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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) is a European science fiction film based on _Valérian and Laureline_, a French science fiction comic series, the creation of writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières and published 1967-2010. This series is enormously popular in Europe and considered very influential in Europe and elsewhere but is largely unknown to most people in the United States, or at least by most casual science fiction fans. I had heard of the series but had never read any of the collected issues.
In a nutshell, the setting is the 28th century, with the titular city, now known as Alpha, was once the International Space Station back in the 20th century but over time grew and grew first with the added modules from other Earth nations and then centuries of much larger additions by thousands and thousands of sentient alien species. Having left Earth orbit and gone out into space, it is pretty much the place to be in the galaxy for scientific, diplomatic, trade, industrial, tourist, governmental, and military purposes.
Based out of Alpha are the two main characters, Major Valerian played by Dane DeHaan, a United Human Federation soldier sent out on James Bond-like missions to uphold the peace and fight villains, and his partner (and love interest) Sergeant Laureline (played by Cara Delevingne). In pursuit of a mission on the planet Kirian, Valerian becomes linked via his dreams to an alien woman of a species he has never heard of on a planet he knows not, while both Valerian and Laureline get involved in a tangled government conspiracy that has to deal with this planet and a deep dark secret from the United Human Federation’s past and one that threatens the future of Alpha. There are conspiracies, double crosses, corruption, lots of combat, a bunch of alien environments, more alien species than I have seen in a while, some impressive CGI, more combat, and a thread of Valerian trying to woo Laureline into marrying him.
The movie has strong _The Fifth Element_ vibes though the source material for this movie definitely predates _The Fifth Element_ and indeed has what I call the “John Carter problem.” In a nutshell, though the source material for _John Carter_ predates most science fiction well-known today (_A Princess of Mars_ was published in 1912), by the time a film was made based on the source material (2012), not only did it feel derivative even though it was arguably the source of many tropes and highly influential itself, largely its fan base, while still existing, was relatively small and specialized when compared to say Star Trek or Star Wars. Not sure a movie could have been made much earlier, as the film is very effects heavy with space battles, the huge space station, alien environments, and many many aliens, but it is what it is.
I tend to write overly wrong reviews so let me wrap up. The movie wobbles a little early on in as while it has a breakneck speed, is fun, and is visually stunning, it was hard to know exactly what was going on, but the visuals were so stunning and there is so much action I quickly forgave it. It isn’t long before the movie found its footing and it is perfect as a science fiction action film that is striving to be fun and to give the viewer things they have never seen before. There is some humor, a great deal of action, some really well-done alien designs, and once the viewer gets into the vast conspiracy at the heart of the film, an interesting plot. Pacing never drags and at times it is almost too fast; I was certainly never bored.
My only other complaints were at times the two leads seemed a bit young for their role, that both were amazingly arrogant and this arrogance was tolerated to an astonishing degree by each other and their superiors, and there are two cameos that basically look like the two stars and are unmistakable when you see them, though one of them turns into a fairly effective and interesting character. I do not think it is as good a _The Fifth Element_ but it does scratch that itch for a fantastic, non-dystopian future filled with a sense of wonder, aliens, very high technology, lots of action, a lived-in-this-is-a-real-place feel, and some good humor and is not treading old, familiar ground in franchises with multiple movies and TV/streaming series already. It is well worth watching.
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| Additional 4K options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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4K
November 27, 2017 "Please retry" | — | 3 | $229.49 | — |
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November 27, 2017 "Please retry" | — | — | $24.98 | $26.07 |
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Reviews with images
You want a digital movie redeem code with that? Sure... good luck with that😂
Luc Besson is a genius of sorts.. in my humble opinion. He consistently churns out wonderfully weird, fascinating and action packed movies with heart. This movie checks all those boxes and never bores. 5 stars.Unfortunately my review is more about the digital code provided by LIONSGATE. The Digital. Code adds to the value of the purchase, and as a consumer, I want my $$ to stretch as far as possible. Unfortunately LIONSGATE has provided bogus digital redeem codes in its packages. Per the digital code insert it states digital codes will expire at the end of 2019. As of the review its not 12/31/2019 and the code should work. i have gone through two different orders of this product in my quest to redeem the movie code to no avail. I have reached out to Lionsgate directly 3 times asking for assistance with a replacement code. Their website states a 24 response. I would have better luck reaching the pope.I reached out to Amazon to advise that their stock of this product has this issue and that they may want to pull the item and send it back to their supplier. Unfortunately Amazon was not concerned as much, and offered me a full refund. I appreciate that, however The issue is still un-resolved. I suppose amazon is not overly concerned of being overrun with customer complaints about this product and the digital code issue. If you choose to still purchase, don’t say you haven’t been notified.
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Mark T
The 4K Australian disc is 4K only. Not 2 disc
Reviewed in Australia on July 17, 2020