Dune is an interesting movie
To say that Dune is a complicated novel is an understatement. It
is a bizarre science fiction story that blends political maneuvers,
space warfare, and existential ruminations on the nature of power. Because of this complicated nature, I did not envy director
Denis Villeneuve when he announced
he was making a film adaptation of Dune. Now that we can finally see the finished project of Villeneuve’s work, I’m a bit baffled
as to how I can quantify its quality. There a
number of confusing flaws that plague the film, but I generally think it serves as a solid abridged version to the first half of this classic novel.
The plot of the movie closely follows the
novel’s first half. In the distant future,
mankind is ruled by an empire and its noble houses. The heir to one of those houses, Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) begins to awaken to an ability that lets him see glimpses of his own future. These glimpses inform him of a doom that is advancing toward his family as they take ownership of the highly dangerous and highly valuable desert planet
of Arrakis. The story follows the Atreides family as they attempt to set up their command over the planet and slowly creep toward the doom which Paul has predicted for
them. This adaptation carries over a lot of the
best things about Dune while sadly leaving some of the
book’s best parts out in the sand. For example, the movie has very little of the political drama that characterized so much of Dune. Instead, this
movie spends its time giving the audience a
chance to know the primary characters and present a more action-packed vision
of the power plays central to this story. This guiding philosophy mostly works in the movie’s favor. We get to know the Atreides and we have a chance to see their best qualities. Villeneuve also understood how he could use the visuals of his film to get across some
of the novel’s headier concepts, so I applaud
him for that. Yet, the movie still doesn’t manage to fully explain the intricacies of is nutty world.
Just like in the novel, it is the characters that
end up carrying this movie. Even if you can’t wrap your head around how Dune’s silly space nobility system works, you can probably still relate to young Paul who has had to grow up far before his time
in order to help shoulder his family’s responsibility as leaders. Paul’s father Leto (Oscar Isaac) proves an
invaluable member of the cast of characters
here by showing us the reason why we
should care about the Atreides. The film portrays Leto as a noble
and heroic figure while also brushing
aside the villainous traits he possessed in the book. That’s one
change that works particularly well since the movie doesn’t
have the same time as the book does to convince you that Leto is a good man in spite of his more dastardly
side. Sadly, a few of the characters are dismissed in a way that
softens the emotional punch that the book
carried. The tragic traitor of the Atreides Family has practically
no screentime before he betrays the people he loves. In the book, we had time to get to
know him and learn the sorrowful philosophy behind his treachery. The villains are decently established as threats to be feared, and I appreciate how well the movie portrays their brutality.
The soundtrack further helps to bring the world of Dune to life
in this work. Hans Zimmer wrote the
score, and I am thoroughly impressed by the blend of old and
new techniques he utilizes to make this movie sound like no other. Zimmer’s last few scores may have largely sounded like recycled clippings of
his greatest hits, but Dune’s soundtrack
stands as proof that Zimmer is one of the all-time greats.
As for how appropriate Dune is, it
straddles the line in certain parts. There is
some partial nudity, a few instances of bloody violence, and
some minor swearing. A few parts in this movie contain what I guess are classified as “frightening images.” What’s more, the characters discuss some grim topics from time to time.
Dune is a very interesting movie. It might not be a perfect story, and it might not be a
necessarily great movie, but I’ll be darned if it isn’t interesting. It
seems like it would be best to watch this one if you are someone who has a bit of familiarity with the subject material. The confusion inherent in some of this movie’s lore will be unavoidable. However, if you are
someone who knows the novel Dune or at least has a passing understanding of how things work in its universe, I think there’s a good time to be had
here. That begs the question, if a movie requires you to do
homework before going into it, can it be
said to do a good job at telling its story? You know what, I’m going to abstain from giving this one a letter rating since I think there are so many variables as to whether or not you’ll enjoy this flick. Let me just close out
by saying it is a unique and gripping ride which makes some rather dreadful narrative choices.