Valerian Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

3. The Incredible Universe-Building

As beautiful as the movie's visual effects are, they wouldn't mean a whole lot without some impressive world-building (or rather, universe-building), and Besson thankfully has it covered.

The movie darts around a number of disparate locales over its run-time, visiting far-flung alien planets and introduces a litany of crazy technology (VR and AR helmets are virtually ubiquitous), and that's all without mentioning the titular City of a Thousand Planets, a fascinating melting pot of literally thousands of species, races and cultures.

The uniqueness of the film's universe is enhanced by not only the stunning CGI, but also the fantastic, Oscar-worthy costume design, makeup and general production design, all of which are first-rate and, again, show all of that huge budget ending up on the big screen.

Messy though the film undeniably is, its ambitious attempt to create a gigantic, sprawling, lived-in universe is undeniably stunning.