DUNE (DUNE: PART ONE) (12)
D: Denis Villeneuve
Warner Bros / Legendary (Mary Parent, Caie Boyter, Joe Caracciolo, Jr. & Denis Villeneuve)
US 🇺🇸 2021
156 mins
Science Fiction
W: Denis Villeneuve, Joe Spaihts & Eric Roth [based on the novel by Frank Herbert]
DP: Greig Fraser
Ed: Joe Walker
Mus: Hans Zimmer
PD: Patrice Vermette
Cos: Jacqueline West & Robert Morgan
Timothee Chalamet (Paul Atreides), Rebecca Ferguson (Lady Jessica), Oscar Isaac (Duke Leto Atreides), Josh Brolin (Gurney Halleck), Stellan Skarsgård (Baron Vladimir Harkonnen), Dave Bautista (Beast Rabban Harkonnen), Jason Momoa (Duncan Idaho)
Frank Herbert’s hefty source material was originally brought to the screen for a 1984 film which I really wasn’t a huge fan of, partly because it was far too ambitious for its time and had the wrong choice of director at the helm.
37 years later, director Denis Villeneuve tries his hand at adapting the same novel to far greater success, although only half the story is tackled in this update.
Set on a distant planet where a valuable spice causes various noble families to go to war over the control of it.
Thankfully, this version takes its time with character introduction, so it doesn’t feel like such a garbled mess, as it crafts a fantastic and unique universe with some excellent visual effects & production design, although some of the conceptual designs do seem rather impractical (the dragonfly spacecraft, as an example), but they are nevertheless magnificent to behold due to the impeccable effects.
Think what you will of the story, the films strengths lie in its visuals and every single cent of the $165m budget looks like it found its way to the screen.
It’s unfortunate that only half the story was tackled here, and even more so that a sequel wasn’t even planned to tell the rest until this one proved a success for the studio. For me, this is a cinematic crime which I’ve taken major issues with (Lord Of The Rings aside, which was always a trilogy of books).
It’s understandable that the original source novel had many characters and subplots that couldn’t possibly be tackled in a single film, hence the mess that is the 1984 film, so why not create this as a television series (or at least produce both films in tandem so a two year wait isn’t needed for its conclusion).
I’ll revisit this one until the second part comes out, as this is simply the appetiser without an entree.  The feast is not yet complete.
7/10