Valerian. Recast both leads if you can, but in a pinch just DeHaan. Give Valerian himself a single iota of charisma and the movie ends up a slight but interesting lark instead of a slog.
There’s a line I’ve heard a couple times that if you swapped the pairs from Valerian and Passengers, both movies end up better, if maybe not quite “good.”
Good call. As the scene opened I thought they were siblings. The chemistry was so bad (and Luc Besson is such a pervert), I still wasn’t sure after the first scene.
I mean, neither of them are a good choice for the character. Veronique is a smart redhead who’s good with all sorts of creatures in the comics. She’s mostly the calm and diplomatic one who can talk her way out of a situation and is usually in a good mood. Casting her with a blond person that has a resting bitch face throughout the movie is the worst offence to the character. Valerian is always portrayed as a bit hotheaded and lazy but also very smart and experienced. In the movie they made him some type of hotheaded action hero when him being experienced, techsavvy and a good strategist is a big part of his character in the comics.
That being said, the sibling thing isn’t too far off. They are never portrayed as having a romantic relationship and (spoiler)
Tap for spoiler
end up being raised together as actual siblings after being rejuvenated in the second to last comic.
Replace both leads with a couple that has chemistry but retains that slightly antagonistic spark and it would’ve made a good movie. I don’t even have an alternate casting, just, “not them.”
Valerian. Recast both leads if you can, but in a pinch just DeHaan. Give Valerian himself a single iota of charisma and the movie ends up a slight but interesting lark instead of a slog.
There’s a line I’ve heard a couple times that if you swapped the pairs from Valerian and Passengers, both movies end up better, if maybe not quite “good.”
There’s such weird chemistry in Valerian, that they seem like brother and sister.
But that’s on brand for Luc Besson, who wanted Leon to be even creepier than it is.
Good call. As the scene opened I thought they were siblings. The chemistry was so bad (and Luc Besson is such a pervert), I still wasn’t sure after the first scene.
I mean, neither of them are a good choice for the character. Veronique is a smart redhead who’s good with all sorts of creatures in the comics. She’s mostly the calm and diplomatic one who can talk her way out of a situation and is usually in a good mood. Casting her with a blond person that has a resting bitch face throughout the movie is the worst offence to the character. Valerian is always portrayed as a bit hotheaded and lazy but also very smart and experienced. In the movie they made him some type of hotheaded action hero when him being experienced, techsavvy and a good strategist is a big part of his character in the comics.
That being said, the sibling thing isn’t too far off. They are never portrayed as having a romantic relationship and (spoiler)
Tap for spoiler
end up being raised together as actual siblings after being rejuvenated in the second to last comic.
This is what I came to say if it wasn’t already.
Replace both leads with a couple that has chemistry but retains that slightly antagonistic spark and it would’ve made a good movie. I don’t even have an alternate casting, just, “not them.”