Review: Dune (2021)
Dune: Part One, directed by Denis Villeneuve, tells the tale of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the young prince of House Atreides, led by his father Duke Leto I (Oscar Isaacs) and his superpowered mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). Being a respectable house, House Atreides gets tasked by the Emperor to rule over the desert planet Arrakis and oversee the mining of the planet’s valuable resource of S P I C E. But as the Atreides arrive at the planet they find themselves now placed in the middle of a war between the native Fremen people and the former rulers of the planet House Harkonnen, led by the EVIL Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård). With his father’s noble blood in him as well as being trained in the ways of his mother’s superpowered culture, it’s up to Paul to become the Fremen people’s champion and set balance to the planet.
Now I’ve been pretty excited for this film for a long time. The original novel by Frank Herbert has been the source of inspiration for many sci-fi stories, with George Lucas’s Star Wars franchise being one of them, and attempts at adapting this novel have been notoriously difficult. Alejandro Jodorowsky’s take on Dune failed to get realized and David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation was….a thing.
Now comes Denis Villeneuve’s turn to adapt the unadaptable. Villeneuve has had quite the amazing track record so far in his career, and after seeing his phenomenal Blade Runner sequel I had full faith that he knows what he’s doing for Dune. Dune: Part One shows that Villeneuve knows what he’s doing for Dune.
First thing that’s very evident about this film (and I think is the aspect a lot of people will praise the most) is the visuals. Much like for Blade Runner 2049, this film’s visuals are outstanding. The cinematography is hauntingly beautiful; Villeneuve’s vision is amazingly rendered out in thanks to DOP Greig Fraser’s accute attention to lighting and composition for this film. The CGI is also spectacular; all the ships and space creatures look amazingly real and help amplify the action sequences.
Speaking of action sequences, this film’s action is surprisingly well paced and well choreographed. Given Villeneuve’s slow-burn nature in his films, I was afraid the action would be secondary in this film, but it was sufficiently entertaining and certainly helped offset the film’s snail pacing (more on that in a bit). All the performances were exceptional, the exposition and world-building was simple enough for those not familiar with the source material to follow, and Hans Zimmer’s score was on point as usual.
One issue I had with this film (and with all of Villeneuve’s films in general) is the pacing. This film likes to take its sweet time, clocking in at two hours and forty-five minutes. Granted, there’s a lot to cover in this story, but some scenes could’ve been trimmed down just a tad bit. The story thankfully does keep you invested enough for you to not check your watch every minute or so, but with this film being PART ONE of a planned two, it ends on a rather bittersweet cliffhanger.
And there’s my biggest dilemma for this film. As of this review, Part Two has not been officially green-lit, meaning there’s a chance we’ll never see a proper conclusion to this story. This film will either end up being a fantastic first part to a potential sci-fi classic or the biggest cock-tease ever produced. Time (and the box office numbers) will eventually tell, but I’m really hoping for the former.
Overall as it is it’s a solid set up. My feelings for this film will probably get better (or worse) depending on if and when Part Two is announced. As it is though I think this is an excellent big budget sci-fi film that has something for everyone. Please do your part and go see this film; make Part Two a reality. Show those stuffy Hollywood execs that we the audience want more smart and well made blockbusters. Don’t let this film go the way of Blade Runner 2049. This kind of blockbuster is rare to see nowadays, so embrace the spice and go check it out for yourself.
Final Verdict: 8/10