Just saw the trailer. This is the first time I've heard of this IP. In the comics/graphic novels, is Valerian supposed to be an adult male? Dane as Valerian looks like a young teenager, a kid. He looks way younger than Cara, making it look more like a relationship between a high school teacher and one of her students. When I watch this, I'll have trouble accepting Dane as a mature adult man, if that's what Valerian is supposed to be.
shareHe may seem young. But Dane is 31. Cara is only 25.
shareRegardless of his actual age, he looks more like 15 or 16 to me, like he's a Power Ranger. The makeup department should have made an effort to make him look older.
shareWhy? People can look young. There is no particular reason why he should be aged.
sharePeople can look young... but that when the audience thinks they look too young its a problem. My teenage daughters thought they both looked too young and out of place.
Then of course there is the fact that neither one could act their way out of a paper box. This is a movie that had some potential but pissed it all away by having the two leads miscast in the worst way.
People can look young in roles for young people. In this movie he was a Major and was tasked to be in charge of security for the Commander of the whole station. That's something that a senior officer would do, not a kid just out of high school.
shareShould have cast Leonardo DiCaprio as an adult Dane DeHaan.
shareWouldn't his youthful look lend to his genetic superiority?
shareActin wuz bad too
shareI think almost everyone was miscast in this movie but the cheesy acting kind of works at the same time. Just seemed like the Dane and Cara gave zero shits while filming the movie.
shareYes. He doesn't come off as a mature adult man, but as Cara's younger teenage brother.
shareYes I agree. It's a total misrepresentation of the comic books, in fact I dislike both of the main actors, because the comic book characters are so recognisable. He is the worst, though, he is just so extremely far away from the drawn character that it makes me wonder what else the director and casting people didn't care about. I won't see it simply because of the casting, because the characters are certain types in the books. It's not about acting, I also wouldn't want Peter Dinklage as Hercules in a movie, despite I think he is great.
shareHe is the worst, though, he is just so extremely far away from the drawn character that it makes me wonder what else the director and casting people didn't care about.
Very much like Han Solo, but drawn more like the typical tall, dark and handsome - with square jaw. Laureline is a redhead with cattish almond eyes.
https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/valerian-comic-book-luc-besson.jpg
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2017/07/COVER_Valerian_TheCompleteCollection_V1/lead_960.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fi/thumb/1/14/Valerian_ja_Laureline.jpg/500px-Valerian_ja_Laureline.jpg
Wow, I took a look at more pictures and they look great in the comics. Stoic/graceful and even attractive. And the creatures look interesting too (from the few panels I've seen).
The creature designs in Valerian the movie look kind of off...slightly repulsive to look at. Another funny thing about the lead - a movie critic chuckled at the idea of Dane DeHaan having "thousands of sexual conquests."
Yes, as I have seen it now, I can say that not only do they not look like the characters they represent, their acting is also awful, sadly. Even the short sequence with Rutger Hauer is awful.
shareI'm not familiar with the comics, but those two weren't cast well, at all. Not only are they not the best of actors, they look like children, not adult government agents, and they had zero chemistry. They weren't particularly fun or enjoyable to spend two hours on a space adventure with either.
And don't get me started on Rhianna. Can they stop trying to make her a thing in movies?
I had other problems with the film, but with a good enough cast this would've been so much more fun.
I watched the movie anyway, despite what I wrote, out of curiosity, and I have to admit it was well made. It did look somewhat like the comics and the CGI was occasionally really good. However, it also has almost no story and no character background, with generally really shallow characters and overlong pointless sequences (just like in Fifth Element) the action sequences just go on and on.
As I have read a lot of the comics including the first, I found it odd that there was no reference to the background of the woman, who originally came from the Middle Ages in France (in the comics). Instead they were represented as a couple almost fresh out of some kind of academy, which they referenced as if they went there together(!). The two main characters were very unlike the comics and they were kind of annoying, in my opinion. The banter between then fell flat, while it is actually humorous in the books. You get to know the characters MUCH better in the comics. In the comics, time travel is an important aspect, completely lost in the movie.
I can't really understand how this could be made with that kind of a budget. I believe it's the most expensive non-US movie ever made. Surely some effort could be made with the actual story? As it is, it becomes an in medias res introduction to the characters. I can understand that spending too much time on the characters would be annoying as well, as has happened in some other cartoon based live action movies, but at least some kind of context or something, something which is not annoying narration, would be nice. Also, the intro sequence with some avatar like aliens goes on and on and on and on, I thought it would never end, and NOTHING interesting happens there for most of the sequence. Even when something important takes place at the end of this mini-avatar, it is also overdone and overlong and it's even partially repeated later in the movie.
Ps. the Rihanna bit was ALSO overlong and really annoying. I suspect this is the equivalent to the Fifth Elements alien opera sequence. In fact, this movie should be called Fifth Element II. They couldn't even give it a decent title, even the title is overlong.
pps. apparently it is actually somewhat similar at first glance to Ambassador of the Shadows, the Valérian and Laureline album, but it is also very different.
I agree, it did look pretty. Maybe all that money went to the effects, because there was a lot of CGI.
I had no idea who these people were, or if they were romantically involved or he's just constantly hitting on Laureline. No background, no character arc, no nothing. And I agree on the banter as well, not fun and not funny. As I said in another thread, nothing was well developed. For a two hour long film, they could've spend _some_ time establishing the characters for the audience.
Were the Na'vi-Mul not in the comics? That part of the plot wasn't well developed either. Is much of what happens in the film taken from different parts of the comics? That would explain some of the story issues if they were trying to cram too much of the source material into one film.
I got The Fifth Element vibes watching this as well. At least the Opera scene in that had _some_ relevance to the plot, and the Opera singer was important to it. Rihanna was there just so that Valerian can go into that place Laureline was stuck at. And then she died... I think The Fifth Element is a much tighter, better film.
The plot is very different. It has some sequences and characters in common, but they are all different in the movie, perhaps except the three who sell info. Many of the same things happen, but in a different context. The nature of the albino looking aliens is totally different in the book, not even remotely similar, so this is made up by Besson.
Putting Rihanna in the movie like that ensures that it will be dated. It's really out of place in the movie.
I don't think a movie version has to follow any particular book, but this is just not a very good representation of Valerian & Laureline, despite the visual similarity (which does not include the leading characters).
"However, it also has almost no story and no character background, with generally really shallow characters and overlong pointless sequences (just like in Fifth Element) the action sequences just go on and on."
It sort of had too many stories. It felt like it was a whole bunch of separate action scenes sewn together for no particular reason. As for the endless action scenes, I think that's just what kids like these days -- almost every action movie had endless chase and fight scenes enhanced by CGI that is constantly in motion. It seems that there are literally a thousand things moving on the screen at any given time.
Sure, there are many intertwining plots, but not what I consider a real coherent story, apart from the formulaic plot it has. This is especially the case when compared with the comic books, a lot of the same stuff happens, in the same way even, but the connecting story is totally different.
Whoever wrote the movie story made it into a generic story very much stereotypical of the way such movies are written today (as avatar and such) with generic bad guys and good and bad people, as well as generic über-good noble savage aliens. TOTALLY unlike the comics.
By the way, the alien planet looks like a Dali painting, with all those giant conchs. It's basically a fully CGI movie in the alien planet sequence.
" this movie should be called Fifth Element II"
Yeah , and they shoulda got Bruce willis back for the lead role ...
I think he was ok... it worked as it is a kids movie (he is less threatening to nerds as bonus) and he was paired well with Cara...
He did seem to be channeling his inner Armie Hammer 😎, so I think Armie could have been a good alternative as well...
I think they were both miscast but I still loved the movie.
shareThis!
Luc Besson is so good at world building, visual effects, costumes, quirky characters that despite the fact that both leads were really terrible in this movie, I still enjoyed it.
I first saw this in the cinema and have to admit I did come away disappointed - mainly because I did not like the 2 leads. There is no denying they have a distinct lack of chemistry and individual charisma and I remember being shocked by this fact, especially when you look at the leads from Luc’s previous movies - Jean Reno, Jean-Marc Barr, Mila Jovovich, Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman to name a few. Each of those actors has off the charts charisma and I’ve always credited Luc Besson as a bit of a talent spotter.
BUT - just this week I rewatched the movie on a Netflix and whilst once again the miscasting of the lead actors really stands out, for some reason it didn’t annoy me half as much - maybe because this time I was prepared for it? Anyway, I now actually think that Cara Delevingne does a much better job than Dane DeHaan in this movie. He is just so douche- bro and unlikeable that he makes it absolutely impossible to see him as any kind of hero.
And I agree with the other posters on here that his voice is just plain annoying.
Still - the world and the visual effects make this movie pretty rewatchable.
I mean, how much do we all want to live on the planet Mul? Even better than Fhloston Paradise!