What’s in a name? Luc Besson is hoping his latest big budget sci-fiadventure VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS will win the war of the box office despite having the clunkiest title of the year…
2017 is a good year to be a sci-fifan. Between Alien: Covenant, Blade Runner 2049, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, and The Last Jedi at the end of the year, we are guaranteed a strong crop of big budget titles. It seems apt, then, that a key work in the graphic sci-fi canon, Pierre Christin’s and Jean-Claude Mézières’ Valérian and Laureline, finally be brought to the screen. Lifelong V&L fan Luc Besson, director of Leon, Nikita, and The Fifth Element, is helming the graphic novel adaptation that’s become France’s largest cinematic production.
An adaptation of famed cult graphic novel Valérian and Laureline coming out amidst such a sci-fioutpouring is risky. Since its 1967 inception, the twenty-one-volume adventure has had a deep impact on the genre, its stylisms and concepts trickling into some of the genre’s biggest entries, including Star Wars, Dune, and Besson’s ambitious space opera The Fifth Element. It’s a massive undertaking with a well-drafted, lived-in universe to rival Star Wars, not to mention the added befuddlement of a time travelling element. It’s a worry that this film could fall short of its knee-jerk comparisons to the fresh fun of Guardians, or the nostalgia curiosity of Blade Runner, perhaps. There was an initial worry that V&L’s influence could have robbed it of originality, but trailers have stomped most of that out. Besson is pulling no punches and all signs point towards an epic sci-fiadventure to rival the nostalgic power of franchise tie-ins and sequels.
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