To watch Valerian is to witness a filmmaker who loves the medium of science fiction with a childlike intensity. It is a reminder that cinema should be about showing us things we have never seen before. For all its narrative shortcomings, Valerian shows us a thousand things we have never seen, and for that, it deserves to be remembered not as a flop, but as a beautiful, expensive, and utterly unique mistake.

Set in the 28th century, the story follows special government operatives (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) as they maintain order throughout human territories. Their primary mission takes them to Alpha , the "City of a Thousand Planets"—a gargantuan, ever-expanding space station where thousands of species from across the universe share knowledge and culture.