It is finally July, which means it’s finally the month that Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets comes out. As a fan of both the comic and Luc Besson, I’ve been thrilled for this film. Though set in a different universe, the film can be seen as a spiritual successor to Besson’s 1997 Sci-Fi masterpiece, The Fifth Element, given tonal and worldbuilding similarities as well as the new film being Besson’s first time tackling a large Sci-Fi epic since The Fifth Element. I recently saw The Fifth Element in theaters again for the film’s 25th anniversary earlier this summer. I have to say, it held up really well. The years have been kind to the special effects and 25 years later, it continues to feel fresher and more unique than many current blockbusters.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is based on the beloved French comic Valérian and Laureline. The film stars Dane De haan as Valerien and Cara Delevingne as Laureline. Most of the film takes place in Alpha, the titular City of 1000 Planets, and a ton of new promotional videos have just come out, including one that dives into Alpha to give us a closer look at the city than we’ve seen before.
The video tells us about the city of Alpha, a massive spacestation that is travelling through space, home to 30 million people and 3,236 known species.
The other newly released Valerian clips show a conflict with a large monster, an interrogation of three little aliens, Laureline guiding Valerien in a chase scene, and a hyperspace jump. The first clip gives us far more information about the world than the others. I expect we’ll see even more when the opening of the film plays before Spiderman: Homecoming on Friday. Check out all the new clips below.
Buzz for the film continuing to be promising, praising the film as fresh, bonkers sci-fi adventure. Which sounds very similar to what people were saying about The Fifth Element upon its release. Let me know what you think of the new clips, are you excited for the film?
