Valerian: No Love Lost Edition

Very happy to have found this edit, I didn't notice any of the cuts and found it more enjoyable to watch due to the faster pacing.
keep up the good work Malthus!

I found the original movie to be an underwhelming disappointment. This is a definite improvement! It can't fix all the issues with the film, but does make for a rather more enjoyable experience. Aside from the music over the end credits being overly loud, the edit was technically flawless as far as I noticed. The ship's infodump about Alpha when they arrive still seems awkward and unnecessary, but that's not new to this edit. The remnant of the princess plot seems to come out of nowhere, and would have been better excised entirely, but one more bit of weirdness in a story like this isn't a big deal. I was very happy with the change to Bubbles' story. Recommended.

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

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.)

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!