At two and a half hours long, "Dune" was a journey that was mesmerizing, alluring, and confounding. Given the complexity of its source material, this was probably the way to do it. But we won't deny that this is just half the actual journey and it will leave some feeling empty by the time the credits roll.
The House of Atreides which has mastered sea and air power are suddenly tasked to take helm of the desert planet of Arrakis. The planet is used to harvest spice which extends human vitality and critical in powering interstellar travel. But as soon as they arrive, the Duke of Atreides (Oscar Isaac) believes that they have been setup by the emperor and that they must also learn to conquer the desert and he must soon prepare his son, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), to become a leader if the unthinkable does happen.
The best thing that "Dune" did was set up the audience early on that this was going to be a multi-part series. Because even with its long running time, this was just an initial setup to the journey of our protagonist, Paul Atreides. For a novel that was deemed "unfilmable", Denis Villeneuve is proving this statement wrong his modern rendition on "Dune" shows that with literally enough time and intricate vision, the film was just awesome even with its narrative handicap.
For us, the best thing on "Dune" was its slowly-paced but satisfying world and political build-ups. The film was able to suck us into its lore and political intrigue and had us truly interested the whole way through. Even with its penchant to be dialogue-heavy, we never got bored as Villeneuve was able to spice things up with timely injections of Paul Atreides' mystifying visions or the politicking happening behind the backs of the House of Atreides. Another thing that had us impressed was the film's effects and cinematography. Once again, Denis Villeneuve doesn't disappoint in his execution and has proven why he is one of our favorite directors right now. "Dune" felt like it was the culmination of his work on "Arrival", "Blade Runner 2049" and even "Sicario" as everything here just felt bigger. better, and more epic. "Dune" has the makings to be legendary and we do hope "Dune Part Two" gets the green light. We all deserve to experience whatever Denis Villeneuve has in store for us as a complete whole. Because even with just a prologue and a half journey, "Dune Part One" defines a well-made film and was simply astounding overall.
Rating: 4 reels
Why you should watch it:
- epic in everything from its acting, direction, world-building, and effects
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