Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Last week I had the very cool opportunity of being invited to the European premiere of Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. With a blue carpet and an intergalactic dress code, I donned some gold spandex leggings and went along with my friend Reesha, expecting a fun evening. I was not disappointed!
First off, the film is stunning to watch. It’s full of amazing visuals throughout, and is full of cool world-building - stuffed full, in fact, with so many throw-away comments or brief glimpses of things that could easily have a story to themselves if you wanted, making it feel like a world full of richness and depth, and definitely well worth exploring further in future stories. I didn’t want to stop exploring it. I particularly loved the Pearl aliens, who are especially significant to the story - I thought their design was very cool and (minor spoilers) appreciated their portrayal as a people in distress who are none-the-less smart and resourceful enough to rescue themselves, with no need of a white saviour beyond helping with what is essentially a component delivery.
The Pearls - they’re like pastel aquatic space elves
In light of the riot of colour and experience that is the world of Valerian, it’s probably for the best that the story isn’t incredibly complex - more an excuse for taking us from location to location, revealing the world that Besson has brought to life, and it’s very much a fun ride.
The dynamic between the two main leads is a little shakier - there’s a lot of warm trust, affection and camaraderie between the two of them when the focus is not on them supposedly being in a romantic relationship, and when it is (which is way too often) you wonder what exactly it is that they see in each other. Scrap the weird romance thing going on - give me a pair of platonic life partners continually getting each other out of scrapes and looking at each other adoringly, and I’ll be happy.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the film, though. It’s an immensely fun time, with a number of moments that caused the audience to laugh out loud in the cinema, but with a strong political message as well. The opening sequence in particular was incredibly powerful, and might be my favourite opening to a film since Contact. I was grinning widely from the very first second! (I’d recommend going to see this film on the basis of that sequence alone to be honest.) I don’t really want to tell you what it was and spoil the impact (although you can easily find out from other reviews out there if you want), but it really conveyed the hope of our future in space being one of welcome and friendship.
I had the good fortune of telling that to Luc Besson myself after the film too!
A couple of the other UK-based Mars One candidates were there too, including Ryan MacDonald and Alexandra Doyle. Alexandra and I were interviewed afterwards, and you can watch below, in which I do some more gushing about how great that opening sequence was.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is out in the UK on 4th August 2017. It’s definitely worth a watch on the big screen!
