Valerian: No Love Lost Edition

A very fun edit, visually stunning and innovative. I enjoyed the more subtle romance between Valerian and Laureline in this edit rather than the heavy-handed and forced romance of the original, which allowed for a much better flow of the story.

However, while the removal of the marriage conversations improved one aspect of the story, the removal the Princess subplot, while preserving an air of mystery, was also confusing when the flashback to the prisoner's death scene was used to explain the possession of Valerian. For the sake of clarity, I would have retained it. Also, I felt the removal of Bubble's death scene was unnecessary. The raising of the tentacle in this version made it seem like she was alive and Valerian and Laureline just left her there in the rubble rather than confirming if she was alive or not. The ending in this version felt abrupt, though I understand why the kiss and the accompanying exchange of bad dialogue was removed.

Overall, I highly recommend. Well done!

The original film at the cinema was a mixed experience for me - visually spectacular (I saw the 3D version) with many parts I really enjoyed, however also many parts that I thought were just plain *bad* and left me wondering what Luc Besson was thinking - but it was good enough for me to buy it on 3D Blu-Ray when it eventually released.

This edit by Malthus neatly excises all the parts that spoiled the original; the forced and flatly acted marriage proposal subplot is gone (this slapped the brakes on the film’s pace whenever it reared its head) and several other scenes have been neatly trimmed or altered very cleverly.

I’ve docked 1 point each for audio/visual - there was a brief silence towards the end of the film, and one cut at the end of the throne-room fight that I felt was a touch too sudden. Narrative loses 2 points for a bit of confusion regarding the Pearl Princess soul wave (the interrogated prisoner death is repurposed but seems to me to be about 3 decades too late to make sense) and the ending felt very abrupt - though I really like the new ending music!

I’d definitely recommend this cut to first-time viewers or fans of the original. Full marks for enjoyment!

(I watched this edit on a virtual reality full cinema screen via Skybox on Quest 3, stereo audio only.)

The original is one of my wife's favorite films but I found it lacking compared to my love for the fifth element. This edit fixed a lot for me! Though i do believe more could be done and Rihanna could be completely cut. I like that the love angle is cut bc their interactions always felt more bother/sister and when you cut it their chemistry works so much better. There was some confusion about how the alien ended up in him bc of the new narrative but its negligible compared to the abrupt wardrobe change you just have to roll with lol

Another stellar Malthus offering, this time with very challenging subject matter. A meandering story, incredible visuals and poorly matched actors take the stage. Malthus removes the awkward romance, focusing our attention on the main plot, which works nicely. Movie is now coherent, if not always enjoyable and Valerian is tolerable as a character in this version, which is a herculean effort. Well done fix!

I liked this version and think the changes improve upon the original. The edits were unnoticeable and the plot flowed better overall. I highly enjoyed and recommend this version.