By Luca Newton
The highly anticipated Dune adaptation from Denis Villeneuve has finally been released... well, the first half of it at least, and I saw it in IMAX yesterday. I left with many thoughts.
Warning that there may be some mild spoilers.. I don't really know what counts as spoilers for people, so read at your own risk.
The incredibly highly anticipated Dune adaptation recently released in the UK, and as a huge film buff, I was very intrigued to see what the hype was about. For an entire year, it was Dune this, Dune that - you bet your ass I was hoping to leave that IMAX screening mind blown. I mean, this is the GREAT Denis Villeneuve. The mind behind one of my favourite movies of all time, Arrival, as well as Blade Runner 2049 and Prisoners, two other masterpieces. Pair that with the massive buzz behind the original novel; I had to love Dune.
Unfortunately, I didn't like it that much..
Just to clarify, I didn't dislike the movie, I just didn't really like it either. I really want to establish that everything about this movie is exactly what it set out to be. On a technical level, Dune is a sweeping spectacle, visual masterpiece, masterfully directed adaptation of a beloved novel with the utmost faithfulness and dedication to the source material, and I cannot stress this enough. Dune is not something I am personally familiar with, and I won't pretend to know anything about the novel, but based on people who have read the novel, I can gather that it really is faithful. In that respect, I have tons of respect for Villeneuve for properly adapting this beloved story in a pleasing way for fans of the source material.
Dune as a novel was a huge deal, being from 60s, Frank Herbert's Dune inspired Star Wars, Harry Potter and even Lord of the Rings. Watching this adaptation, you can really tell the inspiration it gave these very influential modern pop culture. However, how dense the book is, I don't exactly know if it works as a movie.
As many know, David Lynch also made a Dune movie in the 80s. While I haven't seen it, I know that it wasn't very good. I gather the issue with it is that it physically couldn't recreate the supposed depth of the books. From what I have heard, Dune goes into religion, politics, conflict, to really make the fiction feel very real. Lynch's (I am assuming) doesn't do that. Villeneuve's does.. but I still don't fully realise itself in my opinion. In the movie, as someone who doesn't know Dune prior, there's this expectation for really deep politics and religion, but in the movie, all I know is that the spices of Arrakis fuel space travel, and so a lot of the conflict comes down to trades. Beyond this, I never got an understanding of what exactly the politics behind this is. Just that there's a disagreement, and that ideology of appropriation when people from different areas harvest from a very old and valuable area home to another type of person familiar with it. Oscar Isaac's character as the leader of Atreides is characteristically naïve. However, that's only because these politics are within the subtext of the movie. This is fine, because if it's just shoved down your throat, that's hardly believable. However, my issue is that in other movies or books inspired by Dune, stuff like wizardry and The Force are showed secondhandedly, which really does go a long way to establish their concepts in a more than base level way. The politics of Dune are probably pretty damn great, but I didn't pick up on any of it. The little details of these politics to establish them are missing, so I find it hard to get enthralled in the world's political landscape.
In terms of the religion and politics, Paul Atreides, as our protagonist represents both. His father, Leto Atreides I is the embodiment of his future role as a political leader. While, Lady Jessica, Paul's mother, is the representation of his religion. She is a member of a group that believe that Paul is the messiah. We see Paul balance both being politically in charge and a part of the religion as the messiah he is expected to be. This leads to Paul to never really have a place in the story of Dune: Part One. He balances both helping his father and doing things for his mother, I never get a sense of what he wants; he doesn't really want to be either it seems. Outside of both of his "destinies", we never get a real idea of what PAUL wants. What does Paul like? What does he like? He's literally here to dream about a girl and satisfy both of his parents' conflicting roles for him. I understand he was the first "chosen one" archetype, but if you're gonna release a movie AFTER they improved that archetype, it's dumb to keep that. I know Villeneuve wanted to be extra faithful, and that's fine, but to me it's a detriment to the movie.
Furthermore, the whole idea of making Dune split into multiple parts sounded genius on paper, but in my opinion I don't really think it should've been. Clearly as a novel, Dune doesn't seem to have a midpoint. Because of this, this movie really ends up feeling pointless without the other parts. It feels like I'm watching half of a movie and it just randomly cuts off halfway through and I have to wait 3 years to continue. I understand that it is actually half a book, but if you're only doing half a book, you have to at least justify that first half's existence as its own movie. I don't think it does here. As far as I'm concerned, Dune feels like the first act of a film dragged to 2 hours and 30 minutes. When Paul finally makes a decision, the film is over. The protagonist of the film doesn't do anything of note until the end. Warner Bros really should've given Villeneuve part two right away, and had these two filmed back to back, because on its own for a few years, Dune is such a.. nothing burger. Stuff happens in it, but it really just is a prologue to the main event. This part feels like it could've been the Star Wars opening text scroll of Part Two, that's how inconsequential it feels. For such a large and dense film, I felt like there were only one or two major events in the movie, the rest felt INSANELY spread out in order to justify a full movie.
How would you counter this issue without rushing it into one movie? Well honestly I would have given Villeneuve either a longer movie or an insanely high budget HBO Max series. The longer movie could justify its own existence.. it would also probably have the same slow issue I had, though. Alternatively, a HBO Max high-budget series akin to Game of Thrones, and upcoming Wheel of Time and Lord of the Rings, show how the medium of high budget long-form television can give the right amount of time for the story, while not being too long for viewers. I understand why Villeneuve would have NEVER agreed to this, as a cinema elitist, he wanted Dune to be the biggest spectacle ever made, to be seen on the biggest screen ever, but I just feel like either of my suggestions would've made like Dune more.
Anyway, moving on from all the negative, I think it's important for me to really hone into how much of a spectacle and a cinematic experience it is. I'd 100% implore that you watch this movie in IMAX, and experience it in all of its glory. I had many gripes with it, but most people love it. It's an incredibly well-made movie with a stellar crew. Villeneuve, as I said, is a very talented director, and Greig Fraser makes the most stunning film of the year so far. All the cast are top tier; Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Fergusson. I think that Lady Jessica and Duncan Idaho were clear standouts for me. Lady Jessica was the clear heart of the movie, and I am actually interested to see where she goes next. Duncan Idaho didn't really get much to do, but when he does, he's just charismatic and makes the movie less boring, Jason Mamoa is great.
In conclusion, Dune: Part One is a film that has everything going for it. An incredible cast and crew, the biggest spectacle you've ever seen, the most enchanting score from Hans Zimmer. However, the uninteresting story, and lack of any resolution really put it down for me. As someone who saw it in IMAX, I wanted to love it more than anyone else. I do, however, believe that the second part will make this part more compelling. I hope to watch both back-to-back. As of right now, I feel nothing watching Part One.
Thanks for reading, please don't crucify me..
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