Valerian Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

1. It's Way Too Long

Valerian clocks in at a beefy 137 minutes, which given the story's massive, space-faring scope, isn't surprising or inherently unreasonable, but considering that the plot is largely a series of excuses to string together various action sequences, with a romance awkwardly sandwiched in the middle, it's clear that the final cut of the movie is packed full of narrative bloat.

Trim down the romance and cut some of the more indulgent, overt exposition and you've got a far slicker-paced two-hour romp that probably would've played much better with audiences overall.

Even with these significant issues, though, there is a lot to like in this utterly bizarre movie...