(SPOILER WARNING!!)
I would like to preface this review by saying that, while I was aware of this franchise by sci-fi author Frank Herbert, I never knew of the deeper history behind the original book and the various attempts that were made in making a cinematic adaptation of the story. I hadn't even read the book before I was made aware of this version being directed by Denis Villeneuve, and even then it was because my older brother had recommended it to me on the basis that it was not just a great sci-fi novel but a great novel in general. Thus far, I have read 364 out of the 529 pages (not counting the 4 different appendices at the end) in this book. I have otherwise never seen the David Lynch film from 1984, the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series from the early 2000s, or the documentary from 2013 recounting why Alejandro Jodorowsky's version never saw the light of day.
With all of that said, however, I still wanted to see how this film would turn out based not only on the research I've done into the different adaptations that were attempted since the publication of the book, but also because of how said book has gone on to influence so many other sci-fi stories; including Star Wars, Star Trek, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Futurama. It also helps that I really enjoyed what I've read of the book thus far, especially with the worldbuilding and characterisation being incredibly fascinating to a newcomer like me. And with the reveal that this film will cover only the first half of the book, I was fully confident in Villeneuve's vision for the movie, with the director having already proved his talent with 2013's Prisoners and 2017's Blade Runner 2049 (though I only watched half of the latter before quitting as I never cared for the original film to begin with).
Thankfully, having now seen this film on the U.K opening date, I can confirm that I am hyped for part 2 to come out in the next few years... provided that people don't continue to act stupid in regards to COVID.
Plot:
The titular Dune is the nickname of the planet Arrakis, a desolate desert planet populated by not only a warrior race known as the fremen, but also by 400ft-long sandworms that are drawn to any rhythmic thumping on the sand. Arrakis, however, is the only planet in the known universe to produce a valuable spice called melange, which not only extends the lifespan of those who ingest or inhale it, but also has the potential of gifting people with pre-cognitive abilities. It has also been used in developing space travel, as it can be used to bend space to allow super fast transportation from one end of the universe to the other in an instant.
This brings us to the far-flung future, where the noble House Atreides, lead by the just Duke Leto (played by Oscar Isaac), has been given the unenviable duty of watching over the production of melange on Arrakis after it was controlled by their embittered rivals; House Harkonnen, ruled by the ruthless Baron Vladimir (played by Stellan Skarsgard). As revealed during their stay, however, this was in fact all a trap set by the emperor Shaddam IV (played by Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film), as he was seeing House Atreides becoming increasingly popular with the people and became paranoid that they would attempt to seize his throne. Thus, he has partnered with the Baron to send in their forces in order to wipe out House Atreides, succeeding in wiping out most of their army and Leto killing himself with a poison gas capsule in his teeth in an attempt to assassinate the Baron.
His sole heir, Paul Atreides (played by Timothee Chalamet), escapes with his mother Lady Jessica (played by Rebecca Ferguson) as they decide to seek out the fremen to join forces with them so that they can take revenge on House Harkonnen; all the while Paul deals with frequent glimpses into the future thanks to exposure to melange and he begins questioning just what kind of powers he has, as well as what destiny lies ahead of him on Arrakis.
Pros:
The cast in this movie is absolutely spectacular, with each actor capturing the essence of their characters to near perfection. At first I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides, as this version seems to have been aged-up from the books age of 15. But he was able to sell his performance as Paul with the Gom Jabbar scene, wherein he has to place his hand inside of a box that will fill him the sensation of pain while a poisoned needle was held to his neck. He not only perfectly conveys the kind of excruciating pain that the task entailed in the book, but he also captures the characters mental fortitude which allowed him to pass the test without retracting his hand from the box.
The rest of the cast did a great job in portraying these now iconic literary characters as well. Oscar Isaac once again showed his fantastic range as Leto Atreides, Josh Brolin made for a somewhat sterner yet still amiable version of Gurney Halleck, Jason Mamoa was surprisingly funny as Duncan Idaho, and I felt that Chang Chen was pretty much born to play Dr Yueh with all of the tragedy and betrayal that the character traditionally entails. But the one who stole the show for me was Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; not only is the make-up for the fat suit really convincing, but Skarsgard is pretty much flawless as the Baron. He's cunning, manipulative, ruthless, and has an ever present sense of intimidation and power that you don't want to mess with. He doesn't appear in the film that often, but he is almost always the central focal point whenever he is on screen.
And at the very least, he doesn't look like THIS:
Though weirdly, I can kind of see this diseased-ridden lunatic as the actual paedophile compared to the newer film (which, thankfully, cut that part of his characterisation out).
But back to the pros of this movie; it is a visual spectacle. Denis Villeneuve is somehow able to make Arrakis look both beautiful and daunting all at the same time. We get a great sense of how truly massive this place is, with the various scenes of the characters flying around in their ornithopters (which look spot on, incidentally) and Villeneuve's excellent direction makes the planet feel truly massive and desolate. This is especially true when we get to see how truly ginormous the sandworms can be in the scene where one attacks a spice harvester. The correct use of angles and perspective shots make the human characters look like ants in comparison to the sandworms, while also giving Arrakis a sense of personality as a dangerous place to be for anyone who dares take up the challenge of watching over it. It really is a toss-up between this and Shang-Chi for the best cinematography of the year.
And to further compliment how great of a director Denis is, one of the things I've always enjoyed about his work is his ability to create brilliant visual exposition; there are a lot of moments in this film where he truly captures the atmosphere from the book and can immediately tell you the basics of what you should know just in the ways that he presents the characters. A moment that stuck out to me was when Paul was exposed to an insane amount of melange in the first sandworm scene; there is very little dialogue, most of the shots focus on his facial expressions, and the general slowness of the scene creates a sense of both mystery and intrigue, which is definitely needed in a story that is known for doing a smart subversion of the "chosen one" narrative.
This film is also very clearly a passion project, as it not only hits the expected story beats from the book, but it is able to portray virtually 1-1 recreations of the scenes from the book. The first sandworm scene is a great example of such, but then you have the smaller stuff that otherwise would've been cut if there was a larger sense of studio interference. We have the scene where Shadout Mapes gives Lady Jessica a crysknife, the scene where Liet Kynes (genderswapped to be played by Sharon Duncan Brewster) provides Paul and Lady Jessica sanctuary after the attack, the scene with Paul's vision of the fremen spreading their religious war across the universe, the scene where Stilgar (played by Javier Bardem) meets with Duke Leto, the scene where the Reverend Mother (played by Charlotte Rampling) discusses the idea of Paul being the Kwisatz Haderach; the film even ends on the scene where Paul defeats Jamis in a duel and is then accepted as a member of the fremen. If I am correct, most of these scenes were not in the David Lynch version, which is baffling to me as most of these scenes not only create a much more interesting world for the characters to inhabit, but also gives more layers to the characters to make them more tangible to the audience. Small details like this always matter in a larger picture, is all I'm saying.
Cons:
I'll be honest; any issues I have with this movie are purely nit-picking. Whatever cons I point out in regards to the film can either just be personal things, or can just be explained by me not having finished the book yet.
But with that said, I want to start with who I feel is the least interesting character in the movie
Chani (played by Zendaya) is the only character in this film that I personally could not get invested in, which is honestly a shame. Like the rest of the cast, Zendaya is putting in a really good performance as the character. The problem comes down to 2 main things. Firstly, she is barely in large chunk of the movie. The most we see of her before the end is in Paul's visions of Arrakis, wherein she's either walking around in a gown or is kind of just standing there looking at Paul. And secondly, when he finally meets her in person, the interactions between the pair are very brief as they basically jump straight into the fight between Paul and Jamis as soon as we meet up with the fremen. It feels kind of rushed in a film that otherwise takes its time in getting from one story point to the next.
Admittedly, that's also all I've seen of her in the book thus far; but seeing as how this is an adaptation of a well-known and highly regarded piece of sci-fi literature, one would think Chani's transition from book to film could help in making her a more interesting character. I'm not asking to have her supersede Paul as the protagonist; I just wish there was more to this character than what is currently presented. I guess I'll have to wait for part 2 to see what else, if anything, they do with her.
I also think that there were some scenes from the book that also could've made it into the film to help establish of the empire that exists in this universe, as well as give an idea as to what the emperor himself is like. One of my favourite scenes from the book involves Duke Leto hosting a dinner party for other nobles, some of whom questioning Leto's choice to share water with the fremen and changing certain societal customs. This, once again, was a great worldbuilding scene and was used for Jessica and Paul to see which noble can be trusted after there are suspicions of a traitor in the castle. I don't necessarily think the movie is ruined for not having this scene, but even with a longer runtime this could've been an excellent means of showcasing the characters intelligence and informing the audience more about the empire.
Not to mention, there is ONE scene that easily could've made it into the film; Lady Jessica and Thufir Hawat (played by Stephen McKinley Henderson) being incredibly distrustful of each other and airing their grievances. This was a vital scene in the book, as both were accessing each other through their respective training as a Bene Gesserit and a Mentat and deciding whether or not they could trust each other. Thus, in the aftermath of the attack, Thufir believes that Lady Jessica was the traitor and swears to have her made an example of due to his anger. This scene tells us so much about these two characters and their dynamics, and yet it's not at all featured in the movie.
Speaking of which, Thufir, one of the most pivotal characters from the book, is also given very little to do in the movie. In the book, he is unfathomably loyal to Duke Leto and is constantly cautious of his suspicion that Lady Jessica is the traitor hiding among them. And when the Baron takes over Arrakis, he is slowly made their slave after they put in a permanent poison without his knowledge and only give food and drink laced with the antidote if he serves them, slowly breaking him to follow the orders of the man ultimately responsible for killing Leto while still believing that Jessica had a hand in the House Atreides falling. In the movie, however, he only really appears a few times and is never seen again after the Harkonnens invade. There's never any sense that he suspects Lady Jessica, nor is there any lip service to say that he is being enslaved by the Baron. Kind of a missed opportunity, really.
Also, as my brother pointed out; WHERE WAS GURNEY'S BASSINET?!
Conclusion:
Nit-picks aside, I honestly think that Denis Villeneuve's Dune is one of the best sci-fi movies in the last decade, as well as a top contender for best film of the year. The atmosphere and worldbuilding is top notch, the cast do an incredible job with the roles they are given, the direction is a visual marvel, and it's accuracy to the source material is absolutely commendable. I'm glad that I saw this movie in the theatres, and I will happily pay to see a sequel on the day that it comes out. This is a story that modern audiences need to see, especially if it is done a effortlessly as Denis makes it look.
Overall rating: 9 out of 10 (Great).
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But until next time, because there always will be one; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, signing off!
