VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS
Can Luc Besson bring some Fifth Element magic to this epic comic strip adap?
released Out NOW! 12a | 137 minutes Director luc Besson Cast dane deHaan, Cara delevingne, Clive Owen, rihanna
Before we’ve seen a frame of Valerian, we’ve heard from Earth’s greatest alien. The opening chords of “Space Oddity” play out over the studio logos, the song carrying us through a charming montage, as a ch-ch-changing government welcomes different races, then different aliens, to a space station that grows with each new visitor.
Next, we’re into a compelling vignette that out-Avatars Avatar, with blue aliens seeing their planet threatened by intergalactic invaders. Eventually, we meet our leads, space agents Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne), who embark on a wild inter-dimensional heist, the surroundings and inhabitants shifting more frequently than David Bowie’s wardrobe.
It’s all so distracting that you could miss that we’re in the company of one of the flattest double acts in recent memory. Delevingne’s fine, and the movie’s strongest when she’s with a computer-created creature – whether she’s threatening weird winged know-it-alls or being captured by giant trolls, she’s engaging. DeHaan, however, is tragically miscast – the script requires a swaggering Han Solo type; what we get is the school creep, doing an ill-advised Keanu Reeves impression.
But the CGI is more important than the SAG here. Besson’s built a big world, and it isn’t perfect, but it is a lot of fun. It features Ethan Hawke as a piano-playing space pimp, and Rihanna as a shapeshifting stripper slug. What’s not to like? Sam Ashurst
The flying taxis in volume 15 of the original comic inspired Luc Besson to make The Fifth Element’s lead a cab driver.