Valérian et la Cité des mille planètes

Un début très prometteur, suivi d'aventures ludiques qui parfois n'ont aucun sens pour l'intrigue principale (comme la séquence de "product placement" de Hawke/Rihanna pour le public américain), le tout se terminant comme on s'y attendrait à mi-film sans aucune tentative de rafraîchir un tant soit peu les clichés du genre. Comme si Besson avait utilisé toute sa fantaisie uniquement pour les monstres, les créatures, les décors et les détails agréables à regarder, sans se soucier que le spectateur retienne quelque chose de son spectacle. Je ne me souviendrai que de Caru Delevingne, ce qui est uniquement grâce à elle et à sa costumière. Et il est vraiment nécessaire d'expliquer au réalisateur de la stature de Besson que Clive Owen ne convient pas du tout à un rôle de méchant ainsi que le fait que le film en bénéficierait grandement si on échangeait son personnage avec celui de Sam Spruell. (18/07/2017)

Well, it was nice to watch, yeah. There hasn't been a more spectacular-looking sci-fi film since Avatar, but visual effects aren't everything, and although Luc Besson manages to impress with the very first scene, he soon runs out of breath. In fact, it's as if he's decided not to tell a story, but merely to present a world in which another twelve films could take place. That world is really beautiful, mind, but when you have boring protagonists running around the screen, and when they actually intervene in the story rather accidentally, boredom is bound to set in sooner or later, no matter how good it looks. The main characters are unnecessarily out of the action all the time, and the more interesting and exciting things happen almost without their input. (16/08/2017)

Deeply disappointing and one of Luc Besson's worst films. The film has only two good things: the beautiful model-lesbian Cara Delevingne and the excellent five minute performance by Rihanna, which is very little for the most expensive European science fiction flick. The effects are too colourful and fabulous for my taste, there is very little action and above all it is uninteresting, the pace is incredibly slow, the two hours in the cinema dragged unbelievably, somewhere in the middle of the film I looked at my watch and planned my escape, I just couldn't stand another hour, well I did stay in the end, but this just didn't work. It's just not a good movie. 35%. (20/08/2017)

It warms the heart when one sees how Luc Besson's Valerian is for him the true First Element. I may not know the comic book, but the respect for the material and the almost childlike nurturing of everything related to its world brought a smile to my face more than once. Unfortunately, what is being nurtured is not something that can be called old-fashioned, but just outdated. Considering the year of the source material, it's unfair to criticize that we have already seen something similar countless times, but unfortunately, there are no plot twists happening in Alpha. I am also really sorry about that, because the rumors about this having the best visuals of the last decade were not wrong. Every flight, jump, or water trip takes your breath away with every pixel and erases yet another imaginary boundary of digital effects. The fact that this happens in several casually patched episodes that awkwardly drag along the central mundane plot is unfortunately just one big sigh. At the expense of the visual aspect, character development suffers as well, because the central Valerian's apparent task is only to deliver annoying lines and occasional action escapades. Dane DeHaan's unique face even tantalizes antiheroes, but cruelly fails in this case. Cara Delevingne effortlessly rises to the top, and it is perhaps thanks to her natural Laureline that she has moved on to starring roles written for her. (21/07/2017)

When it comes to this film, I agree with the rest of the reviews here. Luc Besson has decided to shoot an epic sci-fi, which he managed perfectly on the visual side. However, the acting and the storyline are a complete fiasco. While it is evident that he holds the original fairytale in great regard and it must have taken him a lot of work to think up all the locations digitally, but what’s the use of it when the leading roles are portrayed by actors who are as plastic as Barbie and Ken. Truly a portrayal of humans in the most glamorous way. Add in the unconvincing story, which bores more than it entertains, and all that is left is to enjoy the colorful imagery, as the creators of the digital effects spared no expense on colors. It’s a shame that what usually bothers me about digital image the most is the digital itself, which in this film crosses all boundaries. I guess I am old-fashioned. So, when it comes to sci-fi films by Luc Besson, The Fifth Element undisputedly wins, as there is really no comparison. I’ve said it many times already, but action actors of the likes of Bruce Willis in the nineties are not born nowadays. Or they do not get good enough screenplays. (25/07/2018)