"Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets" Review
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has been a lifelong passion project for filmmaker Luc Besson (The Professional, The Fifth Element, Lucy). Based on a French comic book series entitled Valerian and Laureline, Besson has been trying to get a film version off the ground during his entire filmmaking career. After scoring his biggest hit yet in 2014 with Lucy, Besson finally decided to pull the trigger and make the film. While there were parts of the film that I enjoyed, there were other parts that stopped the film dead in its tracks.
During the opening credits of Valerian, we are treated to a montage about how the space station Alpha became the city of a thousand planets. Hundreds of years later, special operatives Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are assigned by the government to investigate a dark force that’s taking place within the center of Alpha. Not only could it affect Alpha, but it could have ramifications across the entire universe.
One of the things that I liked about Valerian is the visual look that Besson and his longtime DP, Thierry Arbogast, gave the film. At times, the film looked like it was leaping off the pages of the comic book. It’s probably one of the most colorful films you will come across this summer. Both the production and creature designs in this were great as well. They did a really good job in making sure one stood out from the other. The production design, especially with Alpha, was astounding. I will say that for both DeHaan and Delevingne, this was better then their last films they were both in (A Cure for Wellness (the 2nd worst film I’ve seen this year) and Suicide Squad). The action scenes were cool, well designed, and imaginative, especially during a sequence at the Big Market that takes place on different dimensions. Including the mostly single take shot from the trailers of Valerian running through different sections of Alpha. When the film was good, it was fun.
One of the biggest problems that I had with this film is the runtime. The story that Besson presented to us in no way warranted the 137-minute runtime that this had. Even though this was his passion project, Besson needed to trim the fat. There are characters and scenes in this film that could be easily eliminated and the film still would have played the same way. With this runtime, the film takes awhile for the plot to kick in (the same issue Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 had earlier this summer). As soon as the film started to get good, it would stop dead in its tracks and nothing would happen. So it keeps you waiting and waiting for developments.
The plot itself was a little confusing to follow, and it’s not particularly exciting. Also, while I said that this was better then their last films respectively, DeHaan and Delevingne had zero chemistry with one another. Maybe there were better actors for these roles. The music from Alexander Desplat was a little disappointing as well in that it’s not particularly memorable. When I first saw the ads, I thought it would be a great film to see in 3D. Sadly, the 3D doesn’t add much to the film, and only a couple of spots here and there. Lastly, the subtitles for a film like this weren’t particularly imaginative, and oddly, they were framed on the extreme edges of the screen.
Overall, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets wasn’t a bad film per say, but it wasn’t a great film. I wished it fully embraced the weirdness that the ads were showing us. For some of the runtime, it delivered what I was hoping for. If they would have cut down the runtime, I think I would have a much more positive outlook on the film. It’s a film that sometimes goes around in circles not knowing what it wants to be. I don’t see this doing well here in the United States, but it’ll be interesting to see how it does overseas. If you want a great sci-fi film from Besson, stick with The Fifth Element. You don’t need to pay the price for a 3D ticket. If you must, go see this during a matinee screening. If not, catch it on TV sometime.
Rating: B-
"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" Review
Dear studio heads, just because you’re making a tent-pole movie (films that are guaranteed to make large amounts of money) doesn’t mean that they have to be long. In fact less is more sometimes. “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is a bit longer than necessary and stuffed with plot points. It isn’t the best super hero film of the summer, but it’s a fun ride.
The film opens with a backstory on Richard Parker (Campbell Scott) uncovering evil at Oscorp, and fleeing after destroying fourteen years worth of work there. You can guess what becomes of him and his wife. Present day Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is at home flying between the skyscrapers of New York City, but more importantly in his skin (or suit) as Spider-Man. He and on-again off-again girlfriend, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), have just graduated high school. Even though Peter is plagued by the Gwen’s father’s ghost (kind of) he struggles with giving into love and the promise he made to her father.
The chemistry between Stone and Garfield is genuine and you either reminisce on times that you’ve felt that way or envy their relationship as a viewer. That being said, we spend the first hour of the film setting up the back and forth forbidden love they share. In the mean time, uber stereotypical nerd Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) is saved by Spider-Man. With extreme social issues and the desire to be known, Max becomes obsessed with Spider-Man because of their brief encounter. Foxx's comic timing helps make Max somewhat humorous as a character I've never seen in life. Maybe that's the point? He's rarely noticed. Another subplot is the death of Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper), which brings his son Harry (Dane DeHaan) back into town and Peter’s life. Before his father dies, Harry learns that he has a genetic disease that will kill him soon. I really like DeHaan as an actor. He generally plays troubled youths, and he doesn't overplay the role too much here.
With the stage set for volatile people to become villains, they do. Max has an accident at Oscorp, turning him into Electro. Harry believes he needs Spider-Man’s blood to live and goes after it.
Spoiler Alerts in the next paragraph. Skip down one if you haven’t seen the film.
This film proves that cutting an amazing trailer can increase ticket sales. I went into the movie thinking Spidey would have an epic battle with two villains, Electro and Green Goblin, at the same time. I also thought Rhino would be seen a lot more. I was disappointed in the fact that these villains faced Spider-Man one at a time, and more so that Green Goblin and Rhino got about five minutes of screen time each. I love a slow burn to the climactic big fight, but in comparison to the trailer the film was anti-climactic. Is it just me or does it not make sense that Richard Parker supposedly killed all the super spiders in the past but Harry Osborne can’t find one in the present day? Didn’t Peter get bit by one?
Safe to read below.
The film excels in pockets mainly surrounding the relationships of Peter Parker. He and Gwen have and undeniable bond. The relationship between Peter and Aunt May (Sally Field) shows years of life condensed to beautiful moments on screen. Even the friendship between Peter and Harry is heart warming. Unfortunately, there’s a disconnect between the human moments and other plot points in the film.
Overall, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is an entertaining film. It’s worth seeing in theaters to see some of the best web slinging, high flying action of the Spidey franchise (Tobey Maguire included). The writers definitely went after the light hearted Spider-Man of the comics and it translates. Yet, in comparison to other super hero films of late it has a lot of fat to trim to compete.
Rating: C+