Dune Review: Arrakis Is Real in Villeneuve’s Stunning Adaptation
The Dune universe comes alive in Denis Villeneuve’s spectacular big-screen adaptation
Paul Atreides is having dreams. Dreams of strange peoples and unfamiliar vistas. Dreams of a young woman. Dreams of destruction and death. Are these repeating dreams merely adolescent fantasies, or are they something more — messages from the deep, warnings of things to come?
The young Atreides is part of an institution, a powerful family and member of a group of ruling dynasties. His father, Duke Leto Atreides, is gifted control of Arrakis — also known as Dune — a harsh and hostile desert planet, but also the single most important of all the planets in the known universe. But the gift isn’t really a gift, merely a trap set by an Emperor driven by jealousy, aided by the Atreides’s mortal enemies, the twisted and ruthless Harkonnens. Suspecting the deception, but compelled by duty the Atreides arrive at their new home, where for Paul the truth behind his dreams slowly begin to reveal themselves…
They said it could never be made. That Dune, the epic first novel in Frank Herbert’s series of science fiction classics, was a story too dense and too complicated to ever be fully realised on the big screen.
Until now the evidence was in the doubter’s favour. Alejandro Jodorowsky tried, but his vision, a 14-hour epic featuring music by Pink Floyd and a cast including Salvador Dali, Orson Welles and Mick Jagger, was just too wild to ever work. David Lynch tried, but his released adaptation in 1984 was a critical and financial disaster, later becoming a cult classic.
As a book Dune is a challenge, and it was completely understandable why so many were steadfast in their opinion that as a movie it was just not meant to be.
It’s a minor miracle this latest adaptation of Dune even exists. Even if we dismiss the question marks surrounding Dune’s adaptability and box office potential with casual audiences, what of director Denis Villeneuve? A critical darling the French Canadian filmmaker may be, but his last movie, 2017’s Blade Runner 2049, despite its high quality and critical acclaim once again registered a loss for its producers.
Perhaps we should just chalk this up to divine intervention, and thank the cinematic gods, whoever they may be. Warner Bros stayed the course, and kept their faith in Villeneuve. In turn he, and his team, have delivered a Dune adaptation truly worthy of the revered source material.
Villeneuve’s Dune makes an impression almost instantly, with beautiful pixel-perfect visuals, accompanied by a remarkable sound design. If ever there was a movie to experience in IMAX it would be this. Dune’s likely no longer widely showing at cinemas, but if you missed it you’d be wise to book the second you see it return. It’s everything they said, and a little more: It’s an experience.
Dune is an enveloping experience at that. Its worlds realised completely in striking detail, and special effects so flawless I honestly thought what I was witnessing were real flying machines hovering over real alien cities. It was like watching a history documentary for the future none of us will ever see. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Lynch’s Dune had its production design (mostly) nailed down as well, but that adaptation failed due to over-complication, and possibly the director’s misunderstanding of the central story. Villeneuve, a self-confessed Dune fanatic, doesn’t make the same mistakes. This version removes a lot of the technical world-building, dispenses with unnecessary jargon, and does away with character’s inner thoughts — instead relying on actors to convey these though expressions and actions. It’s remarkable, actually, that this was never considered in any previous adaptation. Sometimes the simple approach really is the best one.
Villeneuve also nails Herbert’s core messaging; the heroic subversion. This version doesn’t dive headlong into it, not yet anyway, but all the pieces are in place and ready for its inevitable terrible execution.
A lot was made pre-release of Dune’s cast. An embarrassment of riches as casts go right now. Most work well with their small roles (some will be back in part two), others, like David Dastmalchian’s Piter De Vries and Chang Chen’s Doctor Yueh, are sadly underutilised, but still shine in what moments they have.
The Harkonnens, particularly the Baron, played by Stellan Skarsgaard with obvious reverence for Marlon Brando’s Colonel Kurtz, appears for mere minutes but casts an appropriate shadow over proceedings. Beasts are most potent when seldom seen.
But most of the pressure rests squarely on Timothee Chalamet’s shoulders, and as Paul he does a fine job, deftly balancing ceremony and generational conditioning with the kind of young restlessness you’d expect from a man of his age. Chalamet, and a couple of other members of the cast, do have moments where they deliver lines with a strange emotionlessness however. This has been noted in a couple of more negative reviews, but they didn’t really bother me. A lot of things like this can easily be dismissed as symptoms of life in an unimaginably distant future.
One thing that did disappoint, however, was Hans Zimmer’s score. Hugely anticipated, and thus released well ahead of the movie, Zimmer’s score is an excellent demonstration of Zimmer’s ability to pair visuals with cues that perfectly accommodate, enhancing in some instances. But it’s also a very loud score, one that borders on being a little overbearing in moments where the lack of any music would heighten the intended tension. The score also suffers from a lack of diversity in its disparate worlds, and doesn’t really include any memorable themes. Although that might be influenced by unfair comparison to Toto’s ridiculous score for the 1984 movie.
It’s not bad. It’s perfectly listenable. Perhaps my expectations were too high this time.
“This is just the beginning.”
Words spoken by Zendaya’s Chani as the breathless first act of this story comes to its conclusion. I’m glad Villeneuve and his team chose to split their adaptation in two. I’m glad Warner Bros kept the faith. I’m glad fans, knowing they’d be seeing an incomplete story, came to watch it regardless.
But mostly I’m glad. Dune is great.
The wait for part two will be as difficult to bear as sunrise on Arrakis.
