Dune (2021)

Frank Herbert’s novel Dune had for decades been called “unfilmable.” David Lynch’s 1984 version was the evidence, and for a long time afterward numerous attempts fell through. Denis Villeneuve arrived on screen in 2021 carrying that challenge. The verdict: Villeneuve pulled it off. Not perfectly, but this is the most faithful and most majestic Dune ever attempted. My rating is ★4.0.

What it’s about — Paul’s destiny bound for Arrakis

In the far future, the most precious resource in the universe — the spice — is found only on the desert planet Arrakis. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the young heir of the noble House Atreides, travels with his father to Arrakis, only to find it a trap woven from the Emperor’s scheming and a rival house’s ambition. This film, covering the first half of the original novel, follows Paul as he confronts his destiny.

Direction — the scale of the desert captured in a slow rhythm

Villeneuve directed this film not in the grammar of the modern blockbuster but as a weighty, slow-moving epic. Instead of fast cuts and flashy action, he holds on the vast desert and enormous architecture and overwhelming sandstorms in long, patient takes. The noise and vibration of ornithopters (flying machines) crossing the desert, and the crushing weight of a sandworm erupting through the ground, are experiences that cannot be fully had without a cinema screen and sound system. Hans Zimmer’s music, with exotic timbres unlike any prior sci-fi, contributes enormously to building the world.

Performance — Paul as a young man, not a hero

Timothée Chalamet portrays Paul Atreides as young, unstable, and yet carrying something within. He is closer to a young man on the threshold of a choice than to a hero, and that gives the character a sense of reality. Rebecca Ferguson’s portrayal of his mother Lady Jessica forms another axis of the film — she quietly holds the character of a woman protecting her son while enduring the weight of the destiny she herself instilled in him.

What the film says — power over a resource and the messiah myth

The world-building the original novel built from politics, religion, and ecology is preserved intact in this film. The power struggle over the spice reads in parallel with real-world geopolitics around oil and rare earth resources. The portrayal of the indigenous Fremen and the dangers of the messianic myth are also central to the source material’s concerns — but this film seems to defer those themes to the sequel rather than foregrounding them.

Ratings & reception

IMDb score: 8.0. Rotten Tomatoes freshness: 83%; audience score above 90%. At the Academy Awards it won six categories including Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound. Critics highly praised the overwhelming scale and Villeneuve’s direction, while some pointed to the lack of an ending. Since Part 2 had not yet been greenlit at the time of release, some audience members at the time felt the film was incomplete.

Weaknesses

The film covers only the first half of the source novel’s Book One, and while there is an ending, it lands at roughly the midpoint of the full story. Without seeing Part 2, it can feel unfinished. Additionally, compressing the vast world-building means some characters receive insufficient screen time. Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa) and Chani (Zendaya), who will become more important later, make brief appearances in this film. Fans of the source know to expect this, but for viewers encountering the story for the first time, the film ends before they have formed attachments to those characters. Paul’s prescient ability also carries such complex meaning in the novel that the film cannot fully convey all of it, and that thematic depth becomes clearer alongside Part 2.

Verdict

For fans who have already read Dune, this is the long-dreamed-of adaptation come to life. For viewers unfamiliar with the source, the sensory spectacle is fully communicated. However, for those who want a complete story, watching both parts together is recommended.

Recommended for

• Those who love the sci-fi source novel and have been awaiting the adaptation
• Those who want to experience overwhelming visuals and sound at cinema level
• Those who enjoyed Denis Villeneuve’s previous films (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049)