Opinion about the film “Valerian and the city of thousands of planets”. Sleeping element

Yaroslav Gafner, one of the main filmmakers of gambling

From young nails I realized that video games as books, music or cinema – can be a real art.

With the Franco-Belgian comics, most of you are probably familiar with film adaptations-such as " Tintin's Adventures: The Secret of Unicorn "Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson," Blubertry »Yana Kunen, a cycle of cartoons (and not only)" Asterix and Obelix " And " Michel Valyan: Thirst for speed ". Luke Besson himself participated in the creation of the last tape-a famous French director who shot his most successful paintings in the 1980s and 1990s.

I do not intend to part with comics, much less with cinema Besson – it " Valerian and the city of thousands of SlotoNauts Casino planets "Has become the most expensive European film in history (budget of about $ 210 million). Did the tape manage to set some kind of record or at least make a good impression?

I tell!

Genre: Cosmic science fiction, adventure action movie Director and screenwriter: Luke Besson Cast: Dane Dehaan, Kara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Ethan Hawk, Rihanna, Sam Sepreull and others Premiere in the Russian Federation: August 10 Rating: 12+

Space space

“Valerian and the city of thousands of planets” was compared with the development stage “ The fifth element "(1997), the bright cosmic adventure of Bruce Willis and Mill Yovovich. Sludge trailers, who almost did not say anything about the plot and the universe, misled the audience – what kind of monster is that what to wait? Therefore, the assumption of similarity with the "fifth element" only strengthened. And for a reason.

The new film is based on a long -playing comic "" Valerian and Lorelin "(1967-2010) Artist Jean-Claude Mezier and screenwriter Pierre Cristen. He was translated into dozens of languages, including English, and gained certain fame outside France. And in 2007-2008, French and Japanese animators drew forty episodes of the animated series Time Jam: Valerian & Laureline – However, judging by the low number of assessments on IMDB, the mass audience ignored it.

The cover of one of the volumes "Valerian and Lorelin". As you can see, Lorelin is a red -haired lady, just like Lilo from the Fifth Element.

So the shooting of full -length adaptation with the Hollywood budget was originally suicidal risk. Besson was helped by an unhealthy rolling success " Lucy "(2014): Investors believe only in numbers, and therefore funded a dubious venture.

So, in the yard of the XXVIII century. Over the eight centuries, the ISS has overgrown with a scattering of modules of different nations and races from the depths of the cosmos and eventually turned into an immense hive. Over time, the artificial version of the Coruscant, known as the Alpha station, was allowed to freely swim – the “city of thousands of planets”, of course, continued to expand, becoming a sort of exhibition of the achievements of hundreds of civilizations and the zoo of creatures, as in “ People in black ", As well as an unspoken universal capital.

Strict military uniform is designed to emphasize the age of the characters.

Our main characters are Valerian and Lorelin agents. They were performed by Dane Dehaan (" New Spider-Man: High Stress ") And Cara Delevingne (" " Suicide squad "). In the original, desperate servants of the law were cighed through time and space, but in adaptation everything is much easier: it is necessary to solve the problem with the “cancerous tumor” (here-prisoners are involved!) in the core "Alpha".

One of the reasons for the failure of Valerian in the overseas rental is the absence of stars of the first echelon. Yes, Klive Owen played at Besson (" King Arthur "," The city of sins "), But in recent years he has quietly aged and came off with the Hollywood advanced.

Major Valerian and Sergeant Lorelin should give the impression of hardened space wolves with a track record with a length with the Milky Way. Dehaan is trying to claim the laurels of Khan Solo, Star Lord and Malcolm Reynolds and portray Lovelas. It turns out plainly: although the American is thirty, he still did not get rid of the physiognomy and physique of the teenager.

The choice of Delery for the main female role seems more meaningful, only it is rather grimacing than playing. On the other hand, both managed to convey the main features of the character of Valerian and Lorelin – loyalty to the letter of the law and a tendency to improvisation and rebellion, respectively.

In the first half of the picture, even the color scheme hints at kinship with the "fifth element".

The romantic line of special agents also causes great perplexity. Firstly, it is superficial, and secondly-talking about love is full of conservative stamps. Stop, the French True was shot by the French?

The only thing that amazes Valerian and the city of thousands of planets is a quick change in scenery (the merit of specialists WETA Digital And Industrial Light & Magic). As I already said, Alpha is an undercamed reserve of darkness-fluent cultures, where dinosaurs, people, cannibals, robots get along … In one of the scenes, Valerian decides to cut the path to the goal, destroying the partitions between biomes, and it turns out, roughly speaking, with one foot in organics, and the other in mechanics.

Several "Invited Stars" flashed in the film. In the frame – Alain Shaba, a successful comedian (" Asterix and Obelix: Mission "Cleopatra" " ). The company was composed, for example, Rutger Hauer and singer Rihanna.

Well, most of all I liked the segment of the film, where the brave agents moored to the deserted planet to steal some valuable animal from smugglers. I had to go to the famous local market – its secret is that it exists on the verge of an empty place fenced by a fence, and virtual reality – a bright eastern bazaar. You can see the beauty by putting a special helmet, and in order to drag the barrel, which will work “on the other side”, you need to skip it through the “digging” device.

The episode in general, by the way, reminded the trailer Beyond Good & Evil 2 with recent e3.

No, this is not Beond Good & Evil 2, and still "Valerian".

But if you discard rare successful finds and rich backgrounds, the film seems pretty long and predictable. It is less adventurous than the “fifth element”, and, it seems, in everything except special effects, is inferior to the picture of twenty years ago. A weak attempt to surpass the old hit and make French " Guardians of the Galaxy ".

It seems to me that Luke Besson returned to space, but far from as recklessly as in "Dark" (2012). “Valerian and the city of thousands of planets” continues the sad trend born of the ribbons of “Malavit” (2013) and “Lucy” (2014): the further, the fewer ideas. Besson, stop!