Saw this on the weekend.
First of all, as one would expect of Luc Besson, the visuals were stunning. Unfortunately, as someone once said when panning a production of Hamlet, the actors would sometimes get in the way.
While the movie opens with a truly heartwarming and optimistic vision of what the space program could, and should, become, I was disheartened to learn that centuries from now a man would try to impress a reluctant woman to become involved with him by claiming to be "alpha."
Further, if your character is based on a genuinely manly-man character in the graphic novels, and is claiming alpha status quite unironically, why would you have him played by an actor who appears to be 14 years old? Both leads give the production a YA feel, despite the male lead claiming a nine-year list of conquests, but I couldn't help giggling each time he pressed his suit by claiming to be a testosterone-loaded hunk of maleness. While the actor actually is an adult, I can't figure out whether this was deliberately sending up male stereotypes (in which case the humour was so subtle as to make the intention unclear) or if Besson really thought the lead was going to make all the girls in the cheap seats swoon.
Also, if you're going to have one character named "the commander" and another "the general," it would help if the actors playing these roles didn't look almost identical.
First of all, as one would expect of Luc Besson, the visuals were stunning. Unfortunately, as someone once said when panning a production of Hamlet, the actors would sometimes get in the way.
While the movie opens with a truly heartwarming and optimistic vision of what the space program could, and should, become, I was disheartened to learn that centuries from now a man would try to impress a reluctant woman to become involved with him by claiming to be "alpha."
Further, if your character is based on a genuinely manly-man character in the graphic novels, and is claiming alpha status quite unironically, why would you have him played by an actor who appears to be 14 years old? Both leads give the production a YA feel, despite the male lead claiming a nine-year list of conquests, but I couldn't help giggling each time he pressed his suit by claiming to be a testosterone-loaded hunk of maleness. While the actor actually is an adult, I can't figure out whether this was deliberately sending up male stereotypes (in which case the humour was so subtle as to make the intention unclear) or if Besson really thought the lead was going to make all the girls in the cheap seats swoon.
Also, if you're going to have one character named "the commander" and another "the general," it would help if the actors playing these roles didn't look almost identical.