films blended into one. With the film jumping from sub-plot to sub-plot and doesn't really affect the main plot. The sub-plots seemed like quests from a RPG rather than a proper sub-plots. Sub-plots should either be used for character development or to enhance the central plot. The 4 sub-plots jam-packed into this film does none of it. It mostly feels like a waste of time and make the film much longer than it needs to be.

In the end, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a somewhat entertaining sci-fi action film (Even though I did yawn at least 3 times) that's brimming with great ideas and boasts an original world, but the film seems stretched out by being filled with sub-plots that are also overlong and boring in their own right. The leads are clearly miscast and are there just for eye-candy. While the film could've had great themes of uniting nations, it scraps all that opportunity just to be an empty action movie that is cool to look at.

'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' gets a C-