This is a companion piece to this weeks episode of Through the Lens, where Alex and Davis discuss the new Dune movie. You can find the full episode here as well as on Spotify on Apple Podcasts. Here is a more formal and condensed version of what they discussed on the show with some history of Dune thrown in.
It has been fifty-six years since Frank Herbert released his cult classic sci-fi epic, it has left an indelible mark on the culture of sci-fi novels for years to come. It is undeniably one of the most popular sci-fi books of all time, having sold over 20 million copies since its release in 1965. With that many people having stepped into the world of Dune there was a demand for more media in the world of Dune. Frank Herbert followed up his initial novel with five sequels, with the last being published in 1985, a year before his death. Frank Herbert certainly garnered a following for his fantasy worlds of Dune, so it was only a matter of time before the pitch for a serious adaptation to the silver screen would come. That adaptation would come out in December of 1984, directed by David Lynch and starring Hollywood newcomer Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides. The film released to a lackluster box office, with the movie not being able to break. The critics were not kind to it either, pointing out how confusing the plot may be to casual viewers who were not already familiar with the lore of Dune. Legendary movie reviewer Roger Ebert gave it one star, saying it was an “incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into the murkier realms of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time.” After the failure that was Dune (1984), the chances of having another film try and adapt the world of Frank Herbert became very slim. Fans of Dune had little other visual media that encompassed the scope of Dune besides a mini series in the early 2000s starring William Hurt as Duke Leto and Alec Newman as Paul. There was little news about any further adaptations of Dune on the big screen until Legendary Entertainment obtained the film rights to Dune in 2016. Dennis Villeneuve signed on to adapt the legendary book and began filming his adaptation in 2019.
The fruits of Villaneuve’s labor, Dune (2021) released on September 3 at the Venice Film Festival where it received an eight minute standing ovation. It received a wider release in mid-October to theaters and direct to HBO Max. Dune (2021) not only delivers the complex story of Dune effectively but in a way that keeps the viewer enthralled through the majority of its run time. Dennis Villaneuve already started with a strong foundation laid out over many years by Frank Herbert, but he knocked it out of the park on this one. It is hard to find a flaw in any aspect of this movie, everything surrounding this movie is first class. The cast is perfectly chosen and each and every one of them play their character to perfection. Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides is the standout character of the movie. He plays a complex character that has been brought onto the silver screen well according to all accounts. Chalamet is slated to have a big 2021, with Dune (2021) adding to his already long resumé of excellent roles, and still having more movies coming out with Don’t Look Up and The French Dispatch coming out later in 2021.
Other notable performances include Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Paul’s father, who is the emotional rock for Paul throughout the movie and provides some of the movie’s most memorable moments. Stellan Skarsgård as The Baron plays a menacing villain that orchestrates the entire plan of the movie and imposes his presence in every scene he is in. It is possible to list every character and talk about how professionally their respective actor plays them, from Lady Jessica, Duncan Idaho, or even Liet-Kynes all the way to Chani played by Zendaya. Zendaya who was listed front and center on all of the promotion for the film, her character Chani however is only in about seven minutes of the runtime of the movie. Her character plays an important role in Paul’s dreams, and will be one of the main characters of the next movie that was announced shortly after the returns for this movie started to roll in. While Dennis Villeneuve wanted to film all three of his planned Dune films back to back similar to how Peter Jackson did Lord of the Rings, the studio was hesitant to do so considering the IP they were adapting had not been seen by the public on the big screen in so long, so they were not sure how it would perform. Another aspect of this movie that sticks out is the design of the world. Not only is the planet of Arrakis living in its own way, but all of the background people and scenes that you see have a life of their own. The character designs are phenomenal as well, the suits that they wear are a great mix between sci-fi and traditional fantasy garb. The equipment used are all so unique that they could all have long articles written about the logistics of how they work. With the standout in my eyes being the iconic Sandworms and the Ornithopters. With the latter being obviously inspired by a dragonfly’s wings and looking so phenomenal that I could believe them existing in some distant future. While I could gush about so many different specific details or discuss the story in broad strokes I will leave the rest of that for you to determine for yourself. The lone criticism I have of the movie is the pacing, while for 90% of the movie the pacing was phenomenal and I was enthralled throughout that entire time, there came a point near the end of the movie, around the 30-20 minute left mark where it slowed down to a brisk walk instead of its usual sprint/jog pace. I do think that the part that was showcased was good as a movie, it just slowed the rest of the movie down, which had been moving at a mile a minute the moment before it got to those scenes.
Overall, Dune (2021) is phenomenal in so many ways that it is hard to describe, the acting, the set and character design, cinematography, action and more are top of their class. There are so many things to talk about this movie that I feel this short of an article is not doing it justice, so the only thing I can say is I encourage you to check out this movie if you get the chance, and if you have the chance to see it in its intended IMAX then do that. At the end of the day I think that this movie is a wonderful stepping point for a Dune franchise and I expect to see a spike in popularity of Frank Herbert’s classic with much more media to come. I give this movie a 9/10, with my only fault being the pacing near the end of the movie, I am excited to see where Villeneuve brings this franchise.
