# Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936 "2016-11-14T04:41:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/21 "2016-11-14T20:26:15Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > An example is she’s asked about Rhianna and while she will talk about how great Rhianna is, she doesn’t say a word about Rhianna’s character or even how much they interact. A nitpick but it’s Rihanna not Rhianna. It’s the well-known singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty who’s in the movie. There actually is a lesser-known singer Rhianna Kenny who performs under just her first name like Rihanna does. For the record, I’m one of the dozens of people who saw _Battleship_ and Rihanna did a credible job in that movie. I’m not comparing her to Meryl Streep but she can carry her weight in an action thriller. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/22 "2016-11-14T22:10:39Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > A nitpick but it’s Rihanna not Rhianna. > > It’s the well-known singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty who’s in the movie. There actually is a lesser-known singer Rhianna Kenny who performs under just her first name like Rihanna does. > > For the record, I’m one of the dozens of people who saw _Battleship_ and Rihanna did a credible job in that movie. I’m not comparing her to Meryl Streep but she can carry her weight in an action thriller. Thank you for the correction. I’ve met her twice but I am not a fan of her music, so I did the best I could trying to spell her name. Clearly, I should have looked it up. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/23 "2016-11-14T22:21:18Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > How do you know that from a very short promo? > > No, they are NOT “buddy cops”: Jack Cates didnt try to kiss Reggie Hammond, Tango didnt have a “thing” for Cash, there is little romantic plot between the stars of Rush Hour, etc. > > But it remains to be seen. So far, every film like this where they spent a gazillion on scenery and SFX has been very “plot light”-\* Avatar, Jupiter Ascending\*, etc. Romantic subtext does not preclude it from being a buddy cop movie, just like one of the two not being a cop doesn’t preclude it from being a buddy cop movie. Bone Collector was clearly a buddy cop movie, for example. So was Lethal Weapon 3. And I know the plot because I read the whole entry at wikipedia, which I quoted (well, I quoted the parts you left out). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/24 "2016-11-14T22:37:44Z")
Luc Besson? I’m in. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/25 "2016-11-15T00:30:33Z")
Wait, people are excited about Luc Besson? All of his movies I’m aware of are either fun despite being really bad (_The Fifth Element_), just plain really bad (_Lucy_), or good despite Besson’s consummate efforts to make them really bad being thwarted by the cast (_Leon_). He’s good at casting; I’ll grant him that. And sometimes if you get a really good cast, that’s enough. But that seems to be the only directorial skill he’s good at. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/26 "2016-11-15T01:37:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, people are excited about Luc Besson? All of his movies I’m aware of are either fun despite being really bad (_The Fifth Element_), just plain really bad (_Lucy_), or good despite Besson’s consummate efforts to make them really bad being thwarted by the cast (_Leon_). > > He’s good at casting; I’ll grant him that. And sometimes if you get a really good cast, that’s enough. But that seems to be the only directorial skill he’s good at. I think you’ll find that your opinion is not in the majority, **Chronos**. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/27 "2016-11-15T08:46:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, people are excited about Luc Besson? Yes. Nikita, Leon, Transporter, Le Denier Combat, etc. Sure he’s had a few turkeys, but he succeeds vastly more often than not. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/28 "2016-11-15T08:57:39Z")
Everybody always forgets **The Big Blue** even though it’s, IMO, his best work. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/29 "2016-11-15T10:47:32Z")
I’ve not seen that one. My favourite of his is Nikita, in the original French. ---
**Author:** ![Didactylos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Didactylos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didactylos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/30 "2016-11-15T11:59:24Z")
The Valerian & Laureline BD was one of my favorites when a was a kid so I’ll keep and eye on this. Volume two “Empire of a thousand planets” is one of the best SF short stories about power and society I have ever read, so I had my hopes up when I heard about the movie. Unfortunately from the trailer it looks much more like “Ambassador of the Shadows”. A fine book by most measures, full of intrigue and weird aliens, but not the one I would have picked for the first film in what Besson probably wants to be a franchise. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/31 "2016-11-15T13:07:12Z")
Besson usually manages to be visually interesting even when the rest of the film is terrible so it’s got that going for it I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Didactylos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Didactylos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didactylos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/32 "2016-11-15T13:36:39Z")
> [@Didactylos](#): > > Volume two “Empire of a thousand planets” is one of the best SF short stories about power and society I have ever read, so I had my hopes up when I heard about the movie. Unfortunately from the trailer it looks much more like “Ambassador of the Shadows”. A fine book by most measures, full of intrigue and weird aliens, but not the one I would have picked for the first film in what Besson probably wants to be a franchise. Forgot to mention that the scenery in “Empire” is mainly a weird bricolage of ancient and advanced, spaceships and enormous stone castles, squalid markets and telepathic creatures, wooden ships with sunpanels for sails, mostly humanoid aliens. Perhaps the producers were afraid people would write it off as a “Game of Thrones” rip-off with rayguns and spaceships. “Ambassador” is more straight up space opera, a giant hightech space station and _really weird_ aliens. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/33 "2016-11-15T15:10:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, people are excited about Luc Besson? All of his movies I’m aware of are either fun despite being really bad (_The Fifth Element_), just plain really bad (_Lucy_), or good despite Besson’s consummate efforts to make them really bad being thwarted by the cast (_Leon_). > > He’s good at casting; I’ll grant him that. And sometimes if you get a really good cast, that’s enough. But that seems to be the only directorial skill he’s good at. To my mind, _Leon_ is the one indisputably great movie he’s ever made - though I haven’t seen all of his output, I’ve seen many of 'em. The Fifth Element was fun, but silly; you have to be in the right mood to enjoy that. Similarly, Transporter, Nikita, etc… I agree that Lucy was just plain bad. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/34 "2016-11-15T15:47:16Z")
It’s sad that no one yet has mentioned his _[The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179025/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)_. Pterodactyls fighting mummies! Telepathy! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/35 "2016-11-15T15:54:26Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It’s sad that no one yet has mentioned his _[The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179025/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)_. Pterodactyls fighting mummies! Telepathy! I haven’t seen that yet. Do you think the rating on IMDB (6.3/10) is accurate? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/36 "2016-11-15T15:57:50Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It’s sad that no one yet has mentioned his _[The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179025/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)_. Pterodactyls fighting mummies! Telepathy! I enjoyed it; again, it was silly, but fun (if you are in the right mood for that kind of silly). ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/37 "2016-11-15T16:03:08Z")
Excellent; thanks! I’m gonna move it up on my list. Hmmmmm… I see a lot of reviews saying that the 112 minute cut is the one to watch, but apparently it’s only available on DVD not BR. Moving it up on my list may not mean much if I can’t find the proper version to watch. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/38 "2016-11-15T16:07:45Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I haven’t seen that yet. Do you think the rating on IMDB (6.3/10) is accurate? Too low. I’d give it at 8, at least. It’s visually appealing, and the storytelling doesn’t stop to give an origin story (all the details are filled in). It’s also very whimsical, and whimsy is out of style. It’s reminiscent of the Indiana Jones films, with an attractive main character. Most of the peripheral character are also visually entertaining; Besson (like many European directors) favors interesting faces over pretty ones. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/39 "2016-11-15T16:19:21Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Too low. I’d give it at 8, at least. > > It’s visually appealing, and the storytelling doesn’t stop to give an origin story (all the details are filled in). It’s also very whimsical, and whimsy is out of style. It’s reminiscent of the Indiana Jones films, with an attractive main character. Most of the peripheral character are also visually entertaining; Besson (like many European directors) favors interesting faces over pretty ones. Aye; I have no problem with the Neorealist aesthetic. I think it more often adds than subtracts from a film. Can either you or **Malthus** speak at all to the difference between the 107 minute version and the 112 minute version? I understand some brief nudity was cut from the film, but from the descriptions, I can’t figure out how “brief” ends up being 5 minutes of footage. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936/40 "2016-11-15T16:21:38Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Aye; I have no problem with the Neorealist aesthetic. I think it more often adds than subtracts from a film. > > Can either you or **Malthus** speak at all to the difference between the 107 minute version and the 112 minute version? I understand some brief nudity was cut from the film, but from the descriptions, I can’t figure out how “brief” ends up being 5 minutes of footage. I can’t; I’ve only seen the one version, and I’m not sure which one it was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/771936.md?page=3)