Shame on me, and my judgmental inklings.
I am not writing you today to say that Valerian is expert filmmaking, or even particularly game-changing in its visual effects work, which allegedly took years to perfect. But I can speak on behalf of its entertainment value; because, for me, it did just that. Between interstellar travel and mind-boggling sights and sounds per, I found so much to attract to and rekindle to, both as a young boy with his "backyard imagination" and as a older man, a bit wiser, with half a mind to compare every film he sees to something else.
Valerian, first of all, will probably be misunderstood to most American audiences. I won't even pretend I caught on to everything. It is based on a French science fiction comic book series that has a cult-like following that is unintelligible. Yet it has been cited as inspirational material for the Star Wars saga, not to mention a slew of other films by Besson. It is an unsung hero of our science fiction imagination since the later 1960s.
As a film, it shares similarities in it's candy-coated visuals and designs to, say, James Cameron's Avatar. However, Cameron's picture was groundbreaking for its visual effects work. I do not think Besson's film is meant to be groundbreaking, although it is no less stunning. Valerian is rather campy, and reminds one of the experimental science fiction techniques of filmmaking pioneers like Georges Melies in the early 20th century. With that in mind, the visual and special effects are more playful, and function to be marveled at like you did when you saw The Thief of Bagdad (1940) or, perhaps to go even this far, cheesy horror like The Blob (1958).
The other surprising feature in Valerian is that it plays less like a plot-driven action film and more of a wandering series of misadventure, a la Huckleberry Finn. There is a single thread of story involving the erasing of an alien existence, and the heroes Maj. Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and and Sgt. Laureline (Cara Delevingne) charged with discovering their motivations and preventing attacks on Alpha, the titular city of a thousand planets. But there are so many of these misadventures, ranging in relevance to the central plot. The structure provides too much allowance for meandering in the visual splendor. But as a whole, it is fun to sit back and let the movie happen.
The visuals really do strike, from art direction to costumes to sound (no need to ramble on about the visual effects work for too much longer). The acting is rather subpar. DeHaan, a performer I quite like, frequently undersells his lines, while Delevingne finds herself picking up the pieces. But did anyone really participate in this movie for Oscar glory? I don't think so. In Valerian, sight and sound speak far louder than words and performance.
Behind all of this narrative meandering and barraging color is the giddy Besson, who's directorial style (as it was in 1997's The Fifth Element) is both silly and contagious. Everything you once held dear about being a kid in the summertime seems to be captured here. The wildly dynamic exteriors, fresh from Pierre Christin's and Jean-Claude Mezieres' imaginations and translated by the VFX team and production designer Hugues Tissandier, are the stuff we created outside and on the playground during hot summer afternoons. Allusions to 1980s retro video game sounds and camera movements recall when we needed to cool off inside and play the day away. Every aspect is captured by Besson's imperfect, but altogether fearless, vision of the series.
As mentioned, Valerian is not a feat of storytelling, acting, or even visual effects. But I sat in the back of the theater, took it all in, and laughed and enjoyed myself. I don't see the harm in that. Do you?
(Side note: I ended seeing the film in 3D, as mentioned. This is not a necessary avenue for the film's enjoyment.)
***1/2
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