Frank Herbert’s lengthy scifi trilogy are a series of books that Hollywood has tried again and again to conquer since their initial release. From Alejandro Jodorowsky’s mythical attempts, to David Lynch’s less than stellar effort, and so on, “Dune” is that one series of books Hollywood has been aching to grab some money off of. For Denis Villeneuve, he’s the perfect director to film such an elaborate, complex, and exhaustive science fiction story. “Dune” never quite turns out as great as it has every bit of potential to, but it’s saved primarily thanks to the stellar performances from an all star case and Villeneuve’s remarkable direction.
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.
When it comes to science fiction, director Villeneuve is able to bring so much life to even the bleakest tales, and “Dune” ends as something of an entertaining movie that spends so much more time propping up storylines than it does telling a story. That just might be where “Dune” will lose the audience, as there’s so much about this world, this universe, this war, and these fractions of people that have to be explained over and over. The writers work over time to squeeze in as much exposition and emphasis on these ideas and concepts within a two and a half hours run time, all the while also trying to give us what is essentially the opening salvo to the next two films.
There are explorations in to magical powers similar to the Jedi Mind Trick, and the race to mine the very valuable spices between worlds. There also themes about precognition, and fate, and deception, and war strategy and the presentation of the “Dune” sand worms that remain dread specters in the background throughout the film, much as the Balrog in “The Fellowship of the Ring.” I am freely willing to admit that I had a hard time catching up with a lot of it, and had to do some research on so many of the themes and plot points to “Dune” to really lose myself in this world. Thankfully “Dune” picks up the pacing once the big turn of events occurs.
Thus prompting much more eventful storytelling and emphases on clearing up the more confusing story aspects in Frank Herbert’s massive epic. Although there’s more build up than pay off, “Dune” does thankfully feel like a complete film while also setting the stage for the sequels, which I wasn’t mad at. This first film should be the decider if you have had enough or want to see where our reluctant hero Paul ends up as a potential messiah. All things considered, “Dune” packs in such a rich cast from Oscar Isaac and Josh Brolin, to Dave Bautista, and Timothee Chalamet respectively.
“Dune: Part Two” promises more characters, more development, and perhaps it might be better and not spend so much time setting the foundation for what tends to be a confusing mythology. While I’d never accuse it of being great, it gets by as a pretty good start to a very hard to adapt epic.