Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

If you are in the mood to watch a science fiction this week, opt for 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets'. Directed by Luc Besson, it revolves around the mission of the two special operatives Valerian and Laureline who travel to Alpha to explore the ever-expanding metropolis where diverse species gather to share knowledge and culture. 

But before you book your tickets, read the review of the movie:

Tampa Bay

Spending $200 million on Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is Luc Besson's sci-folly, too much for a fantasy that's gorgeous to observe yet torturous to sit through. "Too much" is Besson's signature move, so we shouldn't be surprised.

Rolling Stone

It's as gorgeous as anything the French filmmaker has made and as empty as a Trump tweet. You either go with it or you don't. You can make the effort, but after a punishingly 137 minutes – and Valerian does not get better as it goes along – your enthusiasm is likely to collapse. Still, it must be said that this over-styled fantasy is anything but a cynical cash-grab in the Michael Bay manner. 

The Vox

It’s a movie that just stops being exciting, where the final action sequence is the most perfunctory gun battle imaginable, where the titular character ends up being the least interesting character of all.

Bloomberg

It’s a fatally flawed film. What trips it up more than questionable casting or even stunted dialogue is the epically confused narrative. The screenplay careens through space and runs into an asteroid field of heavy-handed themes: Galactic multilateralism and multiculturalism vs. human exceptionalism and a not-so-muted cri de coeur about environmentalism and the rights of indigenous peoples.