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| Stars assembled in a restrained color palette make up most of this poster for Denis Villeneuve's Dune |
Paul Atreides is the heir in the House of Atreides, sent to rule the planet Arrakis, where the spice harvest is vital for space travel in the universe. But he and his mother soon find that they may have been set up to fail...
Dune is written by Jon Spaiths (The Darkest Hour (2011)), Eric Roth (Suspect (1987)) and Canadian master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Denis Villeneuve (August 32nd on Earth/Un 32 Août sur Terre (1998)), adapting Frank Herbert's (The Dragon in the Sea (1955-56)) same-titled 1965 novel.
Herbert's sci-fi classic has been adapted before (without much luck) by David Lynch as Dune (1984); and Chilean-French Alexander Jodorowsky's major Dune adaptation fell to pieces in the 1970s, chronicled in documentary Jodorowsky's Dune (2013). Now the novel is 56 years old and hardly modern anymore. It takes place about 8,000 years into the future but its widely spanning plot and universe feels more like a viking saga than a realistic situation we will actually find ourselves in far into the future.
Villeneuve has gathered a large, fine cast with the transfixing Timothée Chalamet (One and Two (2015)) in front as Paul Atreides. Stellan Skarsgård (The Railway Man (2013)) is made out as a giant fat villain as Harkonnen, and Jason Momoa (Pipeline (2007)) is enjoyable as the film's alpha warrior with the fitting name Duncan Idaho. His fight scenes are among the film's most exciting moments, along with flight in the Dune world's peculiar insect-like helicopters and one sandworm monster attack.
The dichotomy of harsh militaristic evil with greedy-capitalistic characteristics set against a people 'of the earth' with simple survival and fighting skills and no major power structure (here the so-called Fremen tribe which Paul goes to meet) is familiar SF fantasy territory to say the least, and there's no alleviating humor, romance or sex in Dune, which is very serious throughout its elaborate but easily followed story, most of which takes place on a desert planet, (so also no exotic lush worlds but a deliciously crackling sound design.) - As an experience it may therefore leave you feeling parched.
Despite the fascinating production design, costumes and engaged stars, Dune suffers from some of the same malaise that hindered Villeneuve's preceding film Blade Runner 2049 (2017) from really scoring; it is very long and serious, and it made me zone out and doze off once or twice, despite its respectable credentials. I predict it highly doubtful that Villeneuve's announced 2nd and 3rd Dune movies will ever see the light of day.
Related posts:
Denis Villeneuve: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - Villeneuve's speculative sci-fi sequel is fascinating but flawed
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess
Arrival (2016) - Villeneuve, Heisserer and Adams head sensational sci-fi wonder
Incendies (2010) - Villeneuve's dreary and depressing, wildly overrated drama
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 165 mil. $
Box office: 103.9 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Dune premiered 3 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 155 minutes. Peter Berg was initially hired to direct the film for Paramount. Villeneuve had read the book as a teenager and said, "Dune is my world." Shooting took place from March - July 2019 in Austria, Slovakia, Norway, Jordan, Budapest, Hungary and in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Hans Zimmer elected to drop scoring Christopher Nolan's Tenet in order to score Dune, a favorite novel of his. Despite protests from Villeneuve, Dune will release in North America simultaneously theatrically and VoD at HBO Max for its first month, as is the case with all Warner Bros. 2021 titles due to the China Virus pandemic. The film's release has been pushed out almost a year due to the pandemic, and the release strategy's effect on the possibility for Villeneuve's planned Dune trilogy is yet unknown. The film has released to solid numbers in several mostly European markets yet, but has several major markets left to open in, including North America and China. A traditional theatrical evaluation requires the film to pass 412.5 mil. $ in gross to become profitable, however the streaming strategy is making the evaluation murky. IMDb users have rated the film in at #107 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Dangal (2016) and The Father (2020). Villeneuve is scheduled to return with The Son (miniseries). Chalamet returns in Don't Look Up (2021, VoD). Dune is fresh at 90 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Dune?
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