Why Valerian Became A $200 Million Box Office DISASTER?

[@bartoszdulas1703]

The opening sequence with Earth establishing contact with other species with David Bowie's "Space Oddity" is one of the most beautiful sci-fi scenes in cinema history... unfortunately after that the movie continues.

[@BattleGirls777]

It is a beautiful movie with alot of good ideas, but the casting was bad I think or just a lack of interest in sci fi that year. I quiet enjoy this movie myself but something is just missing.

[@alanguile8945]

Exactly!

[@martinportelance138]

You make it sound like the movie was overall bad. It wasn't. Sure, it could have been better, but it is still a cult classic in the making. What it lacked was focus and a more mature lead.

[@LonceyMills]

@bartoszdulas1703 So right! I was so excited. Then I watched it. Then I watched that opening sequence again. I’ve never watched more than that opening sequence since then.

[@Davebsuk]

So true. Although I do feel that a capable male lead would have carried the film - it would have essentially ‘fit’, whereas DeHaan didn’t fit and made the rest jarring. I also imagine Willis playing this character and think the film would have been amazing.

[@northprime_unlimited]

The actors looked like teenagers totally unbelievable as action heroes. The movie looked spectacular but those two made it seem like a childish endeavor.

[@FrenchKermit]

In the comics, if I remember well, Laureline is a teenager transported from the Middle Ages, Valerian is in his early twenties. They are anti-heroes, antithesis to violent US super heroes of the time. I think Besson’s writing, particularly with dialogues is what let the film down but I really liked the visuals and thought the approach to time travel was clever.

[@northprime_unlimited]

@ I get what you’re saying but, there are plenty of mature looking teenagers….these two weren’t that pair, they were the complete opposite of that. I’ve seen what they look like in the book…these two, not even close to that level of visual maturity. Again I’m not ragging on the movie but the actors did take me out of it.

[@PastorBenMeyer]

Exactly this

[@dbsommers1]

​@@FrenchKermitthe source material might be great, but it translated poorly visually.

[@Floppy-1235]

It is the future, perhaps aging has been slowed.

[@cobaltblue1975]

That movie broke my heart. It had so many good parts but they just couldn't pull it together. It felt like watching someone make a delicious cake but finding out they accidently used salt instead of sugar after it was already baked.

[@LideroBR]

what a nice way to describe it

[@1jotun136]

DeHaan and Delevigne had exactly zero charisma together. That was the problem.

[@tenchifan72]

@@Jacoblikesfilms its both. They have no chemistry or charisma together

[@Brewza50]

Yeah, they should've been fucking, behind the scenes.

[@RobinMcBeth]

Never had seen the little boy before or since.

[@ThootenTootinTabootin]

They look like brother sister

[@eternalproductions]

She has no chemistry with any actor dude she's not an actress

[@tsuru5702]

The main characters looked like brother and sister. The main guy also looked like a kid. There is a difference between a kid and a youthful adult hero. It was hugely distracting to the film.

[@tsuikagura]

I loved the casting. I bet others did too.

[@jasonmartinez4730]

Yeah horrible casting

[@JohnnyWasabi]

​@@tsuikaguraNope.

[@jyveturkey1894]

​@@tsuikaguranope. It was 100% what was wring with this movie. I loved every other part of it.

[@SciHeartJourney]

I feel exactly the same way! Scarlett Johansen looks too much like my sister. That's why I didn't feel about her the way most other guys do. Our kids would probably have flippers. 😱 How could I ever do that on purpose?! 🤣 She is lovely, but I just don't feel any attraction at all for her. She looks like my sister. 🤮 I ❤ my sister though. 🤣

[@ConradSpoke]

Maybe your leading man shouldn't always look like he just woke up from surgery.

[@martinportelance138]

I don't mind pretty, but I wish he looked more mature, with more gravitas, maybe. DeHaan gave a 'young sidekick' feel, à la Robin. Miscast.

[@IamNoOne-001]

​@@martinportelance138 I think he meant skinny and pale.😂 Even Chris Pratt got a tan for Jurassic World.

[@michaeljorgensen790]

Maybe he had long CoVid?

[@ChrisJefferyCartridge]

​@@martinportelance138I've said since I saw it in theaters, this script called for the leads to be 35-40 and they cast baby-faced 20-somethings instead. If the script is going to harp on their incredible level of expertise and they carry themselves with the confidence of someone with a ton of experience at their jobs, I need them to be old enough that I can imagine them having a solid decade of past adventures under their belt.

[@anthonyd.1428]

I thought he looked odd as a soldier. As if he had 24/7 hangover.

[@dema7193]

“Star-studded” and “top shelf cast” is more than a stretch to describe this movie

[@PixelPunisher.Official]

I absolutely loved this movie for its beyond magnificent visuals. The intro itself should’ve won some kind of short film award. I remember I cried for some during the intro where it showed humans working together and that cooperation led to intergalactic first contact. I actually went to the theater three times to see the movie just for the intro. That was my first time ever doing that and my last time because no other the movie has touched me in that way for me to go to the theater and see it more than one time since. The storyline was OK. The acting in some cases was a bit wooden but the same could be said for the fifth element acting with secondary actors. I think that’s part of Luc Besson MO. his style. I’d love to see one of the streamers buy the rights to the comics and create a 2 season series.

[@RobinMcBeth]

Never had seen the little boy before or after.

[@AshaDiscoSushi]

I was blown away by seeing Ethan Hawke pop-up in the film🤯😳 but at the time I didn't know who the 2 lead actors were. Love them now Because Of This Movie💚

[@TexZenMaster]

@@RobinMcBeth He was okay in Chronicle.. Ya know; where he played a teenage loner psychopath with telekinesis powers? That was the extent of his stage presence imo.

[@anhnhvn]

@@TexZenMaster He was in Spider-Man as well as Harry Osborne. But yeah, this guy just doesn't have a look of an action movie protagonist.

[@dovifan468]

Not the worst sci-fi movie, but Dane DeHaan doing a bad Keanu Reeves impression for the whole movie definitely didn't help.

[@anthonyclarke5579]

DeHaan has bags under his eyes and he always looked tired. He was a poor choice for the lead male.

[@Night-Mayor]

Luc Besson would have been better off casting Chris Evans or Henry Cavill

[@thanqualthehighseer]

He came off ether as the creepy kid from school or a rich daddy's boy who never got told no.

[@Davebsuk]

When I first saw the film I was sure he must have been a nepotism hire of a major contributor, there could have been no other reason he was there.

[@treavorwhitlock5606]

He has sleepy lil' guy face

[@michaeljorgensen790]

He also had the muscle tone of a gamer hooked on GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony.

[@ryan.1990]

The male lead trying to play a badboy when he looks like an albino gecko probably didn't help

[@tjroelsma]

What do you mean? I was totally convinced when "I'm pretty but have zero acting skills" Delevingne told "I look like someone just dragged me out of bed and also have no acting skills" DeHaan that he's a womanizer. LOL Besson did just about everything wrong that he could do wrong with this movie: terrible casting, terrible dialogues, non-sensical plot, now they're here now they're gone powers/features etc. About the only thing he DID do right were the visuals.

[@Mord12gp]

The main girl had more chemistry with that one random extra with the dog at the start of the movie then him. And they utterly waisted Rihanna's character, like, they killed her off! Its like killing Chris Tuckers character, and then they acted like they'd been on this long journey when she was only in the movie for like 20 mins!

[@ManuMiAS]

he just needed to hit the gym and get fillers under his eyes, I cant believe the girls are cake up in make up but they couldn't cover his eyes purple marks.

[@sambas9257]

It's one of the first/last proto-woke attempts in mixing the message formula with commercial sustainability with new or less unknown universes.They tried others on that era (Wachosky's Jupiter with same gender fluid characters) but they didn't use yet the today formula:the classic beloved old pop-culture franchise injected and poisoned with esg stuff. Here we have just the classic sci-fi action flick with two completely miscasted and uncharismatic main protagonists:one is the average metrosexual boy sold as the womanizing rascal and the other is the lesbian model sold as bisex femme fatale archetype. The project was destined to fail...

[@Bazookatone1]

I like to think o fhim as a clone of Leonardo di Captrio grown in a lab but taken out of the cloning cylinder a bit too early.

[@206EOS]

Casting for the 2 main characters were miscast didn't fit, they look like children compared to the comics.

[@Derpy1969]

Acted like them, too.

[@jasonmartinez4730]

Exactly

[@derPetunientopf]

I blame it mostly on Dane DeHaan. Delvigne was okay.

[@Langkowski]

I'm sure more than 95% of the people who saw the movie at the theater had never even read the comics

[@pierrepelletier4791]

@@Langkowski And those who had where even more let down by the actors interactions

[@originalsusser]

Dane DeHann ruined Valerian with his babyfaced presence playing a character that was utterly unbelievable. I don't know who could've done it better but it needed a man in that role

[@LocalMultiplex]

@@originalsusser Chris Pratt! lol

[@jasons5916]

@@LocalMultiplex Chris Pine? Someone who looks about 30 with good action and comedy skills.

[@LocalMultiplex]

@@jasons5916 sure

[@pilot8220]

@@LocalMultiplex No

[@pilot8220]

@@jasons5916 No

[@mikealexanderEE]

The Valerian and Lauraline comic had a significant following, even in the US, and it became obvious early on that Besson decided to abandon the “James Bond in space” vibe of the comic to become “youth oriented” and thus alienated (pun intended) a large part of the existing fan base. Besson’s uneven story, poor world building and some of the worst casting choices in decades relegated this movie to the bargain bin and not, as Besson stated after the movie bombed, that “American audiences didn’t understand it”.

[@satanbutterwolf1107]

The two main characters were TERRIBLE. That dude sounded like he was imitating Keanu Reeves and the woman was an angry block of wood. They were individually bad and together did not seem like they'd ever even met, let along cared about each other. Everything else about the movie was fun. There are some truly great ideas in this movie, all killed by bad lead actors. Cara whatever seems like a nice girl, in interviews she's fun and sparkly and the total opposite of what she put on screen. It's weird.

[@westrim]

They're both good actors in other films, just very miscast for this one.

[@lion6460]

This movie bombed at the box office because of its two leading stars. Simple as that! ZERO chemistry between the two and ZERO charisma exuding from either of them. Why he decided to even entertain Cara Delevingne is completely beyond me. She can't act! Why was she even considered for the role? Am I missing something here? There are so many young & charismatic actors in Hollywood, and he went with two of the most undesirable on the list. This failure is Besson's to own. He's wanted to bring this comic book to life for years and failed miserably because he chose THE worst "actors" for the leading roles!!!

[@NoidoDev]

I completely disagree. The main cast was the only good part. The rest sucked. Why Delevingne? 🤷‍♂️ C'mon.

[@lion6460]

@NoidoDev You're kidding right? All the critics agreed that including Delevingne in The Suicide Squad was a really bad idea cause it showed just how terrible an actress she was compared to the rest of the cast. Just because she's a model and, in some people's eyes, pretty, doesn't make her a good actress. Which might explain why she hasn't been cast in any significant upcoming productions. Casting directors are finally waking up to the NON TALENT she really is.

[@NoidoDev]

@lion6460 SS probably also had other issues.

[@Iskelderon]

It's crazy that this movie was made by the same man that assembled the amazing cast that brought The Fifth Element to life, a movie where the casting was so pitch perfect, allowing everything else to build on that foundation.

[@CitizenRule]

@@Iskelderon True. Bruce Willis carried Fifth Element on his back. There's a reason he was an action star for decades. I just watched this video and I still don't remember the name of the Valerian actor.

[@caldodge]

I saw Valerian once, and that was enough. Contrast with The Fifth Element, which is eminently rewatchable.

[@kyleanuar9090]

I always recommend playing Fifth Element to test out new audio set up.

[@Rodrigo_Vega]

If you want to see the glass half-full you can contrast it with Jupiter Ascending, and suddenly this movie is amazing.

[@Clark_Films_anim]

I remember watching it, but I don't remember a thing about it, other than 'cool aliens'. The title is a problem. Was Valerian the main male character? It's a girly name, sorry. Titles matter for what a film promises.

[@peterd788]

The lead actors were just awful and woefully miscast. That, in itself, was enough to kill the film but the emotional emptiness of the whole thing couldn't be overcome by the impressive visuals.

[@coinopanimator]

2 reasons. 1. This story shouldve been told later we needed "geting to know you film". 2. The casting was off. Rhianna had more screen chemistry.

[@coinopanimator]

It's still so much more fun than avatar.

[@philopharynx7910]

Rhianna hasn't done much, but she's been memorable in every movie role I've seen her. With the right director and project, I could see her taking a lead role in a movie.

[@ELEKTROSKANSEN]

No. It's because in this movie titled "City of Thousand Planets" they showed maybe like 5 of them, very briefly.

[@martinportelance138]

@@philopharynx7910 True. More talented than I tought. And she really is beautiful, too.

[@skatemonk]

To me, both young lead actors were too cold, which hurt their chemistry or made it harder to get into. It didn't help that the guy sounded like he was doing a really bad Keanu Reeves impression most of the time which hurt the film. I really want to read the original comics,those look amazing. Same for the original Barbarella comics, those also look really cool.

[@Malthus]

It doesn't matter what chemistry they might have if they don't look the part. And these two just don't look like the characters they were meant to portray.

[@yourstruly4817]

Do visuals still impress anyone? Maybe a good story is becoming more important again

[@kristinaF54]

Reminds me of the film Skyline, where the visual effects was pushed as groundbreaking but then the story could be told in 20 minutes, so it flopped.

[@chindleymuffin]

​​@@kristinaF54 Skyline did really well on home media though, hence the two much better sequels. I would say the second one is much better story wise.

[@fuzzywzhe]

@@kristinaF54 Visuals haven't mattered for over 20 years. That's what they don't get. This wasn't a bad film, but yeah, they looked like children, and the story was a bit weak. Seemed a little predictable even.

[@aurahoneydew9607]

Yes they do having both is prerequisite for a good movie but nowadays studios want yo lower the bar to try to sell mid as a deluxe feature

[@gregor_man]

Yes, visuals still impress me.

[@stevederp9801]

The reality is that Hollywood tried pushing Cara deleveigne for years as an actress even though she’s completely talentless. She’s a model and when you try to make a model an actress it feels as hollow and lifeless as a result. The other issue is that during this time Hollywood and fashion shows were pushing the “heroin Chic” look which is basically a skinny white kid with bags under their eyes that looks like their strung out. Which was already rejected by people in the 1990s for fashion. It turned people off but for whatever reason models, photographers and fashion brands kept pushing it. So Hollywood thought they could do the same thing and learned that once again, people hate it and reject it.

[@Derpy1969]

I found the two main characters unlikeable. The plot was just not that interesting. I had no biases. I never heard of the comic. It was visually impressive but not emotionally engaging. Discount Leo DiCaprio was also a bit visually unappealing.

[@schorsch5677]

Take a look at the comics really not your average read. Action but very unmarvely.

[@fiktivhistoriker345]

"Discount Leo DiCaprio"😂😂😂

[@migovas1483]

instead of being a serious sci-fi, it was presented as a teen drama, ..you had your audience...you KNOW who is gonna watch it... but then you cast.. those people... trying to get an audience that won't give a crap about the material,... I mean just the cast was like 50% of the reasons to avoid the movie..

[@Red1Green2Blue3]

They didn't have an audience lol. It was an incredibly niche fanbase that wouldn't be able to justify the cost of producing it. They tried to give it broader appeal but failed because the source material just wasn't compelling for broader audiences (which is fine, everything doesn't have to be for everyone).

[@migovas1483]

@@Red1Green2Blue3 exactly my point, the audience was probably mostly Niche Nerds Gen-X , like me.. even a few here, and there would have been cool with watching , making a fuzz about it, it IF it was more in tune.. with , you know, a more serious Tone, like Blade Runner ( example)? a bit older Cast? And so the people who actually KNOW the material ,would be rolling the news around , word of mouth, passing the torch to a newer audience, etc.. instead of feeling like the movie had a face lift, targeted to a 'newer audience', who missed the plot..

[@Red1Green2Blue3]

@@migovas1483 But the point is that there isn't a big enough audience for that to justify the budget. Blade Runner 2049 was also released in the same year (2017) and didn't make its Production+Marketing back. It only grossed ~50mill more than Valerian lol. Sorry, you're being a bit delusional and not looking at the reality of these types of projects.

[@migovas1483]

@@Red1Green2Blue3 I said it would helped a , but I agree it was too much of a big step.. they started 'Too big'.. and disregarded the ONLY audience they already had..

[@migovas1483]

@@Red1Green2Blue3 Adding to the discussion, this movie could have been easily scaled down to 70-80 mill budget, but they wanted to go big.. bad decisions indeed.

[@kristinaF54]

The characters were extremely unlikable jerks and, as other commenters said, looked like brother and sister, so there's an overwhelming element of ick and gross out to see the guy be a sexual pest or try to kiss her. Yeah, this film is bad and falls on Luc Besson for its failure.

[@strawpiglet]

So I wasn’t the only one!

[@TheMcglinn]

The male lead, a mumbling glief, sank it single-handedly.

[@privatenoone8911]

Wtf is a glief?

[@TheMcglinn]

@privatenoone8911 German word for a stupid fuck.

[@johnnycanadiana1897]

The female lead is wooden too. They were both mis cast

[@juanjoseleonvarea2495]

For me, what made it fail is the same thing that happens in many projects that adapt other media: not respecting the essence of the characters and replacing them with young adult versions, in a contemporary style. And choosing a story that is already very advanced in the lore, instead of going for an origin story expanding it a bit more. The dynamic between the protagonists is very different from that of its comic book counterpart. And the aesthetic is too cold, more like an advertisement for luxury cars or French perfumes.

[@Soulessdeeds]

Unless it's an extremely popular book series. The vast majority of movie goers will have ZERO clue about the source material. They only care about if the movie is good. Trying to respect the source material too much is how Warcraft crashed and burned. Audiences had no idea what was happening or who any of the characters were. It was a movie made for people who played wow. But even among wow players most don't even know the lore of the game enough to understand things from the movie lol. But Game of Thrones was solid as can be until S7 where they obviously ran out of source material to carry the script.

[@Moritz19081980]

The movie had some nice ideas and world building. But it had no chance with this cast.

[@FabulousFab72]

All the good ideas are coming from the original comic, all that is shit is coming from Besson's writing.

[@toplookingdown971]

So much potential wasted.

[@JounLord1]

Me personally I never finished the movie. I lost interest when the main characters just abandoned the soldiers that were with them to be slaughtered and then played grabass on the ship like nothing happened. Made me hate the characters and I stopped watching during the scene of using armor to bust through walls after one of the characters was kidnapped I think. It was too much for the movie to ask for me to care about these characters and wanting to see them succeed.

[@keiichi8191]

DeHaan is not believable as an action hero leading man, and Delevigne just came off as cold and unlikeable throughout the whole movie. I'm not exactly an expert on the source material, but neither gave me the impression that they were a faithful depiction of the characters they were meant to represent, and their relationship in the film struck me as more like squabbling siblings than any sort of romantic duo.

[@strawpiglet]

Exactly, I at first thought they young siblings. I found their first scene together confusing and disturbing.

[@Iskelderon]

It fell into the same trap as Jupiter Ascending, amazing visuals wasted on a movie that just didn't deserve them. At least it made more people aware of the underlying comics.

[@metricmine]

Cannot remember this movie too well, but what I remember is that midway in the movie they went off on some side quest that served no purpose in the overall plot. The plot was all over the place and could not hold my interest. The lead male character did not feel right. He looked too young and it felt like Spy Kids in space. I could not take anything seriously with him in it.

[@Law19157]

Valerian needed technology to catch up? I don't recall George Lucas thinking about it like that he when filmed A New Hope. I suppose that was his first mistake, putting so much emphasis on the visuals instead of the characters and the story. Visuals were indeed fantastic but I felt the story and characters to be lacking.

[@robertlocock5636]

Lucas did wait for technology too catch up, that's why the prequals are a thing.

[@Law19157]

@robertlocock5636 They didn't do so well. Especially Episode II. It wasn't an issue for him for the original trilogy.

[@TheCebulon]

As a big fan of the comics: This whole movie just has the name of the comics, but not the elegance, character and charisma of the worlds and stories created by the comics. I was so disappointed, from the beginning on. And I love Luc Besson’s movies. The leading characters where off from the comics, never felt “home” with them. The story, especially that invisible city, were off too. When was going through all these worlds, destroying them or their boundaries, it did not feel like the comics at all.

[@tbekoam]

The visuals were amazing. The playful banter between the leads sounded like rejected dialogue from Attack of the Clones.

[@rickardelimaa]

Two people on Xanax falling through a world spawned LSD and as equally coherent as LSD.

[@Redswipe]

I really enjoyed this movie.

[@davidbrown5411]

Appealing to the alleged "mOdErN aUdIeNcE" always ends in financial and artistic failure.

[@Darkja]

"Look and sound sleepy and uninterested" seems to be the only acting direction the 2 main actors got, and to their credit, they got that 100% right.

[@GaudiaCertaminisGaming]

Thank you for using ‘uninterested' correctly.

[@Red1Green2Blue3]

What went wrong: It was boring.

[@jaysnaystube]

Hollywood hasn't gotten male leads correct for years

[@henrysheppard3433]

There is move towards more feminine young men See dune

[@Ivan-pr7ku]

Luc Besson completely disregarded the main plot points of the source material, while at the same time miscasting the main characters. The only positive leftover is the visual spectacle desperately compensating for the hollow substance of the movie.

[@macsnafu]

I enjoyed the movie, but the two leads really didn't duplicate the comic at all. Their attitudes and interactions were quite different.

[@coldshadow57]

This movie made me realize that DeHaan and Delevigne could NOT act!

[@cdeford2]

It got the leads wrong, especially DeHaan. I thought the prologue was really good, but as soon as he came on the screen it was like someone had thrown a bucket of water over the whole film. He had no screen presence whatever. DeHaan Looking like a schoolboy and playing Valerian like a teenage brat didn't help.

[@mjau65]

Valerian in the comic book looks like a young Keanu Reeves. Dehaan was a completely wrong choice.

[@cameron398]

When i hear one of the top names is Rhianna ended it for me.

[@alanguile8945]

Didn't expect much but that dance/change sequence was one of the few scenes that was worth watching ( definitely watch the opening alien introduction scene!)

[@markf6829]

The problem was the actors. If this was Chris Evans and maybe Chloë Grace Moretz, it would have done very well.

[@henrysheppard3433]

Chris Evan’s has never carried a movie

[@StuntmanDanHemi]

Dane having to deepen his voice tells you how bad of a miss cast he was and Cara being the typical model actress with all looks no acting chops didn't help one bit, idk what tf was Besson thinking there

[@CB-y8f]

As Pitch Meeting would likely note, Rhianna was "in the movie". We know nothing about her character, she had no impact on the story, and we were somehow supposed to be emotionally attached and feel something about her death.

[@anthonyd.1428]

Not to forget that yes as herself her voice is nice. As the alien jellyfish, that voice is so missmatched.

[@Langkowski]

Both Valerian and John Carter were much better than Avatar. It probably wasn't enough hype attached to them.

[@schorsch5677]

Maybe, but for someone who had the comics especial the male lead was no Valerian

[@Langkowski]

@@schorsch5677 No, but that only makes him join an already very huge club of characters that don't resembles their comic book counterparts. I have learned to ignore these things, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to watch any of these movies, with a few exceptions.

[@Animotions01]

The male Hero Character has to have a greater body mass than his female co-lead at a minimum.

[@dissolution]

It had one of the greatest movie openings of all time. So inspiring.

[@Grundelwanderer]

Amen.

[@taproom113]

Yep!

[@negativeprime]

You can blame the two main character actors.

[@jonathancurran5366]

They didn't cast themselves to be fair.

[@RobinMcBeth]

Could the reason be that they cast a prepubescent little boy nobody has EVER heard of as the lead character?

[@artboymoy]

It has a cult following? I know no one talking about it. Don't try to make "fetch" happen. It is a visual feast, but so was Sucker Punch. Both movies had flat uninteresting characters and a convoluted story. Amazing visuals won't save it. I'd lump Jupiter Ascending in with these. That movie really made me feel that the final product matched the concept art for the first time.

[@YouTubeHallMonitor]

Jupiter Ascending is fucking unwatchable - different ballparks IMO.

[@David0Perez0]

Yes. It does have a bad called cult following and I explain you why. It's just totally hilarious that people blame the failure of this movie on lack of character/story development when 9 out of 10 most commercial movies of the year for the last 15 years or so are sequels, prequels or superhero movies. People say that those movies have character/story development and that is true, but the problem is that you have to watch 4 movies to get there iand that is a total joke. I'm not defending valerian as the movie was designed to be a new franchise (and that was probably the problem) but because of its failure on the box office it has become one of a kind as it won't be another valerian. Same happens to alita battle angel or mortal engines.

[@artboymoy]

@@David0Perez0 I think Battle Angel Alita deserved a sequel. The characters and story was a lot better. and was put together in a more coherent fasion I had problems with Mortal Engines as they tried to introduce so much that it was a mess. They should have tried to have more of a focused story based around fewer characters.

[@kenimiller3896]

Putting Delevigne in any film is a big mistake. She has no personality at all on the screen.

[@Night-Mayor]

Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, two names that seem to show up in films more by industry nepotism than any genuine talent, are, in many ways, the poster children for Hollywood's obsession with celebrity over ability. DeHaan, touted as a "rising star" for far too long, manages to coast on a combination of whispered line deliveries and unhinged screaming. His performances are a never-ending cycle of whispered, tortured soliloquies followed by over-the-top outbursts that fail to land, much like the disastrous films he's often cast in. It’s almost as if the industry is trying to convince us that his brand of "intensity" is profound when it’s just an act of desperation. Then there’s Delevingne, whose rise to fame is less about acting chops and more about who she knows. No one can seem to recall a role that truly showcased her talent, and yet she continues to grace our screens. Perhaps her greatest skill is the ability to land roles in films where the budget is higher than her actual performance. A model-turned-actor who’s more likely to turn heads on a runway than in a dramatic scene, Delevingne’s work is often forgettable at best. Ask anyone to name a standout performance, and you’ll be met with blank stares-proof enough that her acting is just another vanity project. Both actors are symptoms of a larger problem in Hollywood, where talent often takes a backseat to marketability and social media presence. It’s hard to pinpoint a singular moment when DeHaan or Delevingne’s acting ever justified their constant presence on the big screen-if a film succeeds, it’s never because of them. It's about time the industry took a hard look at what truly drives success, because it certainly isn’t either of these two.

[@anthonykoller4459]

The main cast was so mismatched that it spoiled the film for me

[@coolmacatrain9434]

The two "actors" were awful .. I feel the same about the two main "actors" in Dune I & II ( Timothée Chalamet & Zendaya) they are childish looking, androgenous non-actors.

[@mexcavazos]

What if I told you a certain European "group" idolizes this look to the point of obsession? Seriously....

[@wc7484]

The casting for the main characters failed big time. They picked the most unlikeable actors possible.

[@tskmaster3837]

Valerian is a time agent from the 28th century, Laureline is an 11th century French peasant girl, you would think this would come up in the movie. I saw an animated adaptation of the comic where this plot is... get this... the plot. Luc Besson, you are an idiot. LB: "But adventures in Time AND Space would just confuse people. I see a planet of a thousand planets in a pure Space Opera." But we could use time travel to have our characters see it built, backwards and forwards? LB: "Huh? No."

[@Dreamfox-df6bg]

Despite going away from the source material the animated adaption tells a great story with interesting characters and ideas. Some of them eve topping the comics. I mean, creating a company people invest in to loose money as the reason for the company is to finance the fight against an evil empire?

[@TheLegendaryMovieCritic]

Valerian focused on the visuals over the stories & characters!

[@dougmclaren2868]

The leads didn't lack chemistry, they had anti-chemistry. It was liking watching someone drag fingernails across a chalkboard every time they were on screen together. A lot of the set up was very similar to Fifth Element. You can see where the fun should be, it just isn't. Which is too bad as the movie as a whole was obviously made with a tremendous amount of love.

[@allendean9807]

The leads ruined the film. Neither of them had chemistry, neither of them could act within the boundaries of the script. I’m sure they can do some scripts justice, but this, they ruined. Dane, with his genZ Keanu Reeves surfer dude delivery, and Cara’s stilted, wooden delivery simply pulled me out of the film so many times.

[@olencone4005]

Visually, the film was fantastic, and the world-building was exquisite... but the dialogue, characters, and main plot all felt overly-contrived, dull, and hollow. To me, it came across as a project that was rushed out for a pre-determined release date instead of being allowed to cook properly.

[@D3ST72]

None of the two main characters, had any resemblance to the actual cartoon characters.

[@magnificus8581]

I was one of the few to see it in theaters, I guess. It was decent, you could see a lot if passion put into it, but as others have noted, the 2 leads were miscast

[@bdso9593]

Sorry i missed this in the theatre. Saw it on 4k years later. That opening scene is pretty incredible. I remeber seeing the theatre poster when it came out. I thought it was a kids film. Those two main characters look like they’re 12 yo.

[@TroyBrophy]

Imagine Karl Urban as Valerian.

[@martinportelance138]

Karl Urban makes everything better.

[@taproom113]

Antonio Banderas and Catherin Zeta Jones ... now That's some 'Chemistry' !!! (Been done. Yeah, I know ... but it still would've been better than what we got.) ^v^

[@AlwayzFresh]

I was under the impression they were siblings from the dialogue.

[@perfecthindsight]

Yet another movie where most of the budget was spent on CGI in the hope that no one would notice a confused story line.

[@The-Man-On-The-Mountain]

Apparently, a strong muscular male hero is toxic, so they have to hire kids instead. Delevigne, as Zendaya, I don't get it, I don't understand what do they see in them. And Rihanna... Ugh. Why?

[@Graystaff]

The first 10 minutes of this film were great… then the lead actors showed up.

[@FloralShoppingCard]

Never talked Valerian to anyone and can say the comment section here is 100% correct. I wasnt interessted in the film during its release and i only watched it on accident during the pandemic because i have watched almost everything that was available. I cant remember the story AT ALL. This is how little this movie made an impression on me. The main cast was distracting overall and addtitionally they were bad at it, also zero chemstry between them. By just watching the clips of this video about Valerian i cringe so hard about the poor acting skills of Dane DeHaan. This forcfull deep low voice trying to be cool is like a 12yrs "acting" cool. Its brutal to watch this again. Somehow he was good in Chronicle(2012) but wouldnt have got the gig for Valerian if he would have been casted properly. I mean, you can still fire actors during readings, rehearsals when you realize that cast wont work. Cara Delevingne is not exception by the way. She was bad right from the start.

[@pantera1420]

I loved this movie!!

[@paulinagabrys8874]

Piąty Element to najlepsza ekranizacja Valeriana, bez Valeriana. Jak dla mnie Francuzi powinni zrobić trylogię animacji skierowaną raczej dla dorosłego widza. Wybraliby najlepsze historie z komiksów, zrobiliby własny kanon i mamy pogromcę mcu dla myślących ludzi. Valerian ma już od 2006 roku własne anime, czyli Time Jam. I wyszło to bardzo dobrze. Generalnie komiksy francuskie mają potwornego pecha do adaptacji filmowej. Albo ich sukces ogranicza się tylko do Europy jak z Asteriksem albo stają się klapą jak Valerian. Albo nikt nie wie że dany film/gra jest na podstawie komiksu francuskiego

[@GEMINIEARTHWALKER]

Sounds like the same reviews that critics gave to the Fifth Element, when it came out. A box-office failure that became a celebrated classic. . When the generation who grew up with this movie become adults, this will become another SCI-FI classic like F.E. . I adore this movie for it's visual style and attitude.

[@Dizerfullpower]

A cargo cult classic huh

[@T-Flame]

The Fifth Element tripled its budget at the box office and didn’t bankrupt any companies. It had mixed reviews, not universal terrible.

[@barryfastcars25]

It is a bit of an issue if the main romantic couple look like siblings.

[@SkolneyVikings]

Original big budget films don't get supported by audiences. Then they complain that most big films are remakes and sequels.

[@NoidoDev]

Often these remakes and sequels have the same problems: Bad storytelling with a moralizing message, a lot of action with expensive CGI bloat.

[@wonder6oy409]

good ones do

[@LukeDodge916]

I like this movie, and think of it as a spiritual successor to the Fifth Element (one of the best sci fi movies ever!). Im sad we wont get a sequel...

[@rustedbeetle]

It is difficult to identify issues outside of casting, as the leads were extremely wooden in their performances it overly shadowed the films other faults. At some point as consumer grade VFX software advances, someone will recut the film replacing DeHaan (who came off as stoned and barely cognizant that he was in the film) and Delevingne (who seems to lack any acting ability beyond that needed of a background character) with more competent actors, as well as cutting some of the superfluous scenes. I think there could be a good movie there. The line delivery sounded like the first table reading. The chemistry between the leads exuded more tired sibling energy than lovers. Did the casting director have the leads read against each other before hiring them? I would love to see that audition tape.

[@starbrand3726]

Is there such a thing as too sci-fi? Then this movie DEFINITELY illustrated that. It was visually overwhelming, hard to understand (the interdimensional market for example), and had lackluster, no charisma main characters. All style, no substance.

[@quadders9198]

A big shame this film as it had so much potential but narratively falls to pieces by the halfway point. There is so much energy to everything, the performances, the art, the style, the music BUT not the story. Characters appear, are thrown out, are pointless, story arcs go nowhere, halfway through you've completely forgotten about the main plot then suddenly you're back into the main plot. Narrative mess.

[@lucasoheyze4597]

I've seen it a few times on TV and to me the biggest flaw is the bad lead actors, they're just utterly charmless.

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

People thought the setting was called Valerian, not the character. Also, why name it after one character? There were two! Yes, I get the title under which the books were published, but make it clear who we are following.

[@kristinaF54]

Good catch, but yeah it didn't have much going for it. Jupiter Ascending 2015 and Borderlands 2024 suffers the same issues.

[@anthonyd.1428]

That's a good point. I thought that was the name of the city in space. This reminds me of the John Carter of Mars movie posters that had JCM. How is anyone to know what that means.

[@sonosoloio]

the main problem of this film, which I ultimately liked and bought the br, besides the "multidimensional market" part which is definitely too long and therefore boring, is the actor chosen to play Valerian, surely also due to errors in character development by the production, who is very unpleasant and given his very poor physical prowess he is not even good as a classic hero of an action film.

[@robmsmithdumbhandle]

I adore this movie. I've a got a special edition copy w/ about 2 hours of deleted scenes and special feautures. I've watched it an embarrassing number of times. While I guess it was nice to see Rihanna, Ethan Hawke was probably the real gem of the movie. His hilarious performance as a pimp was SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!!!!!

[@NoidoDev]

Wait, it's 2 hours longer?! 😮🤔

[@trancetechkid]

It’s been said over and over in the comments but yeah, I didn’t see this film in the theater because of the main character casting, period. They both seemed wooden with zero charisma and poor acting abilities. I love scifi and will usually watch anything with a decent enough story. I tried watching it when it was on tv one day and I think I made it like 10 min in and just couldn’t.

[@Djordje_Jovanovic]

Cara Delevingne killed this movie for me. This woman CAN'T act, even if her life dependent on it.

[@chindleymuffin]

Well she was a model before this, so it's understandable that she can't act. I haven't seen her in anything else since this either, so I guess her career stalled. 🤷

[@martinportelance138]

She could have been okay with a more present male lead. She brings a necessary beauty to the movie.

[@jonathancurran5366]

​@chindleymuffin She was much better here than her woeful performance in Suicide Squad. She was decent in that fantasy series on Netflix too.

[@michaellanger5671]

The problem was that the actors were not even close to the comic characters, who are really cool

[@Jeffk750]

This film is a victim of terrible casting.

[@tetsuoshima2314]

Imagine if they could have made this with Fifth Element era Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich, that was the correct casting. The kid as Valerian might be the worst casting ever, I thought Cara Delevingne was great but her other half looked like a strung out addict teenager, not at all a comic book heroic man in the slightest.

[@trinaq]

I liked this film immensely, but I agree that Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevinge were likely miscast.

[@V3ntilator]

I liked the movie, but not the lead cast. In fact the two leads looked like Twins or something which made it awkward when they weren't.

[@86ortega]

I thought Cara Delevingne was great for the flim. My eyes were glued to her uh.. scenes... in this cinematic achievement.

[@davidgifford8112]

Missed this at cinema, bought the disc, couldn’t finish it, it’s dreadful, visually good but the characters and a plot worth following are completely absent

[@RealChicKiNCanada]

i loved this movie

[@skemsen]

I agree with many others in the comments about the odd main casting (zero chemistry/sibling vibe/bad acting etc.). I liked most of the visuals but what was most off putting to me, as someone who really enjoyed the graphic novels in my youth, was the way the female lead displayed that extremely obnoxious girl boss ‘strong female character with the mandatory don’t-give-shit attitude completely void of love or affection you know just because of a cultural norm that forces it to be the default. Very far from the vibe I got from the comics. Lead actor was excellent in the well made movie Chronicle which strangely enough never got a sequel.

[@scotttemplin8331]

Such an underrated gem

[@tenchifan72]

The entire film is let down by the leads for me. Dane and Cara are fine actors, but they are Charisma black holes. They have none and the suck it out of everyone around them. So of course they had no chemistry with each other, neither of them had the capacity to make it work. Its a shame, as the rest of the film is fantastic. Great effects, Ideas, and story. Its a film I own, but constantly have to keep asking, "do I really need this one?"