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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a 2017 3D sci-fi adventure film based on a French sci-fi comics series entitled Valerian and Laureline, which was written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mezieres. It is written and directed by Luc Besson and co-produced by him and his wife, Virginia Besson-Silla.
The film was released by STXfilms on July 21, 2017 in the US, and on July 26, 2017 by EuropaCorp at France. This movie was personally funded and independently crowd-sourced by Besson himself, with a production budget of around $180 million. Thus, making this film both the most expensive European and independent film ever produced.
This movie received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the visuals yet criticized the plot and some of the casting. It only grossed $225 million worldwide, and considered as one of the box office bomb movies due to its high production and advertising costs.
The story revolves around the story of Major Valerian, played by American actor Dane DeHaan (Green Goblin of The Amazing Spiderman 2014/ Lucien Carr of Kill Your Darlings/ James Dean of Life/ Timbo of True Blood/ Victor of Leap!/ cast on Imagine Dragons’ music video I Bet My Life) a space-and-time-traveling agent and Laureline’s partner/love interest. Laureline is a sergeant who always team-up with Valerian, played by a British actress Cara Delevingne (June Moone aka Enchantress of Suicide Squad/ Mermaids of Pan/ Margo of Paper Towns/ Mother Chucker of Taylor Swift’s music video Bad Blood). Award-winning British actor Clive Owen (Professor of The Bourne Identity/ Dalton Russell of Inside Man/ Dwight of Sin City/ Arthur of King Arthur/ Theo Faron of Children of Men) played the role of Arun Filitt, Commander of the World State Federation and Valerian’s former boss, who was responsible for destroying Planet Mül. Barbadian pop singer Rihanna (Cora Raikes of Battleship/ Nine Ball of Ocean’s Eight/ Marion Crane of Bates Motel) also cast as Bubbles, a shapeshifting entertainer who helped Valerian and Laureline in their quest. Another award-winning actor named Ethan Hawke (James Sandin of The Purge/ Edward Dalton of Daybreakers/ Hamlet of Hamlet/Jesse of Before Sunset/ Jake of Training Day) played the role of Jolly the Pimp. Chinese-Canadian actor Kris Wu (Nicks of xXx: Return of Xander Cage/ Xiao Fei of Mr. Six/ Long Jianfei of The Mermaid/ Yin Chen of LORD Legend of Ravaginf Dynasties/ Tang Sanzang of Journey to the West: The Demon Strikes Back/ Rocky of Europe Raiders) played the role of Sergeant Neza.
When it comes to visuals, this movie can still be tantamounted to Star Wars. It’s a must-see movie also for kids, but needs some parental guidance since there’s some minute graphic violence such as gun-shooting. Nevertheless, this film is an epitome of superhero character’s day-to-day lifesaving fuss. Despite the film being a disappointment at the box office, director Luc Besson claimed that a sequel is still possible due to positive fan reaction. Marvelous graphics, grotesque alien life forms all across the universe, and genuine language synthetically made based from the book. What else can you look for? It’s just all here in this one of the must-watch movies of 2017 — Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
In case you haven’t watched yet, here’s the trailer:
This one I missed as it didn’t catch my attention and I agree that too many negative reviews made me think that was not really good to be watched. I am changing my mind right now and will look for it to watch! Thank you for the nice review!
Yeah many claimed that it’s not good to watch, but I just watched this and it pays a price — i want more…haha..no kidding..this is a must-watch movie because it has high visual graphics co-produced by IMax Entertainment…It’s like watching Star Wars with a mix of Avatar.. 🙂
Much of what I remember seeing on the various reviews of this film ‘almost’ led me not to seeing it. But I then remembered many of the ‘negative’ reviews that were done on ‘The Fifth Element’, and I absolutely ‘LOVED’ that film, just as I love ‘Valerian’. I highly recommend this film when it comes to Blu ray, and if you have 3D capabilities on your TV, it would be even ‘better’ to see.
I give ‘Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets’ 10/10. It was ‘excellent’.
Yeah u are absolutely right…This movie deserves a worldwide applause and recognition…IMax co-produced this film making this movie as one of the highly visualized films ever done in the century…I still love this movie no matter what… Thanks for sharing your insights Mark.. 🙂
It looks like it will have a great production value but I have to say that most times a property like this does not survive the migration process. On the other hand, since I am not familiar with the source material it doesn’t mean much to me in this instance…
Thanks for taking some time reading my review…Hope u like this movie…Hope u can watch this one soon.. 🙂
It will probably be a year until it streams, but I will keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the heads up my man
You are very much welcome Alex…thanks a lot..keep posted for more of my reviews.. 🙂
I’m looking forward to them as always
Thanks a lot again Alex… ??
Great and detailed review….thank you for sharing!
Thanks for dropping by and reading my review.. Hope u like it 🙂
I loved this film and was surprised it didn’t do well at the box office.
Yeah me too…I wonder why..Maybe they don’t like Cara or Dane…But the whole film is too good for me… 🙂
Not much of a sci-fi movie lover, but think I’ll add this to my watch list.
Thanks for dropping by and taking some time to read my blog…Try to watch this, IMax Entertainment is one of its main producers… 🙂