Review: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets takes the director's vision for his earlier Fifth Element and modernises it for the 21st century.  To some extent he succeeds as the visuals on display are,  if not quite equal to Avatar in realisation, more extraordinary - especially in the opening hour.

The two leads are unfortunately a little flat. Their attempts at gruff hard bitten special ops officers aren't fooling anyone and they don't get enough character moments or even sparkling dialogue to generate any kind of chemistry. Delevingne is the best of the two and with better direction might have brought real charisma to the role.

The plot isn't particularly strong either as it's essentially a rather humdrum chase featuring characters you don't particularly care about.

Verdict:  Amazing visuals dulled by weak plot and characterisation.