Dune (2021 Film Review)
2021 Warner Bros. Pictures
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve; Written by: Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth; Based on the Novel by Frank Herbert
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 156 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 9/10
His name is... Paul. Born into royalty on a distant ocean planet, Paul has troubling visions of the future, and also visions of an attractive young woman walking through the desert who keeps looking over her shoulder at him as the wind blows her cloak to and fro. Through some political machinations, Paul's family is sent to rule a desert planet called Arrakis, home of the much coveted Spice, a material which makes interstellar travel possible. Arrakis is also home to the fierce warrior Fremen, who seem to possibly view Paul as some type Messianic figure. It's also home to some gnarly, C'thulu-sized sandworms. Through some other political machinations, Paul's family is betrayed, and Paul and his mother find themselves stranded in the desert with the Fremen, one of whom just happens to be that girl from Paul's dreams and whoops, that's it, the movie's over.
I should get something out of the way. I loved Dune director, Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049, but I've found several of his other film's to be boring, overrated slogs. I won't name those, but I am getting this out of the way just to make it clear that all of the praise after this sentence ends is not coming from a Denis Villeneuve fanboy.
Dune is a masterclass in big budget, blockbuster filmmaking.
The synopsis I gave above, besides being dumb, was as dumbed down as possible. The actual plot of Dune is far more complex, featuring countless factions, groups, planets, characters, and sects. Somehow, by some cinematic miracle, Villeneuve makes all of these complexly layered elements clear. My wife and I watched this film with no knowledge of the book material, and the 1980's Lynch adaptation far, far back in my memory, and we had absolutely no trouble understanding Dune's complicated plot machinations, while also never feeling like Villeneuve was dumbing things down.
Meanwhile, Villeneuve translates Frank Herbert's words into glorious imagery, with majestic, sweeping shots of spaceships, planets, vast deserts, massive, futuristic battles. The visual and sound designs are top notch, as is Hans Zimmer's massive, hypnotic score. The designs for spaceships, helicopters, armor, cityscapes are all incredible. Everyone on this film's crew operates at the top of their game. Meanwhile, the enormous cast all hold their own, with no one particularly standing out, as everyone is giving their best. This film is nearly flawless if not for the fact that it merely stops.
Apparently, there's not much Villeneuve and his screenwriters could do with the story here, as far as the ending goes. They split Frank Herbert's book in half, and there's not much of a climax in the middle. A brief knife fight, and Paul and his mom wander off with the Fremen as the credits rise. This film feels as visionary as the openers in past landmark sci-fi/fantasy series like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Those film's finales feature huge, explosive, or swashbuckling climaxes. Even the smaller scale fantasy of Harry Potter finishes its fairly pedestrian first film in a way that both feels final, yet brings excitement for future films. A future Dune film is coming, but as absolutely incredible as this first film is, it's a shame that Dune's final, climax-free fifteen minutes don't quite build as much anticipation for a follow-up as they should. At the same time, maybe the preceding 140-plus minutes of excellence is enough to breed excitement for another 140-plus minutes of excellence. I know I'll be watching.
The synopsis I gave above, besides being dumb, was as dumbed down as possible. The actual plot of Dune is far more complex, featuring countless factions, groups, planets, characters, and sects. Somehow, by some cinematic miracle, Villeneuve makes all of these complexly layered elements clear. My wife and I watched this film with no knowledge of the book material, and the 1980's Lynch adaptation far, far back in my memory, and we had absolutely no trouble understanding Dune's complicated plot machinations, while also never feeling like Villeneuve was dumbing things down.
Meanwhile, Villeneuve translates Frank Herbert's words into glorious imagery, with majestic, sweeping shots of spaceships, planets, vast deserts, massive, futuristic battles. The visual and sound designs are top notch, as is Hans Zimmer's massive, hypnotic score. The designs for spaceships, helicopters, armor, cityscapes are all incredible. Everyone on this film's crew operates at the top of their game. Meanwhile, the enormous cast all hold their own, with no one particularly standing out, as everyone is giving their best. This film is nearly flawless if not for the fact that it merely stops.
Apparently, there's not much Villeneuve and his screenwriters could do with the story here, as far as the ending goes. They split Frank Herbert's book in half, and there's not much of a climax in the middle. A brief knife fight, and Paul and his mom wander off with the Fremen as the credits rise. This film feels as visionary as the openers in past landmark sci-fi/fantasy series like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Those film's finales feature huge, explosive, or swashbuckling climaxes. Even the smaller scale fantasy of Harry Potter finishes its fairly pedestrian first film in a way that both feels final, yet brings excitement for future films. A future Dune film is coming, but as absolutely incredible as this first film is, it's a shame that Dune's final, climax-free fifteen minutes don't quite build as much anticipation for a follow-up as they should. At the same time, maybe the preceding 140-plus minutes of excellence is enough to breed excitement for another 140-plus minutes of excellence. I know I'll be watching.
Comments