Cast – Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu & Rutger Hauer

Director – Luc Besson

Genre – Science fiction film/Action

Running Time – 2h 17m

The Plot

In the 28th century, special operatives Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline work together to maintain order throughout the human territories. Under assignment from the minister of defense, the duo embarks on a mission to Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis where diverse species gather to share knowledge and culture. When a dark force threatens the peaceful city, Valerian and Laureline must race against time to identify the menace that also jeopardizes the future of the universe.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a good watchable movie to a point. To a point in the sense that whilst watching I at times found myself asking “what am I watching exactly?” Yes, in those exact words. The movie is quite weird with the level of fiction being on another level, something I found both a bit too much at times but also quite cool in other instances.

You could say that the movie is an acquired taste that will attract some but sadly won’t do a lot for some. Which side of the fence am I sitting on exactly when it comes to it? To be honest, I’m not too sure as I briefly mentioned before, there are some parts I liked and others didn’t quite do it for me. The visuals are great especially when watching in 3D however the plot itself leaves a lot to be desired, there just isn’t enough meat on it.

For what it promised to be and what it could have been, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets falls a bit short and will pass up as just another decent sci-fi movie that didn’t present anything special. Despite all that said, as briefly mentioned again, the movie is watchable and most will probably be able to sit through it despite its faults.

Valerian and the City isn’t the best movie around but makes for a decent watch, this is thanks to its weird but great visual effects. The plot line isn’t the best and could have been fleshed out more to produce a great movie, sadly that’s not the case here. This movie is perfect for sci-fi crazy individuals and can do the job for general movie watchers. It gets a decent 2.9 out of 5 rating from me.  

Never mind the script itself, the question of who to cast was one decision that could either make or break the whole thing. Despite this though, who decided to put their hand up and do it anyway? A certain Antoine Fuqua that’s who. By now you are probably asking yourself, did it work out and was the decision to have a remake of the classic a good one? Let’s find out.

The premise of the movie is set in the 1870s shortly after the Civil War, as the town Rose Creek is put under the siege of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue. In light of this the residents enlist the help of seven outlaws, a bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Washington), a gambler Josh Faraday (Pratt), a sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Hawke), a tracker Jack Horne (D’Onofrio), an assassin Billy Rocks (Lee), a Mexican outlaw Vasquez (Garcia-Rulfo), and a Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Sarsgaard), to protect them while they prepare for the anticipated violent confrontation. However, upon meeting the town’s residents, the Seven find themselves fighting for much more than money.

The above tells you all you need to know about it, and honestly, the simplistic nature of the plot more than works and Fuqua was spot on. Judging from what I’ve seen before, it’s easy to mess about and try to include a modern twist and be over-elaborate, this is not the case in this instance. And what of the cast? After all I did make mention in the beginning that this would be one of the most crucial elements of the whole project.

At first glance looking at the cast on paper you would automatically figure that there might be something to it with no way could the movie disappoint. You would be correct in that assumption. In Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, the movie boasts two of the most bankable actors who are hot property in the business. When you include the rest of the cast, that also include the brilliant Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio, you would have to say that this was very well thought out. There’s a perfect mix of wittiness, charm, seriousness and solidity throughout the whole ensemble.

Cast – Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard

Genre – Autobiography, Drama

Director – Antoine Fuqua

Running Time – 133 minutes

Without spoiling it too much, all I will say is The Magnificent Seven is a great remake. It also doesn’t matter if you have some recollection of it based on the original movies that came before, the plot is pretty easy to follow and both old and new will enjoy it, I know both myself and the old timer did! An old Western (something we need to see more of by the way) that you can’t help and enjoy.

Befitting of a solid and magnificent 3.5 rating from me.