Valerian.....ugh.

[dramamama611]

Has got to be one of the worst films I've ever seen.

Acting - awful 

Writing - awful

Direction - not good

Story line - mundane and unfocused 

CGI  - good

Make up design - interesting 

Trailer for A Wrinkle in Time  - excellent. 

 

I could elaborate, but I've already wasted too much time with this film.

[TheQuibbler]

I liked it, though I thought it was more successful when it went off of little tangents than when it adhered to its plot. The deviations from the rather basic storyline allowed Besson to indulge in some pretty fun, clever set pieces and world building. I thought DeHaan and Delevingne had a loose, flirty chemistry despite the latter's obvious inexperience. There was a strong, unique visual style. The plot doesn't ultimately amount to much but there was enough along the way for me to appreciate. 

[sabrelady]

In science fiction we call this kinda stuff Space Opera (Space opera is a sub genre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, melodramatic adventure, interplanetary battles, as well as chivalric romance, and often risk-taking.)

It is one of the lowest levels of scifi and needs a strong control to bring it up to a story you care about- cough*StarWars* cough. At a certain point JUST visuals can't cut it. There seems to be a real opinion in Hollywood if it looks good  people won't care that there is no substance.

Not so much.

[Broadway Joe]

I haven't seen the movie but I did find it interesting that George Lucas definitely copied aspects from this graphic novel this movie is based on to make star wars. 

www.popularmechanics.com/culture/movies/amp15532/heres-what-star-wars-took-from-valerian/

[sabrelady]

To be fair, SF is full of  borrowed influences. David Gerrold  once wrote an apology to Robert Heinlein , worried he's stolen the idea for Tribbles from Heinlein's  flatcats. Heinlien replied  saying they probably both owed  Buttler's "Pigs is Pigs" ss a debt.

 

For a more obvious borrowing/research- try this Northwest Smith character from C.L. Moore

By profession, Smith is an outlaw who lives by a variety of criminal means, including smuggling. By nature, he is an anti-hero, ruthless, self-serving, and cynical. Despite this, he has a core of goodness and often does the right thing in spite of himself. Smith is described as a dark haired man with "space bronzed" skin and pale eyes, who wears brown spacer's leathers and carries a raygun at his side like an old west gunfighter. His ship, the Maid, is small and unspectacular but surprisingly fast and agile.

Cough* HAN SOLO*Cough

[sabrelady]

[MrsSallyAdams]

Things I enjoyed in Valerian:

The opening montage where the space station is built.
The inter-dimensional market sequence. 
The three comic information brokers.
Some of the visuals in the mad rushes through the station.
Rhianna's campy burlesque dance.
 

If they'd recast the leads and/or cut all the terrible conversations about their "relationship" it would have been a fairly painless romp.