Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets - E... ((top)) Instant

What follows is a chain of heists, chases, and dimension-hopping adventures, including a trip to the interdimensional market of "Big Market," a sequence that has already been hailed as one of the most inventive chase scenes in sci-fi history.

However, on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has found a second life. Sci-fi fans looking for something that isn’t Star Wars or Star Trek have discovered its unique charm. It is a film that rewards repeat viewings—not for the story, but for the background details. Every frame is packed with aliens, signage, and tech that you missed the first time.

If there is one reason to watch Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets , it is the production design. Besson collaborated with the comic’s original artist, Jean-Claude Mézières, before his death, ensuring the film remained faithful to the source material’s aesthetic. Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets - E...

The full title refers to — the eponymous city of a thousand planets. What Besson achieves here is staggering. The film opens with a montage set to David Bowie’s "Space Oddity" showing the International Space Station gradually absorbing more and more international, then alien, docking ports over centuries. By the 28th century, Alpha is a teeming, bio-diverse metropolis the size of a moon.

The narrative follows Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Sergeant Laureline (Cara Delevingne), two special operatives for the government of the human territories in the 28th century. Charged with maintaining order throughout the universe, the duo is dispatched by the Minister of Defense on a mission to the breathtaking intergalactic city of Alpha. What follows is a chain of heists, chases,

In one of the film's most celebrated sequences, Valerian must retrieve the converter from a "big market"—a parallel dimension accessible only through a special visor. In this realm, agents can walk through walls, grab objects from other realities, and navigate a crowded market that exists in a different plane of existence. It is a three-minute sequence that contains more creativity than entire trilogies.

, an ever-expanding intergalactic metropolis where thousands of species converge to share knowledge and culture. It is a film that rewards repeat viewings—not

The that inhabit Alpha (like the Pearls or the Doghan Daguis)

This paper explores the visual storytelling, world-building, and cultural reception of Luc Besson’s 2017 space opera, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets .

The and the visual effects teams (Weta Digital and ILM)