Dune Part One
100 words or less: This movie is truly epic in scale and gave off some Game of Thrones Vibes due to the scale and the sense that no one is really safe. The cast is amazing in this movie, besides Timothee Chalamet who doesn’t really look like someone who is a great fighter like he supposedly is and half the people he is fighting could easily beat the crap out of him in reality. Other than that this is an excellent movie and sets up the sequel nicely.
Guest Review: I have not read this book and I felt like my review wouldn’t do this movie justice for fans of the book so I brought in my brother-in-law Chris who has read the book and actualy says the book is one of his favorite books of all time. Here is his review.
In the years leading up to Dune’s release, I was nervous. Dune is not an easy book to adapt to the big
screen. While I will be the first to admit that Herbert’s books are not perfect (i.e. calling powerful
women witches, etc.), it is a book I find myself returning to at least once every other year. The reason I,
and many others across the globe return to Arrakis, is because of the worldbuilding. Science fiction is at
its best when audiences are introduced and enthralled with the world built on their paper or screen. At
this point, most of know at least one avid Game of Thrones fan, who commented on the exclusion of
aspects and storylines present in George R.R. Martin’s novels, that could not make the show. Dune is
much the same. The universe of Dune is immense, filled with potential pitfalls to any movie, and could
have easily filled 12 hours. Despite these obstacles, I believe Denis Villeneuve succeeded where others
previously failed, and delivered a captivating world that held true, and even modernized Herbert’s
vision.
As I prepared to see Dune, I spent most of my time worrying about the pitfalls that could bring the
movie down, mainly:
1. Sandworms –Dune the novel and Dune the world cannot exist without the sandworms, in so far
that they’re called Makers, yet thinking about a sandworm on screen felt like the quickest way
to destroy a movie. I was impressed at the restraint and mystery placed around the sandworms
in Part 1. While I still believe this could be a hazard in the second movie, I enjoyed this
interpretation, cilia and all.
2. Shields + Lasguns (Lasers) – These two technologies are vital to the story of Dune, and both
were adapted well to the big screen. Shield coloring was a nice touch, and I think not delving
too far into lasguns but still showing their effects was a good timing choice. On my first watch, I
worried that in battle scenes, warriors were not using a slow entry through shields, but on my
re-watch, I was satisfied.
3. Scale – While I was confident planet sized starships could be brought to the big screen, I
wondered if it was possible to portray what life on Arrakis was like; the need of water, and how
the entire life on a planet revolves around it. I was impressed with the adaptation. Yes some
elements, like the conservatory, or the Fremen’s coagulation mutations were left out, but the
theme was still grasped. I thought the time explaining the fig trees was well spent, and aspects
like brewing spice coffee with saliva were a good touch.
If I have one bone to pick with Dune, its related to Jessica (Paul’s mother). In the novel, Jessica emanates
power. If Paul is calculating, its because of Jessica. Yes, she loves her son, but she uses reason, and even
manipulation against all others, including Paul, to bring about what she believes is right. In the film,
Jessica visible loves Paul much more. While love and emotion do not make her weak, and she still is a
strong character, I do believe her edges were dulled, and some of her true self was lost.
All in all, I enjoyed Dune, and would recommend it to others. I’m thrilled that Part 2 has been greenlit,
and anxiously await 2023.
Full Review: Dune is a movie based off a book. As someone who prefers their forms of entertainment in the visual realm, I have not read the book. this movie has grabbed me to the point where I feel the desire to read this book. The characters, the plot, the settings, they seem like they are perfect for the written medium.
The cast in this movie is star studded. Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, an so many others. Despite this all star cast, the movie still has such an amazing scale to it in the CGI and the sets. Every part of this movie seems like there was so much care and passion put into it, nothing feels phoned in or rushed like some sci-fi movies can have from performances to CGI.
Essentially if you enjoy sci-fi movies this is worth a watch and if you loved the book it seems like they did a good job adapting this one.
Shorter review today because of the guest review as I felt Chris said it beautifully and was more qualified on this one.
8/10 spice caused hallucinations.
