Friday, July 21, 2017

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

I have been looking forward to this film (which is often a recipe for disaster) based on one preview. It looked good. And I do like Luc Besson and his aesthetic. But wow. The story is pretty average: a couple of galactic cops get involved in a conspiracy/coverup that could cause a species to go extinct. Spoiler alert: they save the day. But with this average story, a visual feast is served up that is at once extravagant and stunning while at the same time being appropriate. That is, sometimes extravagant can pull you straight out of the story and cause you to look at the film. Here, the colors and aliens and scenes and technology all fits directly into the story and becomes an essential part drawing you into the story and what you are watching. So much so that you probably need to watch it a few times to truly grasp the scope of what is being presented. I loved this. Best sci-fi I have seen in quite a long time. By far the best film so far this summer.

In the "I have to mention it" category: Why do storytellers make silly and completely unnecessary scientific mistakes? Here, the Alpha space station is too big to continue orbiting earth and is sent on its way to become an independent entity. This story picks up several hundred years later, when the Alpha station is in the middle of nowhere, having travelled --and I quote "700 million miles". Ugh! 700 million miles puts the thing about 10AU, or around Saturn's orbit. Not out in some interstellar space. Completely unnecessary... and lazy...

5 stars (out of 5)

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