OK, I’m going to briefly talk about DUNE (2021). I’ve read the novel, which is impressively dense but quite absorbing. And I’m quite fond of the bonkers David Lynch version from the 80s. Despite its undeniable failings, it’s a magnificent mess that I would love to see an official director’s cut of (they removed hours of material for the final theatrical edit).
But now we have a new version of Frank Herberts feudal-sci-fi epic from Denis Villeneuve, director of ARRIVAL (fantastic) and BLADE RUNNER 2049 (over-long and dull). So what’s it like? Well… a bit of a mixed bag, but overall a must-watch if you’re a sci-fi or fantasy fan.
The visuals are both amazing – in terms of the sense of scale that they manage to achieve – and simultaneously a bit drab (lots of grey and brown). But I can’t deny that overall this is one of the most epic-looking films I’ve seen in a cinema. Everything is MASSIVE, with interiors and exteriors that make humans look like ants in comparison – but you never get the feel that it’s “just a CG background”. There’s a sense of overwhelming cathedral-like weight to these massive structures. I wish I could have seen it in IMAX at Waterloo, but alas that was fully booked. It still looks absolutely amazing on screen 1 at Picturehouse Central.
The visual effects work is brilliantly done, with a really naturalistic touch – which manages to make even the most outlandish technologies seem believable – I LOVED the Ornithopters, a concept (a flying machine that moves with mechanical wing movement) that is incredibly hard not to make look silly. The gigantic sandworms were EPIC and looked rather better than the 1982 VFX in the David Lynch version ever could.
And the sound is possibly the most impressive part of all. I loved Hans Zimmer’s score. I know he turned down TENET to work on this, and I’m bloody glad he did. It’s one of his best scores to date with some surprising elements. Even some retro 80s synth elements in places. And the sound design was both bombastically HUGE in the big battle scenes, while moody and intimate in the quieter (but equally intense) moments. The representation of “the voice” of the Bene Gesserit sisters is particularly effective.
So, it looks and sounds very impressive. So how is it as a movie? Errrr… well. That’s a bit more complicated. This is a film based on only the first half of the (very dense) novel and as a result, the ending feels very incomplete. I’m very glad to hear that the sequel (part 2 of the rest of the book) has been greenlit and will be with us some time in 2023. But even so I think a lot more could have been done to make viewers more invested in the story at the end of this “Part 1”. It just kind of stops.
Even worse, it completely loses energy in the third act and seems to drag on forever. I was really gripped for the first half of the film, but the minute the big battle in the middle (the Harkonnen attack) finishes, it turns into what would be the equivalent of “filler episodes” in a TV series. Lots of scenes in a tent, or walking across a desert. Yawn! That whole last act could have been trimmed down to about half an hour and the film would have been stronger for it. I appreciate that it was much closer to the original novel, but making a good movie out of a book is all about adapting it to that medium. Even if it means diverging from it – or losing/merging some scenes. Villeneuve seems have a bad habit in this regard. Blade Runner 2049 really could have done with about 40 minutes trimming off it, and I”m pretty sure this particular 2 hour 45 minute movie could have been made into a much better 2 hour one that really left more people excited.
But honestly, despite that, it’s still worth seeing. Especially on a very BIG SCREEN. The first two-thirds of the film really are very impressive and i did love the bonkers scope of the world-building that it did. The “Duniverse” is a intriguing place. The cast are all pretty solid, though it’s not really a hugely emotional film – it’s so bloody stoic and serious. Still, I guess that’s preferable to all the over-emotional, snarky/sassy crap that seems to be polluting TV and Movies these days. Star Trek: Discovery feels like it shares more DNA with an episode of GLEE than classic Trek. Ahem – well, back to the cast: Timothy Chalamet works surprisingly well as Paul Atreides. But Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson and Jason Momoa were all excellent in their respective roles. I also enjoyed Stellan Skarsgard as The Baron Harkonnen. He’s always great, and he has great fun playing this extremely unpleasant villain.
There’s a LOT of characters and story left to be revealed in the second part of this story. I really hope that they stick the landing as – despite some issues – this is a hugely impressive science fiction film, with a rare sense of epic scale. Though perhaps someone can just do a 3 and a half hour supercut of the final 2 films, and help get around that slightly stodgy end act for part 1!
