Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Produced in 2017 by grandmaster Luc Besson (Ronin, la Femme Nikita, etc etc), I had high expectations for this film... 

But also some fears as this might have been to over the top if you saw the trailers.

In the 28th century, the former International Space Station has reached critical mass, making it too dangerous to keep in Low Earth Orbit. Relocated to deep space, it became Alpha, a space-traveling city inhabited by millions of creatures from thousands of planets.

En route to a mission, Valerian dreams of a planet where a low-tech humanoid race lives peacefully. They fish for pearls containing enormous amounts of energy, and use small animals to replicate them. Wreckage begins plummeting from the sky, triggering an apocalypse. Before the explosion reaches the surface, a young princess manages to send out a telepathic signal.

This leads to Valerian trying to figure out what the aliens meant, while almost bunking an undercover operation as a consequence.  A special conference is then gathered but unknown aliens, those from his dreams, attack and capture the grand General of humanity.  Turns out he was the one that gave the order which triggered the apocalypse, and Valerian and his partner must find a way to bring him to trial...

Now, the movie is gorgeous, and I don`t mean Rihanna's role in that.

It`s special effects are really fantastic, even though the whole virtual reality meets reality sequence in the Grand Bazaar does come over a bit messy at times in my opinion.  But unfortunatly, that is the good thing about the film.
I don`t like the lead actor that portrays Valerian (Dane DeHaan) that much, being a bit to weak for the shoes he needed to fill to be honest.
On the other hand, some well known faces do make some great short appearances (hello Ethan Hawke) but overal, the movie is beautifully made, but weak in storyline and acting leads for me.

A missed chance, and seeing the box office numbers, I doubt there will be a sequel...