New Review: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Is there such a thing as too much imagination? If so, then auteur Luc Besson is guilty of it. Arguably best known for directing and producing more action-oriented thrillers like Leon- The Professional, La Femme Nikita, The Transporter and Taken (the last three of which spawned TV shows- two in the case of Nikita), to me Besson has always been at his best when completely unleashed.

Witness the completely bonkers The Fifth Element and the more cerebral, but still pretty out there Lucy. Both are examples of Besson's imagination firing on all cylinders, and absolutely rank among his finest efforts. Both also were surprisingly successful at the box office, given how mental they are on the whole. 

Would the third time be the charm for Besson's return to nuttier fantasy worlds? Sadly, the answer is no, but not for lack of ambition, that's for sure. Though the film may have belly-flopped at the cinemas, grossing only $225 million on a budget of approximately $200 million, it's easily one of Besson's most enthusiastic, energetic works, if not entirely successful on the whole.

The biggest problem is the lack of compelling leads. As the titular Valerian, actor Dane DeHaan is dreadfully miscast. It's not that he's a bad actor- quite the contrary. DeHaan excels at playing complex, villainous types in particular- witness his star-making turn in Chronicle and even his work in the sub-par-but-watchable The Amazing Spider-Man 2, in which he played The Green Goblin.

I'm certainly not implying he should only play villains, mind you- he was also good as a troubled character in the underrated The Place Beyond the Pines and he was sympathetic as the much put-upon boyfriend in the rom-zom-com Life After Beth. 

But as a heroic, Han Solo-type? Not so much. DeHaan is a solid actor, but he's no Harrison Ford in his prime. He just lacks the swagger, the machismo, the primal, gruff, no-nonsense-ness of an actor like that. 70's-era Burt Reynolds he's not.

Not that he necessarily should be. Everyone has a niche, something they excel at, and his is flawed, realistically  flailing characters that often make bad choices, but aren't always bad people. Needless to say, that is not really what is required here, even in an inherently-flawed character such as this one.

Sometimes it's all about getting lucky. Think about it. Who would have pegged Chris Pratt as an action hero before Guardians of the Galaxy? Before that, he was the chunky guy from Parks and Rec. But he fit the character, who was supposed to be a bit of a fumbling schlep-type.

Now that he's in shape, and more confident, it was no problem buying him as action-hero-guy in the subsequent Jurassic World. But DeHaan? A bit hard to swallow. For one thing, he's about 100 pounds soaking wet, and that's being generous. DeHaan just lacks the charisma that is needed to sell himself as an action hero.

Astonishingly, supermodel-turned-actress Cara Delevingne, though not exactly a heavy-weight her own damn self, is much more convincing as the sidekick that kicks more ass than Valerian does, often bailing him out of the sticky situations he inadvertently gets himself into. 

Delevingne first caught my eye outside of fashion magazines in the excellent, somewhat underrated adaptation of John Green's Paper Towns. Playing a quirky, flighty girl next door that leads her teen neighbor on an Amélie-like quest, she was pretty great, if somewhat underused by design.

Here, she's front and center, and if still a bit miscast, she's at least a better fit than DeHaan, as Laureline. I guess the worst one can say is that she seems a bit like a supermodel playing dress-up without quite committing to the part. To put it another way, she seems much more at home in a swimsuit- which the movie somehow manages to make time for (hmm...I wonder why?)- than in action hero mode.

Don't get me wrong- she sells the fact that her character is as much infuriated by Valerian as she is into him, but it often also seems like the former far outweighs the latter, leaving the viewer wondering why she does like him in the first place, given that he leaves her holding the bag and doing the heavy lifting more often than not. Him being into her, I totally get. The other way around? Not so much.

Outshining them both is pop star Rihanna, who stuffs more into her scant screen time than both the leads combined. Now THIS is what you want in a fantasy character: complexity, mystery, beauty and humor, all wrapped up in an enigmatic mess of ever-changing images and personas.

Rihanna had a banner year, acting-wise, between this and especially her expectation-defying (in more ways than you'd expect) turn as the classic Hitchcock anti-heroine Marion Crane in TV's Bates Motel. 

She's been really tentative in her choices, which haven't always been wise- Battleship, anyone?- but as of late, they've been much more assured and she's delivered the goods, ably. It's almost enough to make one look forward to the all-female Ocean's 8, retread though it may be. 

Here, she plays Bubble, a sort of alien courtesan, but also a captive forced to do her "owner's" bidding, played by a game Ethan Hawke, who also gets the tone of the movie, and is sort of the more reigned-in Chris Tucker of this film. (Although ANYTHING is more reigned in than THAT, save maybe Nicholas Cage at his most unhinged.)

Sadly, Rihanna isn't in the movie much, but it certainly picks up when she is, just as the section does in which Delevingne takes the lead in DeHaan's absence, when he goes missing for a while. In other words, the ladies pretty much make the film, which is appropriate, given the recent political climate, where women's rights are front and center.

Elsewhere, Clive Owen makes for a decent villain, and it's a kick seeing Blade Runner vet Rutger Hauer and jazz superstar Herbie Hancock crop up, even if Besson doesn't give them much to do. 

The aliens, including one voiced by John Goodman, fare much better. I especially liked the duplicitous three that hassle Laureline, who finish each other's sentences and have their own hidden agenda.  

Which brings me to the real problem here. What do you do with a movie in which the trappings are more compelling than the main story? True to the title, there are a thousand different worlds here to explore, and we often get just a glimpse of most of them, save extended bits in the Big Market bazaar and the planet Mül. 

Honestly, I'd almost have preferred an anthology-type film, in which we spent time in a select few places, and got to know the denizens at bit more. The film kind of flirts with that- for instance, we also get a bit of a whirlwind tour of the lifestyle of the "Boulan Bathors," who kidnap Laureline at one point. But each of these bits is so brief, we barely get a chance to catch our breath before it's off to another locale.

Now granted, like I said before, Besson is nothing if not imaginative. The fact that, even as flawed as the film is, we still find ourselves wanting more, is saying something. It's just a problem when the main story and the two leads are less compelling than the surroundings, you know? 

As such, I almost found myself more fascinated by the behind-the-scenes material, which was, in many ways, more compelling than the film itself. So much went into the details of this film, much of which is barely seen, that you have to give it up to the creators, who really went above and beyond the call of duty. I imagine this was all even more impressive in 3D, from a purely visual standpoint.

But alas, the movie itself is like Bubble. It's all flash and pretty images, but we only get a glimpse of what's going on underneath the surface, which is too bad, because I liked what I saw of it. I would have to say that the film is worth seeing once on the strength of the visuals alone, but story-wise, it's a letdown. 

Here's hoping Besson never stops letting his Freak Flag fly, but also that, in the future, he has a better vehicle to sail it on. As it stands, sadly, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a tourist trap posing as a can't-miss destination, so you should treat it like one- get what you can out of it and enjoy it while it lasts, but don't expect much else, in terms of a lasting impression.