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Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets: An Epic Vision of Sci-Fi Maximalism
However, this praise was vastly overshadowed by a tidal wave of negative criticism. The overwhelming consensus was that the movie was a case of “style over substance.” The most damning complaints were reserved for the chemistry between the two leads, Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. Many critics deemed them , noting that they looked too young and lacked the charisma needed for action heroes. One scathing review wrote that their chemistry is “nonexistent” and that the film “would be fantastic on mute”.
Many reviews could be summarized by this sentiment: "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets uses sheer kinetic energy and visual thrills to overcome narrative obstacles and offer a viewing experience whose surreal pleasures often outweigh its flaws". Others were less forgiving, labeling it "a nearly 140 minutes slog through poor storytelling, boring characters, laughably bad dialogue, and CGI overload". The Rotten Tomatoes consensus that "the visuals are amazing, but the witless banter recalls Katherine Heigl and Gerald Butler far more than it stirs memories of Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott" became a recurring theme in the film's postmortem.
Though it didn't ignite a massive franchise in the U.S., Valerian remains a cult favorite for sci-fi enthusiasts. It serves as a testament to European sci-fi's unique voice—prioritizing wonder, strange biology, and high-concept philosophy over traditional Hollywood tropes. Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets - E...
In the years following its release, Valerian has undergone a massive critical reappraisal among home viewers and sci-fi enthusiasts. It is frequently celebrated alongside films like Speed Racer and Tron: Legacy as an unapologetically bold visual experiment that prioritized world-building and artistic expression over safe, homogenized studio storytelling formulas.
: A mind-bending bazaar existing entirely in an alternate, higher dimension. Shoppers must wear specialized trans-dimensional helmets and gloves to interact with goods that are physically invisible to the naked eye. Plot, Cast, and the Disconnect of the Leads
Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) walks a razor’s edge between cinematic excess and imaginative bravura. It’s a film that refuses modesty — a cartoon of cosmic ambition, drenched in saturated color, kinetic editing, and relentless invention. For anyone who loves science fiction as a genre of wonder rather than merely ideology, Valerian is an essential, if imperfect, modern fable: an argument that cinema can still astonish when it chooses imagination over convenience.
Valerian dared a studio system that increasingly favors IP-safe computations: it spent lavishly on originality rather than formula. The film’s commercial underperformance is often discussed as a cautionary tale, but it’s more instructive to read Valerian as proof that large-scale originality still exists in mainstream cinema and that such projects, even when flawed, expand the grammar of cinematic possibility. Did you mean a different "E" (e
The heart of the film is Alpha: the "City of a Thousand Planets." What began as the International Space Station in our near future gradually expanded over centuries as hundreds of alien species docked their own vessels and modules to it. Eventually becoming too massive for Earth's orbit, Alpha was pushed out into deep space. By the 28th century, it evolved into a sprawling, floating metropolis where thirty million inhabitants from thousands of different worlds share their knowledge, culture, and technologies. A Visual Masterpiece of World-Building
Untuk mencapai visi besarnya, Besson merekrut pasukan VFX super. Rumah-rumah efek seperti Weta Digital, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), dan Rodeo FX disatukan. Adegan ikonik di mana Valerian melintasi Pasar Besar multidimensi adalah keajaiban teknis yang ditangani oleh ILM Vancouver. Sementara itu, Weta Digital berperan dalam menciptakan dunia pertama yang tenang dari planet Mül dan makhluk-makhluknya yang lembut. Semua kolaborasi ini membuat film ini diakui sebagai pesta visual yang membayangkan berbagai dimensi, karakter, dan dunia yang belum pernah dijelajahi sebelumnya di bioskop.
A shapeshifting alien entertainer played by pop superstar Rihanna, whose dazzling, multi-costume dance routine serves as one of the film's standout artistic set pieces.
Because is a film that prioritizes imagination over logic. In an era where sci-fi is often grey, gritty, and realistic (think Blade Runner 2049 or The Expanse ), Besson’s film is blindingly bright and unapologetically weird. The overwhelming consensus was that the movie was
Upon release, Valerian was considered a financial disappointment (grossing only $225 million against its massive budget). Yet, in the streaming era, it has found a cult second life. Why?
Ultimately, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets stands as a fascinating artifact of 21st-century blockbuster filmmaking. It demonstrates how advanced visual effects can realize any conceivable world, yet proves that spectacle without soul is hollow. The film’s creative triumph is Alpha itself—a hopeful, diverse, living city that deserves to be explored in a more grounded story. Its failure is its human (and humanoid) drama. For fans of production design and alien ecology, the film is an essential reference. For those seeking a compelling sci-fi adventure, it serves as a shimmering, hollow reminder that even the most beautiful city feels empty when you don’t care about the people walking through it.
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