Luc Besson’s Valerian: a sci-fi extravaganza
Print Edition
WHEN even most of the good spectacles carry a strong whiff of prepackaging, try taking in the air of Luc Besson’s sci-fi extravaganza “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.”
Its atmosphere — vibrant in color, elastic in form — takes some acclimating to after such a barrage of more sanitized summer movies. After watching “Valerian” you acutely realize what’s missing from so many other big films (visual inventiveness, freewheeling unpredictability) and appreciate what a controlled studio project does so much better (precision pacing, half-decent writing).
Had “Valerian” been produced in the studio system, it would have been better. But also worse. Adapted by Besson from Pierre Christin and Jen Claude Mezieres’ comic book series, it is your average Dane Dehaan movie with extraterrestrial ducks, a pole-dancing Rihanna and a prominent cameo from Herbie Hancock.
This one slides in somewhere on the spectrum of rococo science fictions like the Wachowskis’ “Jupiter Ascending” or James Gunn’s more recent “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” These are worlds populated by a lavish diversity of life. In the opening montage the commander of space station Alpha welcomes onboard a glut of every human and alien nationality with a handshake.
Eventually the station grows so large that it’s jettisoned into space. This wild, spinning metropolis of alien cultures on a metal sphere looks like a movie paradise. It’s a pity, then, that instead of some exotic protagonist we’re saddled with the altogether uninteresting Valerian (Dehaan), a brash special agent hotshot. Dehaan has a definite presence: intelligently smarmy with a voice even Keanu Reeves would find dubiously low.
He’s teamed with Laureline (Cara Delevingne) and their investigation digs into a tangled-up past, where suspicions of a covered-up genocide implicate military commander Clive Owen. The dark secret ultimately leads to a beach planet inhabited by pale, slender, high cheek-boned runway models whose natural resources are magic, life-giving pearls that are pooped out by little genial creatures. You know. That old game. But the images are frequently extraordinary. There are popsicle-colored clouds of blue and red, glowing butterflies and teaming extraterrestrial creations. An immense bazaar exists invisibly on an arid planet, but when visitors put on a headset, they’re transported into a huge marketplace.
Besson’s “The Fifth Element” had many of the same elements — a madcap melding of species, a big musical moment, a feast of color — but it was better organized and had Bruce Willis. Yet “Valerian” is on another level entirely in terms of visual splendor. I kept thinking: This movie would be fantastic on mute.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
