Image courtesy of hdqwalls.com
Hello, everyone.
For this review, we’ll be looking at the first part of a modern adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert.
It was so influential, in fact, that an argument could be made that it inspired Hollywood to take us to a galaxy far, far away.
Folks, get ready for a modern epic (even more so in the next review), as I present my review of Dune*.
The story is set far into the future, where for the longest time, the brutal House Harkonnen has been controlling the desert planet known as Arrakis. The planet is home to a resource called “Spice”, which allows for quick and safe travel through space.
One day, the Emperor appoints Duke Leto Atreides, the ruler of House Atreides, to take over for Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
Leto accepts, finding more benefit in having full control over Arrakis and having its natives, the Fremen, on their side.
Unbeknownst to him, the Emperor has lured him into a trap.
Meanwhile, Leto’s son Paul has been having horrifying visions of the future, and not only does the only way to conquer his fear lie on Arrakis, but also something greater he doesn’t yet fully understand.
What Worked: The performances are top notch across the board.
Timothée Chalamet shows how vulnerable Paul really is without going into over the top territory. It may seem subdued, sure, but you do still get that sense of vulnerability and overwhelming responsibility that lies ahead of him.
His father understands that feeling, and Oscar Isaac does a great job selling that.
The same is true for Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Paul’s mother. When you also factor in that she’s a member of a group that has very powerful mental capabilities, she feels the most vulnerable out of anyone in House Atreides.
For the heroes, the best performances in the movie for me were actually Paul’s mentors, Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho, played respectively by Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa.
Duncan in particular gets some great moments, and with the small amount of humor here, most of it comes from him.
For the villains, we have three major members here, and I’ll go from the one with the least screentime and work my way up.
We have David Dastmalchian (who’s getting even bigger now; he even had a small role in Oppenheimer last year) as Piter De Vries, their Mentat**. He’s unrecognizable when you see him, and he is very unsettling.
Then we have Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban, the Baron’s nephew. He’s the most brutal one, and not just because it’s him in the role, but this is Dave’s best performance outside of Guardians of the Galaxy (yes, even more so than something like Knock at the Cabin, and he was great in that).
Now we get to the Baron himself. Not only is this Stellan Skarsgård’s best performance in years, but the Baron is one of the coldest, most calculating villains in a long time.
Just his voice alone will unnerve you.
He was one of the best performances in the movie in general for me.
Now we get to the technical aspects.
Even though this is half a story, the storytelling we do get is very effective. It establishes the lore that Frank Herbert created (and his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson later expanded upon following his passing), and it provides a sense of world-building on such an epic scale. I always appreciate when movies go the extra mile to do that, whether they’re adaptations (examples of that being this and The Lord of the Rings) or not (examples of that being Star Wars (the Original Trilogy), The Matrix, and John Wick).
Speaking of Star Wars, there are some parallels in here, but given the fact that Frank Herbert’s novel was a huge inspiration, it makes sense for them to be there. Some would even argue that this is the modern day equivalent of what the Original Trilogy was then.
You can also tell that director Denis Villeneuve had passion in making this movie, as he was a huge fan of the book and this was always a dream of his when he became a filmmaker.
The same can be said for Hans Zimmer in providing the score. Being a huge fan of the book as well, when he heard about this adaptation, he jumped at the opportunity to do it.
On its own, the score is really good. In the movie itself, it works for the aforementioned epic scale, but there’s an issue with it that I’ll get to momentarily.
The last two technical aspects to talk about basically go hand-in-hand with each other: The visual effects and the cinematography by Greig Fraser.
With all the recognition it got at the Oscars that year (10 Nominations (including Best Picture) and 6 Wins), those two awards were rightfully earned, and Best Visual Effects in particular usually has some stiff competition***.
As much as I loved all of the competition it had as well, I understand them giving Best Visual Effects to this (even more so now upon rewatching it to get ready for Part Two).
These effects and the cinematography make the scale feel even more epic than it already is.
Ever since he shot Rogue One, Greig Fraser is proving himself to be among the best cinematographers working today. He’s also shown that in TV as well, as following Rogue One, he worked on three episodes of the first season of The Mandalorian, including the pilot.
Then following that, he did this, won an Oscar, and did even bigger projects.
What Didn’t Work: While I do still really like this first part of a two-part story, I do also have some issues with it.
For one thing, there’s a pacing issue here and there, but because world-building is a key aspect of this first part, I understand that there might be more downtime and quiet moments than action.
That is the case here, so there’s a sense of imbalance from a narrative perspective.
Some characters are also not given much to do, the biggest examples being Javier Bardem’s character Stilgar, who leads the Fremen tribe, and Zendaya’s character Chani, who Paul has also been seeing in his visions.
With someone like Javier Bardem, you’d think he’d have a big part in the movie. You’d also think that with how big of a personality Zendaya is now, she would have one of the most significant parts in the movie. Then you see the movie, and they’re barely in it.
Stilgar is basically an extended cameo, and Chani is only in the movie for seven minutes.
My biggest issue with the movie, though, is actually with the score.
As legendary a composer as Hans Zimmer is, my problem with the score here is that it can be so overwhelming at times to where you can barely hear the dialogue, especially with the background vocals.
Though I stated it’s fine listening to it on its own, it’s regarding that aspect of it.
Within the movie, though, aside from it being occasionally overwhelming, it does work for the type of movie it is, and the last time the main theme was used was effective for me.
It was used properly there, in that it gets you excited to see more.
Overall: Dune does for epic sci-fi what The Lord of the Rings did for epic fantasy. It takes its time with world-building, gives you a compelling narrative and equally compelling characters brought to life through fantastic performances.
It’s gorgeously shot, and has some of the best visual effects in recent memory.
Though it is lacking in the action department, and some characters are sidelined, the dedication to properly translating such a legendary novel is very much on display, even if this only covers the first half of it.
Speaking of that, I also give them credit for not outright greenlighting Part Two to capitalize on the decade-old trend of adapting one book across two movies. They waited until they were able to ensure they could, and then once they knew it was successful enough, they did.
This made people excited to see more, and then almost three years later, they got it.
Next time, the Spice will continue to flow.
*Yes, I know there was an adaptation in 1984 by David Lynch, and I’m sure there are some who want me to cover that, and some who prefer sticking to this newer version.
I’ve seen parts of it before, and what I saw didn’t really do much for me at the time.
However, after having seen the whole story for this new version, I’m slightly interested to check it out (slightly being the key word here).
**In the Dune universe, they’re basically human computers, as actual machines (computers, robots, AI, or what have you) have been forbidden ever since a machine uprising happened.
If that sounds familiar, let’s just say that it’s in something that started in 1984. I hope to at least start covering that pretty soon, if not still at some point this year.
***And also, keep this in mind: Its competition was Free Guy, No Time to Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.