Certain works of fiction have been labelled with the tag of "unfilmable", and Frank Herbert's 1965 novel "Dune" is one of those. It's full of exposition done as internal monologues - which screams "movie voiceover". And regular readers will know my hatred of those!
Amazingly, Denis Villeneuve manages to pull off the impossible with his version of Dune (part 1), which I saw last night as part of a Cineworld Unlimited preview event. It's close to being a movie masterpiece.
Positives:
Negatives:
Deja vu?: There's nothing new under the Tatooine suns. And so much of this film has you linking the concepts back to "Star Wars":
Of course, since Frank Herbert wrote "Dune" in 1965, there's a significant question as to who is plagiarising who here!
Summary Thoughts on "Dune": At 2 hours 35 minutes, it's YET ANOTHER long movie: cementing October 2021 as the month of long movies. But this is a movie that MUST be seen on the big screen. It's a memorable movie experience and highly recommended. I can't wait for Villeneuve's "Part 2", currently in pre-production.
(For the full graphical review and video version, please search for #onemannsmovies online. Thanks.)
Amazingly, Denis Villeneuve manages to pull off the impossible with his version of Dune (part 1), which I saw last night as part of a Cineworld Unlimited preview event. It's close to being a movie masterpiece.
Positives:
- My 10*'s for this one goes for the overall vision, which is grandiose with scenes that stick in the brain. As he demonstrated in "Arrival", Villeneuve likes to go for huge spacecraft that hang "in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't"*. And the ships in this vision are just HUGE.
- The ensemble cast does a great job, with Chalamet, Isaac and Ferguson being particularly impressive. Stellan Skarsgård (looking like he is about to tell "a very amusing story about a goat", if you get that movie reference!) looks to have the most gruelling acting job, having to emerge from, and descend into, a bath of black goo!
- Much like Villeneuve's "Blade Runner 2049", this movie has cinematography that is worthy of framing and sticking on your wall. (Greig Fraser is the man behind the camera here).
- Hans Zimmer's music is phenomenal. I'm not sure it's a good 'sit down and listen to' sort of soundtrack, but it fits the movie beautifully.
Negatives:
- It wasn't a problem for me, but I expect some will consider the movie to be too much mood and not enough action. I've seen some comment that the film was "emotionally empty": but I really didn't feel that, and am well-invested in the story ready for "Part 2".
- This is probably faithful to the books, but given all of the advanced spacecraft technology on show, and laser/blaster technology, it seems bonkers that when we get to hand-to-hand combat between the armies that we get into "swords and sandals" territory.
Deja vu?: There's nothing new under the Tatooine suns. And so much of this film has you linking the concepts back to "Star Wars":
- "The Force" is now "The Way"
- The Jedi are the 'Ben and Jerry Set'. (Well, that's what it sounded like to me... and I don't even like Ice Cream! 🙂 )
- Both films centre on a Messiah-like "chosen one", foretold by legend
- There's even a 'pit of sarlaac' moment in "Dune".
Of course, since Frank Herbert wrote "Dune" in 1965, there's a significant question as to who is plagiarising who here!
Summary Thoughts on "Dune": At 2 hours 35 minutes, it's YET ANOTHER long movie: cementing October 2021 as the month of long movies. But this is a movie that MUST be seen on the big screen. It's a memorable movie experience and highly recommended. I can't wait for Villeneuve's "Part 2", currently in pre-production.
(For the full graphical review and video version, please search for #onemannsmovies online. Thanks.)