Dune
First thing you should know about Dune; the title of the movie is EXTREMELY misleading — it should really be Dune: Part One instead. And that is my only, but admittedly quite major, gripe with this movie; it’s incomplete.
Dune is based on the 60’s sci-fi novel — also called Dune — and it follows the story of Paul Atreides, heir to House Atreides, as he finds himself front-and-center in a political battle with their arch-rival, House Harkonnes on the harsh desert planet of Arrakis. All while trying to find his place in the universe, as we all do.
The movie’s runtime is quite long at just over 150 minutes, but it never felt boring or slow to me. Even more remarkable is the fact that this movie isn’t exactly filled with superhero action-filled set pieces, and frankly it didn’t need to because the source material is already so good. It has so much depth that one might feel it would have been better fit to adapt the novel into a tv show format instead. Imagine a Dune HBO series. A series would allow writers more time to flesh out the story of course, but then we would have been deprived of a big screen budget, and with it, the epic cinematography and Hans Zimmer’s masterpiece.
Top Tip: Watch Dune on the biggest screen you can find. In the process of buying tickets I noticed the standard screens always had lots of seats left, but the IMAX screens were selling very fast even for timeslots which were 2 days away. Turns out people knew what was going on; the movie is gorgeous. The wide open landscape, buildings, vehicles combined with Hans Zimmer’s dread-filled score make this a theatrical masterpiece. If there was ever a movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen, this is it.
Another plus with a big budget movie is you can get a lot of A-list actors. Although in the case for this movie, maybe a bit too many A-list stars. Apart from Timothee Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson — who both carried this movie — the rest felt a bit underutilized. Oscar Isaac seemed believable as this Ned Stark character; a righteous leader who commands the respect of his people. He of course gets backstabbed in the end (but gets to keep his head, which is always a plus). Jason Momoa’s character brought a lot of warmth and fun; he literally bounced from scene to scene. Zendaya’s Chani, who I thought would play a major role, does nothing except standing around and looking at the cameras for a slow-mo shampoo commercial.
House Harkonnen as the story’s antagonist were menacing enough; they even straight up look like villains. But I want to know more about the REAL villain in this universe, this so-called ‘Emperor’ character who was only mentioned verbally and was not even shown on screen. Another group which is somewhat mysterious is the Bene Gesserit (which Lady Jessica is a member of); a group of witch-like spiritual people who seemed to act as the invisible hand on a lot of the major events which occured throughout history. And they’re on the lookout for the ‘Kwisatz Haderach’; an individual so powerful that space and time could be bridged, and that person is probably Jessica’s son, Paul Atreides himself.
Of course the most frustrating thing about this movie is it has a lot of setup and then it just…ends. With no payoff. A movie without a cathartic ending is just so bizarre to watch. And it’s not a cliffhanger ending, felt like the movie just randomly ends. It’s like there’s a Disc 2 sitting around somewhere. I guess we’ll just have to wait until the sequel for Paul Atreides to fullfill his destiny as the chosen one, and bring balance to the galaxy. Or whatever else a chosen one does.
Complaints aside, overall Dune is a great movie which was brilliantly executed, a story with so much nuance, complexity, and depth but is easy to follow at the same time.
I give Dune an A-
