fumanstan

I don't get the impression that Valerian is anywhere near the same path for the kind of following that Leon or Fifth Element has. Maybe it's still early, but as someone that's in geek/nerd circles where everyone knows what the "multipass" reference is, I don't know anyone that cares about Valerian.

melasnus

Obviously you need to travel in a different circle.

bunkaroo

This movie didn't have anywhere near the heart Fifth Element or Leon had IMO. The leads were awful.

RoboDad

No, it will never achieve the iconic geek pop culture status that The Fifth Element has. And, I think much of that comes from the great performances that Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, and Milla Jovovich delivered.

But, as lightweight fluff entertainment, Valerian was fine, and it is amazing to look at. The otherworld landscapes are breathtaking.

Brack

The whole Big Market scene with the glasses and Valerian getting his hand stuck in it was splendid, funny and filled with a lot of funny characters and creatures. So was the Glamopod scene with Bubble, and that weird food tasting alien king stuff. Clive Owen was great in his small role. There’s a lot of other stuff I liked or at least admired that may have come off as bland or childish, maybe that was the point, I’m not sure. Not trying to defend it from detractors, but giving people like a “yeah, okay” explanation.

Michael Corvin

Well, despite it being free on Prime, I decided to rent the 4k disc. It was indeed gorgeous. Especially the opening sequence on the beach. I was ready to book my vacation there. That being said, I could have watched an entire movie in that setting with that alien species, even with as little dialog there was. Just a visual feast.

After that, the movie is kind of all over the place. Starting with the biggest complaint everyone has, casting... Cara/Laureline was pretty good, but just a tad too stoic. Dane/Valarian seemed like he was doing his best Han Solo impersonation and failing miserably. They had zero chemistry together which hurt it. Ethan Hawke was great. Clive Owen was great. Rhianna was not.

The humor and pacing felt very similar to the Fifth Element but the film as a whole just felt 'off' to me. It wasn't bad, per se, but just kind of average, maybe a tad above average. I actually caught the last :45 of 5th Element today on television and it just has that perfect blend of casting/chemistry, humor and action. I'll watch some of that everytime it's on. I don't see myself doing that with Valerian.

I just don't see it happening when the two leads are so wooden and lack any chemistry.

kd5

Apparently the casting didn't bother me nearly as much as it does some people, I had a lot of fun with this movie, glad I added it to my collection (after the price tag dropped, because 99% of the time I'm a cheap bastard).

Abob Teff

Add me to the list who enjoyed it! Not much to add that hasn’t already been said.

I thought Laureline was great, but I’m not sure what they were going for with Valerian. I think a mistake Besson may have made was assuming audiences were familiar with the characters and not providing any backstory. Jumping right into the “romance” (which was flat) didn’t help.

I would love to see Valerian and Laureline adapted into a TV series.

I’ve been hooked on this since watching the movie:

melasnus

Although they aren't household names, I didn't mind the casting.
Their lack of "chemistry" was part of the setup.
Laureline through out the film kept telling Valerian he wasn't her type of guy.
He spent most of the movie trying to persuade her otherwise.
I thought it worked well enough.

dom56

Same here, I rent this on Netflix and thought it was a good popcorn flick to watch. Brought the blu-ray at Best Buy at $17.

davidh777

Watched this on Prime and thought it was... fine. Great-looking and imaginative for sure, and Cara DeLivigne was hot, though I couldn't stop thinking of someone early on in this thread describing her as "resting bitch face." DeHaan was terrible, though--couldn't stand him.

I'm not an expert on the comics but I've read several of them, and it is cool to see them represented on screen. I'd probably watch a sequel more than I'd watch this again, except maybe for the early beach scene.

Draven

Just watched it on Prime too. This is where I landed. It was fine. Looked great. Cara was hot. That was about it.

Of course, I hate The 5th Element with the passion of 1000 suns, so that was definitely a factor.

EddieMoney

Carla looks like a man.

And Dane has one of the most irritating voices I've ever heard.

TomOpus

Brack

That’s a hot man then.

dex14

Brack

EddieMoney

Carla IS a man...would still bang

EddieMoney

And there's no way she could have carried that proton pack up three stories.

#ValerianandtheCityofaThousandCucks

davidh777

I've seen The Fifth Element a number of times and own it on multiple formats, and I think it's... fine. Great-looking and imaginative for sure, but the story just leaves me cold somehow. I revisit it every few years and haven't been able to love it.

And I don’t hate Besson. I just prefer something like Leon/The Professional.

dex14

Rob V

Both leads suffer from chronic RBF.

nando820

Just watched this last night with Amazon prime!
And yeah I agree with most of you guys, it was visually impressive and the story was pretty engaging
But the leads suck, I don't remember them sucking so much on previous movies so I think the blame has to be put on the director a bit too.
There were many moments were they were smirking or rolling their eyes like teenage brats where the scene did not call for it. A better director would have stopped that shit and straighten them up a bit more

nmr1723

Finally got some time to watch this on Prime last night. Like many of you, I thought it was OK, but not close to great by any means. My problem was mostly with Dehaan. I just don't buy him as this badass, ladies man that he's supposed to be. It's not just a looks thing either. He just doesn't put off that vibe at all in this film. Instead, he comes across as a cocky little kid that is way out of his league in everything he does and is constantly getting his ass in trouble only to be saved by others. Then, at the end, he turns into the ultimate badass doing Darth Maul flips and shooting Cylons like crazy.

And holy shit does he sound like someone trying to do a Keanu impression. It hit me right from the start and it was hard to not think about it every time he opened his mouth.

I was REALLY hoping this would be one of those films that would exceed my very low expectations, but the dialog and actions of the protagonists just didn't make me care about them. The Pearls were the best characters in the movie, unfortunately.

Dr. DVD

Thought I posted in here when this was released. Oh well, my sentiments were more or less the same as everyone else. Visually I loved it, but everywhere else it fell flat. The movie really came across as if someone wanted to make a kids friendly Heavy Metal comic adaptation, which anyone who reads the magazine would know isn't possible. Also, I have read some of the source material, and I just don't see how Besson would think that it would be something popular enough to adapt, even for overseas crowds.