Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets also plays into this straight-male wish-fulfillment fantasy, with its titular lead, a soldier in a galactic federation, played by the sullen, pale, puffy-eyed Dane DeHaan (The Amazing Spider-Man). Valerian and Laureline begin to unravel a federation conspiracy involving an intelligent alien species that once lived on a paradise planet that was mysteriously blown up. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is colourful, multitudinous, often imaginative, but the lack of a hermeneutic world and internal logic lessens the stakes for the viewer to care about. The film’s misguided reliance on romance is present from the get-go, when Valerian hits on Laureline, only to be rebuffed. For a story set hundreds of years in the future, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets feels woefully antiquated even in 2017.

Source: National Post July 20, 2017 19:18 UTC