Thread for Luc Besson's new comic book movie: Valerian

Oh fuck, dude. That's no good.

eurgh :(

I have a couple of female friends in France who have had creepy run ins w/ Bess0n in the past at nightclubs. He is or was allegedly notoriously debauched - in a "weekend-long drug fuelled orgies at the country house" kind of way.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/valerian-is-the-movie-that-luc-besson-has-waited-his-wh-1787894351

When I asked Besson about differences between French and American types of science fiction, he began by reminiscing about test screenings of The Fifth Element 20 years ago. “When I did The Fifth Element, the French hated me and they said, ‘Oh, he’s an American now,” Besson said. “Then I released the film in the US and I realized how French I was, because for the people in the US, that was too much at the time. That’s 20 years ago. I remember they did a screen test in Phoenix, Arizona. A big white guy with his popcorn was there with his son.

“The film starts and the guy said, ‘The president of the universe.’ And there’s a black guy coming on-screen. And the guy said, ‘What the fuck is this thing’” A half an hour later there is a blue alien who comes and sings classical music. The guy said, ‘Let’s get the fuck out of here.’ And the guy left.

“I was there watching the guy leaving and I’m like ‘Okay, I’m European, I think.’ I could see a difference at the time. The thing is now with the internet and all of this change, we hear Bob Marley, we’re eating sushi and watching an American show at the same time, from Denmark, from France, from everywhere. I think 20 years later it’s much more like, we all have been American, we all have been European. Which I love. Because we have more access to each other. I think the difference from where I was with The Fifth Element and the American audience was kind of far. But now with this one, I’m still crazy but the world gets crazier.”

This is definitely going to be not as good as Guardians of the Galaxy.

I dunno, I thought Fifth Element was pretty good, and visually it was about as close to bringing the Valerian & Laureline aesthetic onscreen as anyone has ever managed, so Besson is certainly the one person who could pull off a proper interpretation of the comic. If the script is good and doesn't dumb down the source material and Besson leaves out the silly gags that occasionally brought FE down, this might be awesome.

I thought Besson's Adèle Blanc-Sec movie was pretty great also. Looking forward to this.

thread: I'm probably the only one anticipating Luc Besson's Adèle Blanc-Sec movie

If the script is good and doesn't dumb down the source material and Besson leaves out the silly gags that occasionally brought FE dow

so many Ifs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BszXhUjJz00

I dunno. So many of the aliens look like every other dumb alien to me.

By the way, I changed this thread title as you requested the other week, Tombot, but it seemed to have reverted back or something? So I've tried again, we'll see.

I'm still really excited that Desplat is doing the score for this. He is still one of the most consistently interesting people doing film music and he booted off the next Star Wars only to sign on to this, something much closer (at least in terms of source material) to what I liked about the original SW films. Desplat usually gets hired for whimsy, suspense or character drama projects so this'll be his first big fantasy thing since Golden Compass.

I dunno. So many of the aliens look like every other dumb alien to me.

Yeah, I was a bit disappointed that that the trailer was closer to the grimy LotR CGI look than the more colourful "wonders of the universe" style of the source material... But Besson did manage to get Mézières' style right in Fifth Element, so I'm still hoping he hasn't caved in to current sci-fi/fantasy trends and the trailer is like that so the movie can be sold to people who expect it to follow those trends.

I think it looks like fun and I desperately need the promise of fun right now

otmboto

so hey should I buy all the cinebook editions? I feel like I need comic books and jeff bezos will need the money to help stay out of jail

I'm not sure how far Cinebook is in publishing the series, but the nine books from Empire of a Thousand Planets to Brooklyn Station, Terminus Cosmos are among the best sci-fi comics ever published, just full of cool aliens and sci-fi concepts, wonderfully drawn cosmic vistas, and sometimes also social/political allegory, which is usually pretty interesting and not finger-pointy. The first two stories, Bad Dreams and The City of Shifting Waters are somewhat less brilliant, closer to YA adventure than the more adult tone the series will take, but they're still fun to read and important in understanding the background of the characters, especially Laureline (who's a time traveler from the past, not from the future like Valérian).

The quality of the series starts to drop after that... The Ghosts of Inverloch/The Wrath of Hypsis is still okay, but Christin's social satire starts to dominate the series more and becomes more heavy-handed, which is a portent of things to come. On the Frontiers is otherwise an interesting story, but unfortunately it features a supporting character who's written as kinda sympathetic even though he rapes an alien woman at the beginning of the story. (He does it to steal her psychic powers, not for pleasure or dominance, but obviously it's still rape.) The fact that Christin doesn't condemn his act strongly enough is sad, especially since the series is otherwise very feminist-friendly, particularly when it comes to Laureline. (As the series progresses, it becomes more and more clear she's the real protagonist and the driving force of the series, while Valérian becomes more of a passive observer, and often a Dude in Distress she need to save.)

The Living Weapons is still an okayish story, though you can from its allegories it was published at the time the Cold War had just ended. After that the series starts to really go downhill. In the last five or so books, the plots are pretty much incomprehensible, and even Mézières' art becomes more simplistic and cartoonish, so the cool sci-fi visions that still made some of the preceding books worthy of reading become rarer too. It's really sad, if they'd stopped doing the series after 1985, it'd be remembered as an absolute classic, but now it's only the first half which gets that honour.

To put it shortly: read everything up until The Wrath of Hypsis, do not bother with the rest. That book actually provides a pretty good conclusion to Laureline & Valérian's story, you won't feel like there are many plot threads left dangling if you stop there.

Okay I've never heard of this series but a female lead named Laureline who rocks mod styles? Was it actually based on my LIFE? Ordering now brb

Mod styles?

But yeah, Laureline is awesome, and I love how the series defies the genre expectations (especially considering it began in 1967) and gradually builds her up to become the proper primus motor of the book. It's actually a nice contrast Christin creates between Laureline and Valérian, she is more proactive and he more reactive, which leads to some interesting plot turns.

lol everybody had my idea and Amazon is totally out of stock of the first five or six volumes

All those books are still available to order on Cinebook's own site:

http://www.cinebook.co.uk/index.php?cPath=184&osCsid=d763b3a18518f837320ff553b42da8cd

i have the first eight, been reading them slowly (i think i'm up to four). really really enjoying them.

so ... why did they cut laureline out of the title?

honestly, it's almost too many syllables for international audiences as-is

I've watched the trailer like 20-30 times already, I think, even despite The Beatles

So all of the first 12 of the Cinebooks editions finally arrived while we were still unpacking and moving, so it was slow going at first, but last night I came down with flu symptoms so yay me, I've been plowing through these today in between pathetic attempts at naps!

I like that institutional collapse seems to be the main theme throughout (so far - I'm only through False Earths), in some combination of inevitability due to control structures' inability to cope with change, and V&L just wrecking shop wherever they go because lol what prime directive? Also, capitalism is such a drag, you guys! These are definitely French comics from the seventies.

Valerian is superb at math and bad at speeches: this seems like a very good and realistic set of characteristics for a steely-eyed spaceman to have. I hope that makes it into the film.

Laureline is a great, great character. "I can't catch a break! Even space critters are misogynous!" I am more impressed by the Delevingne casting than even before: she and Laureline really do kind of look alike, although I'm disappointed they didn't go with red hair and bangs.

If the movie is really based on Ambassador of the Shadows, how are they going to end it? Also, 75% of the point of AotS is Laureline (and "Grumpy") having to do everything while Valerian is stuck in some aquatic alien brig - the trailer certainly doesn't look like that's the case.

I like that institutional collapse seems to be the main theme throughout (so far - I'm only through False Earths), in some combination of inevitability due to control structures' inability to cope with change

Yeah, this is a big theme, and it'll be later explored with Galaxity itself, but I don't want to spoil it any more. Christin also did a couple of books with Enki Bilal, and The Hunting Party from 1983 is a very interesting (and way more realistic than V&L) look into the Soviet bloc's stagnation and inability to deal with impending end of the Cold War. It's a great book, so grab if if you see the English translation somewhere.

Also, capitalism is such a drag, you guys! These are definitely French comics from the seventies.

Once you get to "Heroes of the Equinox", you'll find a more nuanced look into this, or at least a more even-handed satire. Christin seems to have been firmly in the non-authoritarian "cultural socialist" camp, so thankfully his concepts have been able to stand the test of time and not become obsolete post-1980s.

We have trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZsG7WJVZv8

to my astonishment that makes it look pretty good

the five yr old has watched the first trailer about twenty times, i assume it'll be the same deal for this one. doubt i could take him to see this yet though The Fifth Element at least is generally the kind of PG-13 movie that's not bad for kids.

xpost -- Yeah between that and the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel there's an actual sense of color schemes at work, which alone is a big plus. Antithesis of the Zack Snyder greyverse.

set photos and posters and stuff

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/843357-valerian-character-posters-reveal-the-creatures-and-robots-in-the-comic-adaptation#/slide/1

I am all in for this.

Final trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcIlQFPbPnM

i get the feeling this will be a beautiful mess, and having just rewatched end enjoyed the fifth element recently i am at peace with that

Oversells the 3D a little. I guess all the video game shots of Valerian running headlong through/into/over stuff are from the same sequence that ends with his fall through the glass from the first trailer.

heh, i was just thinking 'wow i might actually choose to watch this in 3d!', which was kind of a novel sensation

Early word is positive

http://io9.gizmodo.com/heres-the-first-buzz-on-valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thou-1796520105

"Valerian is as gorgeous & epic a sci-fi adventure as you are expecting. However, the story & characters often get overshadowed by the world."

This may be the most negative thing Germain Lussier has ever written. The dude is a Peter Travers-level "I love everything!" gasbag.

Boy you got that right.

I was already drifting away from io9 when Annalee and Charlie Jane left, but when he took over I was done for good. It became just another superhero/Star Wars hype platform, like the world needs that.

Yes of course

http://ew.com/movies/2017/07/05/valerian-luc-besson-action-scene/

“After I wrote the sequence, I explained it to the crew for an hour,” he says. “They were smiling, but I could see on their faces that they didn’t understand a thing.”

And so at his L’École de la Cité in Paris, a free film academy the director opened in 2012, Besson recruited the whole student body to shoot a demo of the action scene’s 600 storyboarded shots as part of their curriculum.

“I brought the 120 students to the soundstage and we shot the entire scene,” Besson says. “They were the actors, they were the cameramen, the lighting people, the grips. Costumes, accessories. We put the 600 shots on the wall and one by one we shot them. They did everything in three weeks, and then we edited and put in some temp music.”

Besson adds with a proud laugh, “And then the crew understood the scene.”

You forgot the setup

A chase ensues between the minions of a three-nosed Jabba-type beast named Igon Siruss (voiced by John Goodman) and Valerian, who has inadvertently trapped his arm between dimensions.

Minor details!

All right, got tickets for a 3D showing on Thursday night so bring on the madness.

I've never seen a single Luc Besson film cuz of that Barbarella-without-the-'60s vibe.

Not even Subway?

no. That wd've been most likely.

The writer of this wrote on Letterboxd that watching Besson's entire oeuvre was "agony"

https://www.indiewire.com/2017/07/luc-besson-movies-worst-best-fifth-element-leon-valerian-1201857534/

That article is dopey. "Adele Blanc-Sec", "The Messenger", "Nikita" deserve higher rankings. Not a *great* filmmaker by any means but a pretty unique one.

he's produced some really interesting films, too.

As long as Morbs has an excuse to never enjoy things that I do, we're all good imo

Good lord what a mess. There is so much too look at, but it just feels like a bunch of really imaginative, disconnected shorts, with no stakes at all.

I feel like this is the inevitable result of letting a desire to make a film cook for way too long, without ever having an idea of the overall story the film should tell. It really made me think about how many little choices made The Fifth Element work despite itself - casting choices above all, but having a memorable soundtrack and actual jokes meant a lot. Here you have Dane DeHaan as Spaceman Spicoli, who is as dull as they come, a completely wasted turn by Delevingne who deserves much better opportunities imho, and then a bunch of other throwaway performances by famous people who were probably expensive.

The whole shortcut / chase sequence, that looked so cool in the previews, is kind of when you realize the decently entertaining first act was a ruse and you've already seen almost everything the movie has to offer. I don't care what happens to Valerian, nobody is chasing him, hell, the people he's chasing aren't even shooting at him! And the whole reason is because his asshole commander, who is obviously the villain, has been kidnapped and he is duty bound to give chase. In a different movie, then, Valerian is that nameless, dogged cop who our heroes can't seem to lose until some random accident takes out his car or they manage to speed across the tracks just in front of an oncoming coal train. I don't care about that cop.

But he was two days away from retirement etc etc. MENDOZAAAAAAA

But he survives! To return as the guy who argues with the smarter, more attractive cop, about why the heroes can’t be saved from their asshole boss, because reasons.

Why all the put-on accents? I feel like John Goodman and Herbie Hancock are the only people who mostly just sound like themselves. Clive Owen might not be doing an “accent” but he’s being stentorian the whole time so it’s as if

And if we’re going to have an obvious villain like that why fix what was never broken? Have a pasty guy with mock prosthetics ramble and rave like Jerry Falwell. It just works!

a completely wasted turn by Delevingne who deserves much better opportunities imho

What?!? The less I see of her the happier I will be. Intensely irritating.

Looks like you win this round, then

I think it could've been better if Rihanna and Delevigne had swapped roles.

Glad I'm not the only person that thought that...

The women were not the problem with this movie.

You could imagine a thousand planets’ worth of different casting decisions for all the female parts in this movie and none of them could address the issue of the title character being written as a schmo and played by Derp DuHuur

Also if you wanna be woke about Rihanna movies let’s get down about BATTLESHIP already, now there’s a completely underrated future cult classic and I’m not even kidding.

that was stated to me in person during the week fyi now im curious

Don't be, it's a load of USA! USA! shit.

it's fascinating sci-fi and raises important questions about what first contact might actually be like, while celebrating the overwhelming naval supremacy of a bunch of people who would literally never be caught dead in the US Navy, much less make it through basic

the casting in retrospect is truly amazing, and that's before you even get to all the other truly bizarre decisions that got tossed into the stone soup. I'd make one of my stock bullet lists here but it would just spoil things and this is one case where I don't want to

This wasn't (entirely) terrible! Mashup of Barbarella, Avatar and Star Wars, and I frankly think it did the Native American and/or Vietnam metaphor better than Avatar (tho with some wobbling).

OTOH you have our dewy ex-model leads beating up Clive Owen. (Cara Delevingne sells the sub-Thin Man badinage better than DeHaan, and don't get me started on his pseudo-deep voice; Christian Bale, you have much to answer for.)

I enjoyed the trio of approximately Semitic anteater hustlers cuz that's the kind of unwoke guy I am.

(btw this is the first Besson film i've watched)

not even Subway, The Big Blue, or Léon?

no x3

not even Le Dernier Combat?

i love Leon. this movie was not so good.

he must be so rich from the Taken movies. and the Transporter movies.

I relaxed into the film when I realised that Keanu was what DeHaan was aiming for.

definitely in the vocal timbre at least.

or Rory Culkin

he must be so rich from the Taken movies. and the Transporter movies.

I dunno, they make a fuuuckload of movies, and posted a $135 million loss last year before
Valerian came out and flopped.

it grossed $226 m worldwide vs a $177 m budget... that's not good, but likely in the black eventually w/ digital sales/rentals.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=valerian.htm

Morbs you should watch Léon, it's a triumph of Manhattan location scouting.

it grossed $226 m worldwide vs a $177 m budget... that's not good, but likely in the black eventually w/ digital sales/rentals.

a Europacorp person said it would have to gross $400 million to make up for their year losses, and they only held onto a a 20% stake

watched this on a plane. hollllly cow that script is a disaster. hopeless relationships, every line a clunker, important things really unclear (have valerian and laureline been dating already or has he just proposed out of the blue? is he a by-the-books soldier or a rakish rebel who's always stretching the rules? are they one-of-a-kind supercops or are there hundreds of their ilk? what exactly is valerian talking about when he asks their spaceship to give him "everything you've got" for the final firefight?) while other things are just beaten into your skull. i like how we find out three separate times that all the important files are suspiciously classified, then the good officer finally puts his foot down and demands access to the files, finding out exactly one piece of new information before hitting... something else that's suspiciously classified. i wanted him to call herbie hancock back and be like "hey you need to right-click on 'properties' and make sure you've set it to apply to subfolders." i also like how we're seven hundred years in the future, so our two leads embody mores, motivations, and ways of life that we cannot imagine or comprehend, but they still have the Ivy League and Wyclef Jean. rihanna's twelve-minute arc was a joke, the filmmakers got ripped off by hawke's and goodman's agents, and the big character arc for valerian is a last-minute fumble that never makes any sense. i will say it LOOKED great, except for the blobby cgi guys who capture laureline.

tbf my disappointment stems partly from how good that early sequence with the arm stuck in another dimension is - it promises something so wild and fun and comic-booky that the stock plot garbage of the main story feels like a cruel bait-and-switch. besides the arm bit, the best parts are the pointless water-treading episodes in the middle, when valerian and laureline each rescue each other from some surprise problem without advancing the plot in any way (or even remembering to call back to the previous go-round). but at least it feels like hijinks on a city of a thousand planets ought to feel imo.

also i do wish I'd seen it on the big screen. i tried last summer, but i was really hungry so i stood in line forever for popcorn and then it seemed to make sense to go to dark tower (which started later) instead. my mistake since that was generically lousy rather than memorably so.

another bit that sticks in my craw: in a laborious and overlong scene, the good officer convinces herbie hancock that he needs the security clearance because clive owen is presumed dead and so you really can't carry out the operation without putting authority in the good officer's hands. the request is granted and the audience has been walked through this logic. then, two scenes later, after it's been reinforced that clive owen may have been up to no good: "these killer robots are programmed to answer only to clive owen! but we have no choice but to let them hang around ominously in the foyer." just head-spinningly dumb, this whiplash between pieces of information the movie wants you to pay attention to that do not make sense when put together.

You are right that this is pretty memorably lousy (for what it tried to be, not even for what we wished it to have been) and I think your airplane screen experience gave you a much more detailed understanding of the plot mechanics than I could have been bothered with. Did I mention Dane DeHaan starring as Space Cop Spicoli? Because he sucks.

This has been my review of your review of a movie we both watched.

by complete accident I watched Dane DeHaan's "Last Thing On Your Phone" piece for Wired and, well, he is Spicoli.

How you read these comic books and decide that Valerian is only a pretty-looking chucklehead, I don't know.