Dune

DUNE
2021 | Dir. Denis Villeneuve | 156 Minutes

"The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience."


Young Paul Atreides, primed for a destiny he never wanted, travels to the inhospitable desert planet Arrakis when his family accepts the stewardship of the resource-rich world offered by the Emperor. Falling prey to an elaborate conspiracy to destroy his house, Paul and his mother must endure the perils of the planet, including giant all-consuming sandworms, and befriend the native people in order to survive.

The first installment of Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's beloved sci-fi opus is a meticulously crafted work of exceptional spectacle. The pacing of Dune is deliberate, with more of its two and a half hour run time devoted to world-building than the standard action beats one may expect from a big budget blockbuster. In spite of the heavy expository burden, Villeneuve's vision never fails to be mesmerizing, centered on the story of a boy reluctant to embrace his destiny as a prophesied savior, the picture delivers both breathtaking ethereal visuals and thought-provoking concepts throughout. Perhaps the film's only significant weakness is that it is in no way a complete stand-alone work, ending somewhat abruptly at an unnatural stopping point in the middle of the story.

Dune is an incredible work of brilliant production design. From the lush ocean Atreides homeworld of Caladan, to the dreary imperial army planet Salusa Secundus, to the dreamy desert of the titular "Dune" of Arrakis, every setting is fully realized in stunning detail. Hans Zimmer's hypnotic score is perfectly complements the dreamlike visual style of the film. The stillsuits, the dragonfly-like ships, the personal energy shields, the insect-like hunter-seeker assassination drones, all of the costuming and science fiction technology on display always feels practical in application. The massive sandworms skillfully realized in CGI are a sight to behold to say the very least. Villeneuve also does an excellent job depicting the mysticism and the intimidating power of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, particularly in how the "voice" ability is used in the picture, otherworldly as reality seems to slow and warp whenever a character utilizes it.

Timothée Chalamet is exceptionally affecting as Paul, capturing the boy's complexity and frustration as a reluctant destined hero. Rebecca Ferguson delivers the best performance of her career as Paul's Bene Gesserit mother, alternately deeply vulnerable and appropriately fierce. As Duke Leto Atreides, Oscar Isaac is convincing as a loving father and a compassionate, ultimately doomed leader. Without going over-the-top, Stellan Skarsgård seems to savor the disgusting nature of his role as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, breathing heavily through all of his dialogue. The massive supporting cast features Jason Momoa as charismatic House Atreides warrior Duncan Idaho, Josh Brolin as the stern weapons master Gurney Halleck, Stephen McKinley Henderson as the kind Atreides Mentat human computer Thufir Hawat, Chang Chen as the conflicted Dr. Wellington Yueh, Charlotte Rampling as the imposing Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, Dave Bautista as the brutish House Harkonnen enforcer Glossu Rabban, David Dastmalchian as shady Harkonnen Mentat Piter De Vries, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as the conflicted Imperial ecologist Dr. Liet Kynes, Zendaya as the ethereal Fremen woman Chani who haunts Paul's visions, and Javier Bardem as the proud Fremen leader Stilgar.

Visually breathtaking, thematically rich, and featuring an unbelievable all-star cast suited perfectly for their respective roles, Denis Villeneuve's Dune is the fully-formed first part of a thoughtful epic space opera that is massively appealing without sacrificing intellectual depth. The film is a transcendent achievement of genre cinema quite unlike other science fiction films to date.


FRAGMENTS
- Adapting Dune to film has often been considered an unfilmable undertaking

- Alejandro Jodorowsky began pre-production on a wildly ambitious film adaptation of Dune in the 1970s but the production was eventually canceled due to its massive cost

- David Lynch turned down a chance to direct Return of the Jedi to work on his much-maligned 1984 film adaptation of Dune

- John Harrison directed a Sci Fi Channel three-part miniseries adaptation of Dune that aired in 2000, slavishly faithful to the source material but marred by lackluster special effects and slow pacing

- Timothée Chalamet also plays a brief supporting role in 2022 Best Picture Oscar Nominee Don't Look Up


007 CONNECTIONS
- Javier Bardem (Raoul Silva in Skyfall)


MCU CONNECTIONS



- David Dastmalchian (Kurt in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Veb in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania)

- Zendaya (Michelle "MJ" Jones-Watson in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home)
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