Besson’s stars fail to shine
getting the film off the ground to concentrate on hiring the best actors to bring his dream project to life.
Dane DeHaan (Major Valerian) and Cara Delevingne (Sergeant Laureline) aren’t quite Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen in the Star Wars prequels-bad, but don’t convince as special operatives out to save the universe.
It’s the supporting players – particularly Ethan Hawke (Jolly the Pimp) and Rihanna (Bubble) – that make more of an impression and the lack of fist-pumping heroism and chemistry between the two leads is a real hindrance to the adventure.
Fortunately, Besson and his production team fare much better when it comes to designing the jaw-dropping pixels behind a series of brilliantly bizarre creatures, cityscapes and interplanetary dimensions.
If you thought The Fifth Element was a kaleidoscope of vibrant visuals then you ain’t DeHaan and Delevingne in action seen nothing yet as Valerian and Laureline rarely get a minute’s peace during a multitude of memorable encounters packed with danger.
But Besson struggles to pad out the two-hourplus running time with enough interesting plot points and there’s a stretch in the middle third where it feels like everyone is just killing time until the perilous final mission kicks in.
As a result, this is far from the Frenchman’s finest, but it is a definite improvement on his previous film – the vastly overrated Lucy.
However, it’s hard to see Valerian the movie influencing future sci-fi in the manner of its comic forebear.