"The mystery of life is not a mystery to solve, but a reality to experience," says a Fremen after two hours of film. This might as well be a definition of cinema, as it is done here. Above all, we are faced here with an immense reconstruction, precise and luxurious, with grand decorations and landscapes. You have to see the Harkonnen legions leave Arrakis on a sober voice-over of the imperial decree which ordered them to do so, you have to see the Sardaukar ceremony in the rain, you have to see this long tragic attack which puts an end to the House of Atreides , you have to see their planet of origin with its medieval accents, you have to see the visual references to the bulls that Paul's grandfather fought, you have to see Rabban Harkonnen executing prisoners in the heat of the flames... etc... etc... The essential value of the film is there, and it is already immense. The structural limit of the story for me is the whole premonitions / voices / The Chosen One aspect around Paul, conventional and tedious, which tends to reduce the narration to a narrow inevitability. It's not enough to really ruin the whole experience of course.
Review of Dune
