Rating: 9.5 - This is my movie of 2021. See it in IMAX!
Dune is a cinematic experience unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s truly a perfect movie, and easily Denis Villeneuve’s masterpiece. It’s a stunning achievement, a modern art blockbuster, and left me stunned in silence and awe when it ended. I grinned the whole way through and wanted to give the movie a standing ovation after! It completely shattered all my expectations, and I was already very excited for this! I LOVED it, it’s easily one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, and one of my favourite experiences I’ve ever had watching a movie! It’s a perfect translation of the book, and handles the complex lore so well! Villeneuve and his screenwriters clearly understand and adore the source material, they found a way to recreate scenes exactly how the book describes them! It was surprising how well scenes seemed to play exactly how I imagined they would! The movie handles the world building and exposition stunningly well, and I loved that the script didn’t dumb down the story and maintains the intelligence of the novel, blending the themes of religion, politics, power, nobility, betrayal and ecology in such impressive ways. I’m so happy someone found a way to finally successfully translate this complex story to the screen after Hollywood’s many failed attempts. I never thought it could be done with this much perfection and majesty. The story is very dense and has a lot of moving pieces, but I like that the film doesn’t spoon feed it to the audience and lets us interpret many elements for ourselves. It trusts us to follow along with the story, although I do wonder how hard it would be to follow without a pre-existing understanding of the novel. The plot is gripping and moves really fast, especially once you let yourself just be absorbed into the atmosphere of the film. The characters are all so rich and unique, and the cast is freaking incredible. Everyone brings their A-game, especially the brooding Timothee Chalamet, who until now I haven’t really been a fan of. He is perfect as Paul, he really becomes the character, and he delivers a masterful performance with such a range of emotions and subtleties. I also thought Rebecca Ferguson was the best she’s been in years! But the true star of this movie is truly Denis Villeneuve. He masterfully directs this film, ensuring every element is crafted to its highest potential. The film is hypnotic, atmospheric and visceral, massive and epic in scale and has excellent world building and production design. What I also love is that while Villeneuve embraces such a massive scope, he never sacrifices character to do so, as this is a very character and relationship driven film. But wow, is it ever an incredibly cinematic film. It feels like an old-school Hollywood epic like “Lawrence of Arabia”, and much like that film it is an ode to the desert. Like that film, the cinematography in this movie is beyond beautiful. It’s gorgeous to look at and frames scenes in such creative, perfect ways. It just jaw droopingly good, the movie is worth seeing for the visual experience alone, its a feast for the eyes. The lighting is also really well done, and helps to make the CGI look as good as it can! Villeneuve also cleverly grounds the CGI by shooting as much practically and in camera as he can. And it pays off, it just all looks excellent! The sets are intricately detailed and massive, the costuming is wonderfully intricate and it all comes together to create a world that really feels lived in. The action is sparse as this is more of a drama focused sci-fi, but when it happens its extremely well choreographed and shot to create intense, gritty fight/battle scenes. The attack on the Atreides is easily a highlight, or even Duncan’s hallway fight too! Now, all these visual elements are excellently accentuated by the incredible sound design! The mix is one of the deepest and most complex I have ever heard, from Hans Zimmer’s incredible score to sound effects such as the “voice” power. Zimmer also crafted one of his best, most unique and detailed scores that fits the movie perfectly. Its just such a unique auditory experience, and combined with the stunning visuals it just created such a sense of euphoria in my head as my senses were overwhelmed with the world of Dune. This is a movie that you would be doing a disservice to yourself by watching it at home, it must be seen on the biggest screen you can find (such as IMAX). Its just such an incredible experience that truly reminded me why I love cinema and going to the movies! It’s feels like a mix of Star Wars and Game of Thrones, which I love, and yet this story predates and possibly inspired both. I cannot wait to see more from this world, and I really hope we get the 2nd part of the story made! Ultimately I have absolutely no issues with this perfect piece of cinema; on a technical level this movie is flawless and has so much attention to detail. And that is all because of the master himself, Denis Villeneuve, who crafted it with so much love, care, but most importantly, skill. Its a true cinematic treasure, and gave me the same feelings as the first time I saw Star Wars or Lord of the Rings (I smiled the whole way through)! Dune is a stunning, majestic achievement and easily the best film that has come out all year. I highly recommend seeing this in theatres, and experiencing this massive, epic cinematic masterpiece for yourself.
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IMDb Rating: 8.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
RT Audience Score: 92%
Metacritic Score: 75
CinemaScore: A-
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Warner Bros
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve & Eric Roth
Based on the novel by Frank Herbert
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, Stephen McKinley Henderson
Runtime: 2hr 35min
Rating: PG
Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
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Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence, only those who can conquer their own fear will survive.
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Fun Fact: Denis Villeneuve confirmed in a Vanity Fair article that his adaptation of Dune will be split into two films in order to ensure that the original story would be "preserved and not cut into a million pieces." However, contrary to the common practice of filming several installments back to back, only the first movie (which roughly covers the first half of the source novel) was greenlit and produced, with an optional sequel depending on how well the first film performs.
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