Posted on 10/25/2021 10:32:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
In US theaters and streaming on HBO Max Thursday, Denis Villeneuve's epic star-studded adaptation is a sumptuous sci-fi experience.
Timothee Chalamet cuts up in Dune.
Warner Bros
The best-selling books in the Dune series are as intriguing and ambiguous as a desert's shifting sands. So it makes sense a star-studded new movie adaptation from director Denis Villeneuve manages to be both hugely satisfying and incredibly frustrating. The 2021 Dune film is a tour de force of cinematic sci-fi, a star-studded yet deeply weird fantasy epic, and a thoughtful and thrilling movie experience.
Then it stops right in the middle.
Villeneuve's version of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel opens with a title reading "Dune: Part One." That's your first warning that the film isn't going to give you a lot of closure. It's certainly packed with ideas and stunning visuals and information by the spaceship-load, but it's also the setup for a story that's just getting going when out of nowhere the credits roll.
Having premiered to (mostly) critical acclaim at the Venice and New York Film Festivals and made over $100 million in box offices across Europe and Asia this weekend, Dune hits theaters in the US on Thursday, Oct. 21. It's also debuting the same day on US streaming service HBO Max (a last-minute change of plan as Warner Bros. and HBO bring it forward a day from the planned release date of Oct. 22). Dune also opens in UK cinemas this weekend and in Australia on Dec. 2.
Josh Brolin and Oscar Isaac eye up a sequel as the new Dune movie arrives.
Warner Bros.
The powerful Atreides and Harkonnen families are space aristos squabbling over the planet Arrakis, a desert world where the only thing more treacherous than the shifting sands is the backstabbing politics. Arrakis is the only source of spice, a substance that acts as the fuel for space travel in the Dune universe. On Arrakis, spice glitters in the very air, riches so intoxicating you can taste them.
Spice has a mysterious allure for Timothée Chalamet's young princeling Paul Atreides. He's got a lot going on: His dad (Oscar Isaac) is an upright duke teaching him to play the game of cosmic realpolitik; his mom (Rebecca Ferguson) is a superpowered space witch; he's plagued by horny teen dreams of a blue-eyed desert warrior (Zendaya); and he just might be an intergalactic messiah.
Paul is at the heart of this thumping space epic, which combines Shakespearian castle intrigue with wide-screen desert vistas, incendiary battle scenes and a cast of billions. In Villeneuve's hands, this version of Dune is a richly detailed and hugely evocative imagining filled with striking imagery. It's supremely and winningly odd.
The film juxtaposes fever-dream science-fantasy with medieval imagery: Sinister space nuns in billowing robes descend from looming spaceships; Interplanetary treaties are endorsed with wax seals beneath fluttering banners; Berserker armies make blood sacrifices before donning silent jetpacks. It's all faceless helmets and deep shadows as the action moves from rain-slicked granite to iridescent sand, set to a hypnotic and throbbing Hans Zimmer score of wailing choirs, electric drones, nerve-jangling percussion and great honking bwaarrrrps. And bagpipes.
Dune
Rebecca Ferguson and Oscar Isaac are concerned parents in Dune.
Warner Bros. The rain-lashed home world of the upright House Atreides is perfect for moody pacing on wave-battered cliffs. The vaguely Catholic decor of that world includes a bullfighting motif, which suggests two separate but intertwined themes: a foolhardy fight against an unpredictable opponent, and a link to Spain that recalls Spanish conquistadors of old.
That link to ancient invaders highlights the timelessness of the urge to conquer and enslave, drawing a line from the past to the present. Dune's theme of ransacking desert resources has always resonated with western manipulation and exploitation of the rest of the world, from bygone days of colonialism to the Gulf War and the War on Terror. The conflict is explicitly grounded by Villeneuve and cinematographer Greig Fraser in the visual style of a modern war movie. Dragonfly-like aircraft thrum past the camera like Vietnam-era helicopter gunships as the air fills with distinctly 20th century radio chatter. All that's missing is Ride of the Valkyries on the soundtrack as Dune channels combat flicks from Apocalypse Now to Lawrence of Arabia to Black Hawk Down.
The film opens with an army suddenly withdrawing from Arrakis, and it's a chilling image in light of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in recent weeks.
"Arrakis has seen men like you come and go," says one indigenous character. "Who will our next oppressor be?" asks the world-weary narrator.
The conflict is explicitly driven by wealth, and it's fascinating to see a sci-fi movie grapple with the economic aspect of politics as well as the familiar interplanetary power struggles of Star Wars and Star Trek. House Atreides may be noble and the Harkonnens venal, but their nature is irrelevant in this galactic economy: No matter how they feel about it, they must fill their quotas. Space capitalism!
It's hardly a polemic, however. There are so many ideas flying about in this film that many are mentioned only once, and you're invited to develop your own thoughts on inequality, scarcity of resources, climate crisis, war, feudalism, space travel, dreams, parenthood, oneness with nature, and so much more. As if that wasn't enough to mull over, it's all wrapped up in a dense lore of multiple languages and strange terminology, which means multiple voice-overs explaining it all.
The weirdness of the sci-fi is also grounded by a limited range of color on screen. Beyond the blackness of space, the only colors in this universe are gray and beige. Don't get me wrong, Dune looks great, but outside of the fantastical design, the muted palette borders on drab.
Rebecca Ferguson gets weird in Dune.
Warner Bros.
The acting is also similarly muted: everybody is impassive and solemn and mutters the often incomprehensible dialogue in hushed tones. Like Villeneuve's previous films, it's dramatic and intense. But it's also rather one-note, allowing Jason Momoa to stand out, for example, just by showing that he's enjoying himself. The most dynamic range comes from Ferguson as the conflicted Atreides matriarch, embodying the emotional turmoil of a character who's both impassioned mother and scheming zealot.
As for the actor in the leading role, Chalamet's cheekbones and soulful eyes do most of the storytelling. Like Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049, he doesn't have a great deal to say, which makes his character either beguilingly ambiguous or vaguely defined. Is he dutiful or distracted? Is he a reluctant leader or ambitious plotter?
The young prince is troubled by visions of the future, and they're troubling for the viewer too. Some of those visions flash forward to a sequel, and frankly look more exciting than some of part one's drawn-out sequences. With such an abrupt ending begging for a sequel, you might wonder if they've shot the two films together. Nope: The sequel may go into production in late 2022 -- and only if this first film is a success, which is far from guaranteed in the face of a pandemic and a streaming release potentially cannibalizing its box office takings.
If you loved Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, then Dune is perhaps Denis Villeneuve at his Villeneuviest. If you love sweeping military sci-fi with a dash of weirdness thrown in, Dune will be your jam. The muted palette and performances won't be to everyone's taste, but I could spend a lot more time in this world -- when the sequel finally arrives, anyway. Even if it doesn't deliver much of an ending, this new Dune is a hell of a beginning.
First published on Sept. 3, 2021 at 9:45 a.m. PT.
Practically none. All battles were on dirt................
He was a bad GAY dude in the books, as well................
Thanks for the explanations.
I will attempt the read the book again. I am an old fart now...and more patient.
Women LOVE Pumpkin Spiced stuff, so that’s why..................
Watched it. Passable. On the plus side, it’s a straightforward action epic that steers clear (so far) of anything sketchy in terms of woke Hollywood nonsense or gratuitous nudity or sex. The good guys are good guys and the bad guys are bad guys, ugly, and cruel as bad guys should be. Paul hasn’t become the Madhi yet so the holy war is still to come, in part 2. For those who don’t know the story, there is LOTS of violence, but Dune is (among other things) a big war story, and the violence is inherent in the source material. In texture, it’s basically Star Wars level violence. Some might even criticize the film for being too sanitary and thereby camouflaging the horrors of war. There’s no nudity or sex, and the men treat the women with respect.
I’d say it’s basically an old-fashioned film, so I don’t want to judge it too harshly. Aside from the modern special effects, there’s nothing in it that couldn’t have been shot in the 1960’s. My biggest complaint is that it’s about 45 minutes too long. It was also conceived and produced pre-covid explicitly as a big screen spectacular. I watched it at home. I’d probably have a much better impression had I seen it in a theater. David Villeneuve flipped out when Warner made a unilateral decision (without running the trap lines with the director and cast) to release simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters. I see his point. It’s a much lesser film on a small screen.
It took me three tries to get through it. I fell asleep in 15 minutes the first time, but I had taken a long bike ride earlier and blame it partly on that. The second time, I just got bored and turned it off. But it wasn’t terrible, so I sucked it up and finished it just to check it off the list.
I watched it largely because of Dune’s stature as one of the foundational pieces of modern space science fiction. I read the books many years ago, when I had my youthful fling with science fiction. I was never a particular fan of Herbert’s stuff; Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke wrote much better sci fi, but Herbert rounds out the Big Four so I felt a cultural competence imperative to see what Villeneuve would do with the story.
It’s Frank Herbert’s universe, so interstellar travel depends on hallucinogenic drugs and, despite the presence of space ships and all manner of advanced weaponry, the serious battles are decided by sword fighting. It didn’t make sense in the 60’s either, but Herbert figured his readers were too drugged to care.
Herbert had a love affair with Araby so he turned the Fremen into cleaned-up jihadis. He was also writing a surrealistic tale for the drugged up hippies of the love generation, who liked the idea of hallucinogenic drugs as the gateway to the stars. On the plus side, Herbert invented giant sandworms, so give him that. We wouldn’t have graboids if Herbert hadn’t blazed the trail.
By the way, Apple tv has just rolled out a Foundation series as well. I started that out of a similar sense of obligation but gave up midway through the second episode. Heinlein wrote better stuff than Herbert ever imagined and the Foundation trilogy is essential reading if you’re into sci fi, but the current tv series is tedious beyond redemption.
Looping in the usual suspects.
The Foundation trilogy is more than a ‘trilogy’. There were prequels and sequels written well after the original.
Spoiler alert: The closely parallel...........................................................................DUNE............................
That’s Denis Villeneuve, not David. Oops. My fingers are getting old.
I hope that one day a filmmaker does justice to the Foundation series.
And Asimov (who authored the Harry Seldon/Foundation series) wrote way better stuff than both of them.
The Foundation series is growing on me. Its a bit long winded, but the effects and filmaking are beautiful.
Yes, I know that the Foundation trilogy eventually ballooned. I only read the first three, which were published in the early 1950’s. I probably read them in the late 60’s. The bloat didn’t come along until the 80’s, by which time I had moved on. I will defer to you on whether the add-ons are worth reading.
Way, way, way too much CGI and closeup face shots with out of focus background. It was a cartoon.
Visually it was crap in my book.
I didn’t turn it on in the first place. I have better dreams than that and they’re free.
By all means, keep us posted. I’m pretty ruthless about turning off series unless they grab me early. One of the things that’s happening as the streamers take over the film industry is that stories are bloating. Material that might make a solid two hour movie is being turned into an eight part series, and we’re lucky if it gets euthanized after the first season.
The problem is that the streamers aren’t selling movies. They’re selling subscriptions to platforms, and they have an insatiable 23/7/365 content monster to feed. The quantity vs. quality balance is slipping the wrong way. I’ll trust your judgment on whether Foundation improves enough to revisit.
Thanks for the review. I watched the preview trailer type thing on HBOmax. Didn’t look interesting to me. Maybe a popular novel but I’d guess it doesn’t translate well to film now with the second try. Saw the David Lynch version. Never read the book.
I don’t know if the director is angry that they put it on HBO simultaneously, or if by doing that they cut him out of some of the box office profits a la Scarlet Johansson suing Disney.
When I try to watch anything at home I last about 2 minutes and then out comes the phone and FR, Gab, etc.
I read the books. Saw the 84 version. I’m now in no more money to Hollyweird mode. No real desire to see this anyway. I’m all movied out.
Probably both, but I think the main thing is that Warner made a unilateral decision without running the trap lines with all the people who had backend percentages. Everybody understands that COVID was a wildcard and that it dealt out a lot of hurt all around. That said, a lot of the big name talent probably negotiated backend deals for the bulk of their compensation, and Warner jerked the rug out from under them without prior discussion. People shouldn’t find out they’ve been sandbagged by reading about it in the newspapers. Warner should have at least sat everyone down for a come-to-Jesus meeting and tried to make a deal before announcing anything.
about the best you can say for this rendition of Dune is that it is less bad than the last version of Dune.
“Let me know when it hits free TV”
Sounds like a good time for a nap to me.
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