Dune (2021) Review

Wow. After so many years of anticipation and a whole year of delay due to Covid,  Denis Villeneuve's Dune has finally come to theatres all over the world (besides Australia which will get it in December according to recent rescheduling) and what a ride it was! I have now watched the movie twice and I can honestly say, being a huge fan of not only science fiction but also the original book series by Frank Herbert that Dennis Villeneuve's adaptation of the classic 1965 novel is one of the best book adaptions that I have ever had the fortune to experience in many many years.

Background

    Dune is a very famous science-fiction novel, written by Frank Herbert, which takes place in a desert planet in a distant solar system 8000 years in the future. Dune is a tale about politics, diplomacy, conspiracies, secret plotting, back-stabbings, betrayals and prophecies all wrapped up in one huge story that lasts for thousands of years. What is more, in the core of Dune hides a social commentary on environmental exploitation and disaster; but this is all in the future. 

    When the first Dune starts we get familiarized with House Atreides who are assigned by the Emperor to leave their home planet Caladan and inhabit Arrakis, the Dune planet. In the centre of our story lies Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), his father Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), all centre players of an unavoidable prophecy, but all, also victim pieces in the Empire's chess game.    

Dune is not your typical coming-of-age story and its film adaptation is not your typical action movie limitedly dependent on violence, explosions or fight scenes. It does have those, don't get me wrong, but Dune is adult science fiction; something that we are not used to seeing often but something that Villeneuve is known for. His movies Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 have been critically acclaimed and are considered two of the best science fiction movies to have come out in recent years.

The Cast

    Dune is easily one of the most perfectly cast films ever. It features some of  Hollywood's biggest names such as Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgard, Javier Bardem and Dave Bautista. But the amazing thing is that no one's stardom distracts the audience or takes away from the magic happening on screen. Instead, they all transform into their characters so flawlessly that one can easily forget that the people on screen are some of the most famous stars in the world. And they all portray their characters so naturally that even the most hardcore Dune fans have been left satisfied. 

    Notable mentions should include Chalamet who brings a tragic humanity to an otherwise very difficult protagonist that is Paul Atreides. Chalamet manages to find that thin line where the audience feels for this young Duke who has been brought to the centre stage prematurely. At the same time Chalamet's performance makes us understand the tremendous mental and psychological trauma that his character is going through as he comes to terms with being the result of thousands of years of scheming. 

    Rebecca Ferguson's Lady Jessica is another notable example of a performance that gives much more than expected. Lady Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, a sisterhood with supernatural abilities obtained through excessive mental and physical conditioning. She can control her emotions, she can use The Voice, she can see into the memories of her ancestors, she can control her internal organs and she can choose her unborn child's sex at the moment of conception. Ferguson humanizes a seemingly cold character in a very subtle way and shows that Lady Jessica is a very complex, emotional but extremely powerful player in Dune.

    I could be talking about everyone in the cast for pages and I would have nothing but complimentary things to say from Javier Bardem's perfect casting as Stilgar to Jason Momoa's amazing Duncan Idaho, but one actor that really should be mentioned is newcomer to the big screen Sharon Duncan-Brewster as the female version of Dr. Liet Kynes (a character who was male in the book - a genius and not at all bothersome change) whose powerful and scene-stealing performance was actually one of the most memorable in the film.

The adaptation

Dune is considered the unfilmable book. Nonetheless it has been adapted twice before with one being David Lynch's famous - or infamous - 1984 version, a favourite among fans but one that has been dismissed by the director himself. 

As for Villeneuve, he read the book when he was 14 years old and has dreamt of adapting this difficult but amazing story to the big screen since then; and boy did he deliver. 

Dune 2021 is one spectacular adaptation. It is tremendously close to the book (of course with some things missing as it is expected with any adaptation) and it manages to bring all the story to the screen in a way that is easy to follow, if you pay attention. At the same time it avoids being over-explanatory, yet it achieves to make every plot point clear. This way the film is kind to newcomers but it is also very satisfactory for hardcore fans of the book, because it includes things visually without actually having to address them in dialogue. The subtlety in Villeneuve's direction is fantastic - it conveys feelings, history and lore through images without hanging on tiring exposition. There are nods to the book and to details the readers know, but we never linger too much on them making the uninitiated and anyone not familiar with the universe, long for more without feeling left behind.

Technicals

Even if someone is overwhelmed by the world-building, the names and the different Houses that Dune introduces, one cannot deny that Villeneuve's newest film is a visual and auditory masterpiece. During the first 20 minutes of the movie I was sitting at the edge of my seat in awe with the spectacle that I was experiencing. Cinematographer Greig Fraser has created jaw dropping and haunting images, and together with Villeneuve they have succeeded in transporting us to a completely new universe. The worlds feel real with history and a rich past - the peoples feel truly authentic and this uncharted universe yearns to be further discovered by the audiences. As for Hans Zimmer's chilling score, there's little to be said besides that the master (who actually said no to Christopher Nolan's Tenet in order to create music for Dune) is back with one of the best scores of his career.

Go see Dune. It is The Lord of the Rings equivalent of sci-fi and it needs to be seen and felt in the biggest screen possible. This is film history in the making.

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