Review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

After watching the film finally, the immediate reactions are what a visually stunning film this is. This is a visual delight from start to finish and that alone would be enough to get me to watch it again and again. Certainly worthy of watching in $K.

As far as the acting goes, well that was not so impressive. Once again the choice of male lead was the biggest problem, with Dane DeHaan totally unconvincing as both an action lead and as a romantic lead. He just doesn't have the chops for the role and falls flat most of the time. He certainly is upstaged mostly by Cara Delavingne, who whilst doing a decent enough job just seemed to leave you wanting more. The supporting cast does its job.

The whole story is nothing that we have not seen many times before, borrowing bits and pieces from various films in the past such as various Star Wars films. It is not doing anything new but and seems to have been written knowing that the visuals were the important part. I guess there is nothing wrong with that if that was fully intended, and I presume it was.

Overall, not the best sci-fi ever but it has its moments and the visuals really carry the film.