Dune

RATING: B+

A minor disclaimer: I have never read the book which this is based on. Nevertheless, I was interested in a new sci-fi/fantasy epic based off some beloved source material. Heaven knows Hollywood has very little actual original material these days, so it is always pleasant to see some decent/interesting books being adapted to cinematic form. And frankly, we were due for a new successful franchise based off a book series. 

Dune has been adapted before to the big screen back in 1984 by David Lynch, but that film was apparently a failure and not so well-liked by the book fans. This new one seems to be faring much better in the latter regard. Fortunately, despite this being adapted from some pretty dense source material which made adapting it properly difficult, one can still understand this film without having read the book. At the same time, it doesn't hurt to not go in completely blind. 

So basically, in this sci-fi universe--which takes place in the year 10,191--interstellar travel is achieved by way of the substance called "spice"--which is also an hallucinogen drug. It also helps extend human life and heighten abilities and stuff... but the important thing is it makes interstellar travel possible, thus making everyone pretty reliant on it. And it's only available on one planet--Arrakis, a desert world. 

Arrakis, which is home to the Fremen natives (as well as gigantic sandworms--more on that later), has been occupied by House Harkonnen for some time who have been harvesting the spice. Now the Emperor (what exactly he's emperor of, I never did get straight) has re-assigned it to House Atreides--whose Duke Leto, his partner Lady Jessica and son Paul, are our primary characters--with the latter being the protagonist. 

The Harkonnen aren't very keen on giving up their monopoly on space's most precious resource, and Duke Leto is aware of the threat from them--among other possibilities in which this situation could go badly sideways for them. But hey, the Emperor has spoken, and that's that apparently. There's another thread or two going on here, namely the Fremen's belief that some kind of messiah is on the way to help liberate them--who could very well be Paul for reasons that would take too long to explain here.

Anyway, as you can probably tell by the fact that it took me three paragraphs to explain some basic background on what this story's about, that the lore of Dune is pretty loaded. To the point, in fact, that director Denis Villeneuve felt he simply couldn't tell the story in one movie--so technically, this movie's title is actually Dune Part One. And even Part One is loaded, because this movie is 155 minutes. 

Dune does a good job of explaining its setting and backdrop, as well as its gimmicks--such as the forcefield armor that everyone fights with that prevents anything fast from killing you--and is not that difficult to follow. There may be some trouble keeping up with some of the weirdly named places and people, but so long as you've got the primary ones down, you can manage. 

On a visual/technical level, this is a masterpiece. This has always been Villeneuve's primary specialty, and it is on full display here. The landscapes are gorgeous and the designs are well-done, as are the special effects. Of particular note is the first actual look at the scope of a sandworm, which is a jaw-dropper moment. The sound effects also give this a unique feel, which is helped out by Hans Zimmer's score which uses a cacophony of sounds that distinguish it from his usual work while still sounding enough like him. 

Story-wise, it's nothing necessarily special--it does rely on a familiar trope or two (chosen-one-esque stuff), but it's got unique enough concepts and is intriguing enough to keep one interested. But it is ultimately a movie that takes pride in its aesthetics most of all--and in that sense, it is a complete success, and you have enough substance that you don't feel like you are watching anything remotely brainless. The all-star cast certainly does not hurt either, of which Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa (mostly by virtue of his character being the coolest), and Josh Brolin stand out the most. Timothee Chalamet is fine as the main lead, though sometimes he's a little too straight-faced at seemingly the wrong times. 

This film does perhaps suffer a little bit from being a "Part One," but that's less the fault of the director or movie and more on the source material for being so dense that even 150 minutes isn't enough to do it justice. But, for example, we do have the result of there not exactly being much of a climactic sequence, and the final line being "this is just the beginning" further driving the point home that this is basically only half a movie. It's a good thing that Part Two has officially been greenlit, or this movie would be rendered pointless. 

For fans of the sci-fi/fantasy genre, Dune is well worth dipping your toe into even if you aren't familiar with the source material. It does more than enough to distinguish itself from other works of the genre and stand on its own. While I have heard that this series gets weirder as time goes on, I am at least quite interested to see how Dune Part Two goes.