Valerian And The City Of __top__ May 2026

Then ask yourself: When was the last time a blockbuster made you feel like you were visiting another world, rather than just another set?

In the summer of 2017, something strange happened at the multiplex. Luc Besson, the visionary French director behind The Fifth Element and Leon: The Professional , dropped over $200 million on a passion project nearly forty years in the making. The result was Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets . valerian and the city of

Critics were brutal. "Valerian has no charisma." "Laureline looks bored." And to a certain extent, they aren't wrong. DeHaan plays Valerian as a cocky, baby-faced rogue, but he lacks the roguish charm of a Bruce Willis or a Chris Pratt. He feels like a trust fund kid who bought a spaceship. Delevingne fares better, bringing a grounded frustration to Laureline, but the script forces her to fall for a man who sexually harasses her in the first ten minutes. Then ask yourself: When was the last time

Played by Rihanna in a extended cameo, Bubble is a shapeshifting alien performer who helps the heroes escape. In ten minutes of screen time, Rihanna goes through a dozen costume changes—a flapper, a maid, a nurse, a burlesque dancer, a military officer. Her death scene is heartbreaking not because of the plot, but because she represents the soul of Alpha: adaptable, beautiful, and ultimately disposable to the empire. The result was Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

But here we are, years later, in an era dominated by gray, desaturated superhero slogs and IP reboots that apologize for existing. I am here to make a controversial argument: Valerian is not a failure. It is a masterpiece of world-building that stumbled on its dialogue. If you can look past the awkward smirk of its protagonist, you will find the most inventive, colorful, and audacious science-fiction film of the 21st century.