'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' Review

In Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, civilizations throughout the universe have joined together to amass Alpha, a space station metropolis housing species from a thousand planets. When an unfathomable threat emerges, intergalactic operatives Valerian and Laureline are tasked with unraveling the impending ultimatum in order to ensure the safety and well-being of Alpha and the universe-at-large. 

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is written and helmed by French visionary director Lucy Besson as an effort to adapt the long-running Franco-Belgian comic Valérian et Laureline into a feature length film. I was astounded to see Besson succeed in making one of the summer's most unique entires, but in the weirdest way possible. I'm not quite sure how Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is going to be received by mass audiences because even I constantly found myself at odds about whether I should be in awe at the wonderful world building and stunning spectacle on display or be appalled by the sloppy storytelling, dreadful dialogue, and lackluster leads. I chose the latter.

Besson's brain was clearly brimming with endless ideas on how he should translate the expansive universe and the amount of awe-inspiring aesthetics brought to the big screen are simply astounding. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets looks remarkable from start-to-finish, even though the vfx team are unable to compromise on authentically-rendered aliens and environments. The psychedelic setting is pretty on the eyes but it's distinctly a digital creation as opposed to an entirely immersive experience. The endless ingenuity and competently constructed CG-effects are what will get audiences on board this journey, but viewers may want to eject when they see what else Besson has in store for them. 

The narrative of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets follows a cyclical flow and in the second act loses the little momentum it had built from the start as story beats grow increasingly more repetitive to an obnoxious extent. There were a series of side quests that felt irrelevant to the grand overarching plot and these detours are quite taxing on the viewer as I steadily lost all interest in the events. These intrusions are clearly around as an excuse for Besson to explore this expansive world he's created and while that's the most interesting aspect of the movie, I wish he had found a better alternative to interweave these environments into the story. 

Besson's script also seems desperate to extract a few laughs with obvious pauses between lines of dialogue but none of the zingers land. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is unfunny to such an absurd extent that I find it difficult to believe anyone would have laughed at a single one-liner catered to the audience. It doesn't help that the dialogue presented is dreadfully cliché either. 

However, the film's more pressing problem is it's lead actors. Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevigne have absolutely no sparks flying between them so I was never able to buy into that romance that's supposed to be driving the story forward. The chemistry's simply not there and the dynamic seems contrived. Instead audiences are treated with deadpan dialogue delivery from both actors who put up cold, calculating fronts in direct opposition to the cool, charming characters on paper. DeHaan and Delevigne can't help but feel miscast in their respective roles. Based on the dialogue, Valerian's supposed to carry a roguish charm but DeHaan's unable to muster that and Laureline's a resilient intellectual but Delevigne never comes across as tough as the character's intended.

Oh yeah, and Rihanna's in this also! But you probably already knew that since she's in nearly all the trailers and posters put out by the studio. It's one of the oddest additions to the movie as Rihanna's shapeshifting blob Bubble enters and leaves the story in a whirlwind that leaves you thinking "Wow! That was woefully convenient." She's got an exotic appearance as eye-candy for a bit and then embarks on a short-lived adventure to be forgotten mere moments later. Esteemed actors like Ethan Hawke and Clive Owen can also be found among the cast and they fill their roles with the required attributes but neither left a lasting impression.

If you don't care about story or character, then Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is worth the price of admission for the arresting images and brilliantly-built backdrops alone. However, I'd personally say a ticket to War for the Planet of the Apes or Spider-Man: Homecoming would be more deserving of your time and money. I haven't yet seen Dunkirk so I can't make a whole-hearted endorsement there, but I plan on seeing it twice this weekend to check it out in both 70MM and IMAX formats so I can advise viewers on the ultimate experience. When all is said-and-done though, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets winds up bearing the resemblance of a soulless, superficial special effects reel rather than stepping into the shoes of a spectacular space opera. 

Film Assessment: D

'The Magnificent Seven' (2016) Review

This 2016 take on The Magnificent Seven is a remake of The Magnificent Seven (1960), which is actually a remake of Seven Samurai in a western setting, and tells a familiar story of seven gunslingers tasked with defending an Old Western town from a gold digger and his army of cutthroat henchmen.

Antoine Fuqua steps up to the task of telling the story one more time as director and I feel Fuqua maintained a nice balance between paying homage to crucial moments from the 1960's adaptation and daring to modernize the film with a more representative diverse cast and blockbuster style action. Fuqua and his cinematographer Mauro Fiore frame some gorgeous shots of the devoid western landscape against the harsh sun that evoked classic western imagery.

The visual effects, stunt crew, and production design team all collaborated to set up some truly awesome and memorable action set pieces that will no doubt give you something to smile about. My one nitpick with these sequences is very minuscule in that these gun men can't seem to miss a single shot. They shoot, reload, shoot, and so on never failing to miss their mark, it's something that's evocative of most modern blockbusters, but in this case seemed a little too unrealistic. Where The Magnificent Seven falls a tad short of the 1960's version is in it's script.

The screenplay devised by Richard Wenk and Nic Pizzolatto does a great job of making the seven more unique likable characters, fleshing out their backstory, and interjecting some undercurrent symbolic Christ allegories to make the proceedings more interesting but some dialogue comes across as forced humor. I really must commend them on their creative character names because they all perfectly encompass the grit of the Old West. The duo keep a lot of their writing at surface level never quite fully exploring the bountiful areas to explore that a Western provides.

The Magnificent Seven also features the final compositions from James Horner, a brilliant film composer who only recently died in a plane crash. While Horner didn't get to complete the scoring, his longtime friend and collaborator Simon Franglen helped ensure Horner's works made it into the final cut and with the help of his music department  who finished out the score to be as James Horner-esque as possible. In addition, the music team don't ignore the Elmer Bernstein's classic themes, incorporating them into the film's final moments. The end result though was truly exceptional and brought to mind everything that should accompany a classic western; solemn tragedy, high riding adventure, and bristling energy.

The incredible cast assembled inject even more fun to the proceedings as it's clear the chemistry on set was genuine and that these actors were genuinely having a great time. Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ethan Hawke, Byung-Hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Martin Sensmeir make up the seven and though some cast members were more developed than others, everyone has their moment in the limelight.

Haley Bennett was a surprising standout playing a capable female character in Emma Cullen, a step up from her damsel-in-distress role earlier this year in Hardcore Henry. 

Peter Sarsgaard plays the greedy gold digger Bartholomew and comes across as the typical villain that wants to profit off others' misfortunes by stealing land to mine for gold. I feel it's worth noting that I saw The Magnificent Seven in IMAX and felt the enhanced sound and immense screen size made the viewing experience all the better so if you're willing to pay for the premium viewing experience you will get your money's worth.

While The Magnificent Seven doesn't venture out of the traditional Western sandbox, it succeeds on being a fun shoot 'em up that's definitely worth a watch. The Magnificent Seven is exactly what it's marketed to be, a wildly entertaining popcorn western with strong direction, a terrific cast having the time of their lives, and a legendary film composer's final rousing score.

Film Assessment: B+

'Boyhood' Review

Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director; Richard Linklater, Best Supporting Actor; Ethan Hawke, Best Supporting Actress; Patricia Arquette, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.

Won: Best Supporting Actress; Patricia Arquette.

After hearing plenty of positive buzz surrounding this film I have eagerly anticipated watching Boyhood. Now that I have seen it, I can say that it really lived up to the hype. I loved this film and how it centered around what it's like to be an adolescent boy growing up, etc. I really related to the film because the actor is around the same age I am/was so I remember all of these things that happened and seeing technology advance, etc. I liked how smooth the transition between years in the film were and seeing each of the actors actually age in the 12 year period the film was made in. I highly recommend that you see this film because it was one of the best movies to be released in 2014 and won't be surprised if it wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards.