Dune - 2021
This review may contain spoilers.
One may look at this overall star rating and be tempted to think I’m trashing this film. If he (or she) is of a certain mind, he could muster all sorts of reasons why he would proclaim the same. We could dip into the mythos of the novel itself, its unique spin on the white savior complex. We could note the contrasts of East vs. West, oil vs. the spice, indigenous peoples and enterprising colonialists. Hell, there is even a subtext of hallucinogenic drugs nestled not too far beneath the surface of the spice. A deep text dive could surely yield some critiques in comparison and contrast between the two works (the lack of introduction and elucidation into the mentats, for instance).
But, I'd like to begin in a different place entirely. Believe it or not - I think it’s time we give the man, the myth, the Denis his due respect and credit. Villeneuve filmed the unfilmable novel! His picture WORKS. It's coherent, of a piece, and surprisingly quite faithful to its source text. I'll just say here in the interest of saving space, that everything you suspect will be breathtaking about Dune is just that...spectacular. The truth of the matter is that in this film Denis Villeneuve has crafted a lumbering behemoth, an opus so epic in scale and production, it nearly dwarfs us mere humans in the watching. I just find it to be perhaps the most distant masterwork I've yet beheld.
I was struck again and again with the scale of this picture. Denis' world-building talents are just about second to none (yeah, I see you Nolanites). His shooting location selections, the ways he combines real-world natural shots with these immense constructions is jaw-dropping. So too is his ability to continually come up with amazing tech - think the dragonfly-like ornithopters here - and place them inside of gargantuan spaces. His knack for seamlessly weaving practical effects with first-rate CGI never ceases to amaze me. Of course, none of this matters if you don't populate your colossal universes with grounded, empathetic characters who are exceptionally portrayed. We'll return to the former part of that sentiment momentarily, but in regard to the latter I'll just say that the cast here is topnotch. The list of "players," of course, is as titanic as Arrakis, so each individual may find they gel closest with a different character. Maybe it's the stately paternal aspect of Oscar Isaac, or Chalamet's quiet brooding as son. Rebecca Ferguson was a highlight for me, the Bene Gesserit woman who has wars going on internally in regards to an unborn child, her son's destiny, and her own duties to the order. It seems Mamoa's turn as Duncan Idaho is another popular pick, somehow using humor to let the light in on this arid place while being equal parts brother and mentor to young Paul. Pick a name, the point is you will find nary a poor performance in the bunch.
But by far my favorite "character" in the film doesn't walk or breathe at all. It is, simply, the sound. Sound is a full-throated power in Dune. This is, of course, Zimmer's score highlighting key moments in the film's plot. But also just the movements on the planet, the operation of ships and machinery, pulse weapons and crysknives. The experience of watching Dune(particularly in a theater) is a feeling of being ENVELOPED, and it is the sound design which most readily carries that load.
So what criticisms remain to be lobbed over this mammoth wall of sound and sand? Well, to put it bluntly, some of the human story, quiet moments of the film are almost entirely subsumed by the sheer magnitude of its scale. I felt a kind of distance from this picture, little emotional attachment to most of the characters. I had trouble, for instance, penetrating the father/son relationship which is crucial to the first half of the film.
While Denis’ films are magnificent in the true etymological sense of the word, they are often ponderous as well. They sit with you heavily and become these internally contemplative affairs. In this case, Dune is SO self-serious, it lets almost no light in. Ever. All of my favorite grand epics, whose status I readily believe this film is aiming to attain, contain these brilliant bright spots. Whether it is Han and Chewie's interplay in The Empire Strikes Back or Samwise Gamgee in The Fellowship of the Rings. Each have these characters that cut through the magnitude with these really human foibles and idiosyncrasies. It’s the tiny moments of brevity that form the connective tissue that allow us to digest the grander scale. In this picture, it would seem Duncan Idaho is well positioned to fill this role. And Mamoa is actually quite terrific. Unfortunately, he gets little time to lighten the mood. Instead, it’s almost like every scene is Denis shouting - “THIS IS SERIOUS! THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH!” (Pretty convincingly, I might add). But in so doing - I just don’t really end up caring much about the characters. Consequently, once the fighting and bloodletting begins, I also can't invest much in mourning characters' deaths either.
Speaking of deaths, I find the fighting and violence interesting here as well. There is plenty of hand-to-hand combat in Dune(the book explains why this is the case), but next to none of it hit me on the gut level. I’ve pondered for days why this is the case. Is it possible that Denis’ films are TOO pretty, meaning too breathtakingly visually rendered and just downright beautiful? So that his battle sequences play like Malick. Close quarter fighting typically allow for sequences on a par with a shot to the solar plexus, but nothing here really touched the siege of Helm’s Deep, for instance. (Yes, I know the film’s intents are different).
This brings us, at last, to the end and a sequence which is at once the best and worst of Dune for me. Paul's battle with the Fremen challenger is in some senses my favorite scene. This is because the stakes are SO human. At last, life or death has come to have significance for us. At the same time, the picture ends on a heck of a head-scratcher. I was entirely pumped for it to continue on, but it just...stopped. I should say that I remain firmly convinced that the next part will be spectacular. The setup is all there. Yet, as I've noted, the interiority of Paul's character in part 1 will need to be significantly transformed as the plot progresses with him and the Fremen moving forward. (Assuming Villeneuve continues to hew closely to the book's beats). I'm not saying this is impossible, but it will be interesting to see how this is rendered given how closed a book he is in this picture.
I end about where I started. Dune is breathtaking. Scenes like the ornithopter rescue of some spice harvesters can only be made by the singular mind of this French Canadian genius. The score and sound, the sights and sets. Gargantuan and so different from our own world, yet exquisitely rendered. Duneis most certainly some kind of masterpiece. I just wish I could have touched it a little more closely.
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