Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets: A sci-fiction movie with good cinematography but no story to tell
Let’s start seeing the Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets from its trailer. The day when the trailer was released, thousands of fans of the creator of The Fifth Element waited with beating hearts for the movie to be released. But the release was disappointing for all the die-hard fans of Lun Besson and his sci-fiction.
What went wrong with the movie?
It’s a good movie but it has no soul. Valerian has imagination but without soul he seems to be looking nowhere. What is more irritating is his dreadful banter with Laureline and this unnecessary indulgence becomes excruciating as the story progresses. Another problem is with story. It takes a long time to start as there are more unnecessary scenes in the beginning. Finally the story starts but lacks the flow. The way the little protagonists rush from one scene to another gives the impression that they are only filling gaps and that there is no purpose behind their moves.
The better side of the movie
Luc Besson has a flare for cinematography and it is seen in his earlier movies. The Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets also sets an example of cinematography. The movie has stunning scenes and a lot of species bring together to create the space station Alpha. The story is of the future of human generation where space travel is a daily activity. If the protagonists are seen as peace loving humans and not as military commanders and there is no danger from aliens then the movie would be like a space odyssey.
The criticism is all due to The Fifth Element
Luc Besson made The Fifth Element, the ultimate sci-fiction movie but he failed to give the similar results in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. It is a good movie but since it is from Luc Besson, the maker of The Fifth Element, the movie has to be perfect on every front. What Luc Besson made is a mess of past and future and in between are two humans trying to defend the planet from a dark force that has its origin in the past.
There is a disconnect between past, present and future
The movie takes audiences to past and then brings them to the future where the heroes have to take fight with the dark forces and all this happens in 137 minutes. One thing that can be said about the movie is that it runs fast from past to present. The speed at which the story starts and concludes leave little time for the audiences to understand all that is happening on the screen. One more criticism about the movie is that the protagonists have little to do in the movie.
