# What sci-fi movie am I thinking of please? (It's not Avatar)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** movies
**Created:** [May 8, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279 "2024-05-08T21:49:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/1 "2024-05-08T21:49:03Z")
Again it’s NOT Avatar.
I remember blue aliens living on a white sands beach like environment. And they had these blue ball things that were important to them.
I forget what the blue aliens used them for. But there are other (human?) aliens that want to take these blue balls from them so they can use them as fuel for their spaceships. (Or something like that)
So basically that’s what the movie is about. Bad guys steal the blue balls and then the blue aliens get their retribution.
That’s all I got guys.
Thanks for your help.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/2 "2024-05-08T21:53:53Z")
I looked up “aliens with blue balls” and it didn’t go well.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/3 "2024-05-08T22:06:27Z")
Here’s a couple of longshots: _[Fantastic Planet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgCxCZNkQ9E)_ and _[Delgo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gi8ZG7UE5Q)_
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/4 "2024-05-08T22:09:26Z")
Thank you but not it.
I don’t think this movie could be any older than 10 years old. If that. Probably more like 5 years old.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/5 "2024-05-08T22:14:28Z")
Could be Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
Aliens, beach, magic spheres, all check.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/6 "2024-05-08T22:18:02Z")
That’s it.
Thank you so much.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/7 "2024-05-08T22:22:27Z")
I haven’t read the whole thread, but blue aliens with something that humans want to take to use in spaceships… Might it have been Avatar?
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### Author:  [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/8 "2024-05-08T22:24:35Z")
For completeness, i assume this scene is relevant.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Z1Mr-1bLE)
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/9 "2024-05-08T22:32:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> I looked up “aliens with blue balls” and it didn’t go well.
You’re a braver man than me, Gunga Din!
😁
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/10 "2024-05-08T22:38:19Z")
You’re welcome.
(Real mixed bag, this movie. Two thirds of it is crazy cool Euro-style sci-fi silliness, and the remaining third is unsuccessful bordering on incompetent. Really frustrating watch.)
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/11 "2024-05-08T23:16:41Z")
The reviews at the time were overly harsh I think. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it is fun, and inventive, definitely in the top third of action sci-fi movies IMHO.
The thing that irked me in particular was that Cara was often singled out for criticism of her acting, maybe because she was still better known as a model? But I thought she did a reasonable enough job, it was Valerian himself who often broke disbelief (and was basically miscast).
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2024, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/12 "2024-05-09T00:34:20Z")
Terrible movie, thanks especially to terrible acting.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/13 "2024-05-09T16:26:50Z")
> [@Mijin](#):
>
> The reviews at the time were overly harsh I think. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it is fun, and inventive, definitely in the top third of action sci-fi movies IMHO.
I was so hopeful for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets because The Fifth Element is a favorite and it worked so well. Sadly, Valerian did not.
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### Author:  [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/14 "2024-05-09T16:41:34Z")
[Was it _Citizen Kane_?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUelMHrkonA)
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/15 "2024-05-09T16:44:38Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> Terrible movie, thanks especially to terrible acting.
and terrible casting. The French graphic novel series was very popular (and, many claim, very influential, especially for _Star Wars_). The male lead, Valerian, is supposed to be your classic hero, square-jawed and handsome
[ ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/Valerian_and_Laureline.jpg)
In the movie, he’s played by Dane DeHaan, who, in my opinion, isn’t
[ ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dane_DeHaan#/media/File:Dane_DeHaan_2018.png)
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/16 "2024-05-09T16:45:18Z")
In Valerian, weren’t the blue aliens massacred as a side effect of an interplanetary war? The humans didn’t really care about them that much? I’ve mostly forgotten the movie, so could be wrong.
Agreed the movie had a visual flair and some cool ideas but was held back by bad casting and a tiresome, draggy middle sequence which was kinda racist.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/17 "2024-05-09T16:49:03Z")
I didn’t think the two leads had much chemistry, though I did like the origin story of the city itself.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/18 "2024-05-09T16:51:16Z")
Dane DeHaan was terrible in the role, but Cara Delevingne who is barely an actress was worse and yet, Rihanna was able to bring the acting level down even further.
I saw it the one time at the movies and will never watch it again. But it was seriously disappointing. I’ll be honest and admit I can’t remember how Ethan Hawke, Clive Owen and Rutger Hauer were, but the terrible acting of DeHaan, Delevingne & Rihanna really stayed with me.
I’m surprised the [movie even got a 47% Critic and 53% audience score from Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/valerian_and_the_city_of_a_thousand_planets).
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-movie-am-i-thinking-of-please-its-not-avatar/1001279/19 "2024-05-09T17:05:34Z")
The clip linked here was plenty enough to put me off. Cool visuals though.