What Critics Are Saying About Valerian

No one can hear you scream in space, but we bet you could faintly hear the bellows of director Luc Besson.

The early reviews for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets are in and, for the most part, they aren't kind. Although some critics found a lot to like about the sci-fi epic based on the French comic book, most agree that it's largely style over substance. Besson and the film's stars (Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, and Rihanna) take a lot of the heat.

The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy dubbed it the worst film of the year and was particularly unimpressed with the cast. "The Razzies don't need to wait until the end of the year to anoint a winner for 2017," McCarthy wrote. "Euro-trash is back, while sci-fi will need to lick its wounds for a while. Dane DeHaan, who has starred in two of the most egregiously bloated misfires of the year with A Cure for Wellness and now this, should do a couple of indie films, while Cara Delevingne needs to learn there is more to acting than smirking and eye-rolling. Rihanna should pretend this never happened."

Chris Nashawaty at Entertainment Weekly said the movie gets off to an epic start, but quickly falls apart. "During the film's intoxicating first 30 minutes, for example, I couldn't decide whether what I was watching was brilliantly bonkers or total folly. Then, as the story went on, it came into sharper and sharper focus: Valerian is an epic mess." Nashawaty also said the film's special effects and quirkiness, akin to that of Besson's The Fifth Element, just don't work. "Valerian and Besson strain so hard to sizzle your retinas and knock you out with the film's oddness that it eventually becomes numbing—and then just exhausting."

Not everyone hates it, though. Forbes' Scott Mendelson called Valerian a "dazzling delight" and compared it to Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy. Meanwhile, Eric Eisenberg at Cinemablend said the movie remains a "spectacle of summer" despite the fact that "some elements just don't work as they really should."

You can decide for yourself when Valerian hits theaters on July 21. In the meantime, check out some movies that will blow everyone away this summer.