“Dune” Film Review

By Quinn Marcus

Okay, wow, it’s finally happening, I’m reviewing Dune, holy crap, I’ve waited forever for this. Ever since that first trailer dropped, OVER A YEAR AGO, Dune has been my most anticipated movie of 2021. Last year it was Tenet, the new film by my favorite filmmaker Christopher Nolan, but now, a close second, Denis Villeneuve threatens to take the crown. Seriously Villeneuve is probably one of the most consistent filmmakers out there, besides Incendies, which I thought was still pretty good albeit a bit pretentious, each of his movies, from Arrival to Sicario have all been unique and honestly flawless, I haven’t disliked any of his films, they’re all, for the most part, pretty equal to me. He has this immersive quality to his films that have you sucked up in the fascinating characters, enlivened by amazing performances, and the plots which are expertly constructed and deep. Well, I am here to tell you that Dune doesn’t disappoint, it’s another spellbinding masterpiece from Villeneuve that left me banging my fist on the side of my theater seat, nearly yelling “give me part 2 dammit, you can’t leave me hanging like this!”

I hope that Dune rakes in enough money this weekend to fund a sequel, this is what an arthouse blockbuster should strive to be, and I want a franchise now! Alright, about the film, people have been discussing how the (hopefully) approaching Dune trilogy is set to be the next Star Wars/ Lord of the Rings, all of that is true, but I felt, in the process of making this film, Dune evolved into something more beautiful. As per usual with Villeneuve’s films, the cinematography, this time by Greig Fraser (Rogue One) was breathtaking, the art department outdid themselves here, the sense of scale, and just how grand and epic everything felt was enough to keep my jaw-dropped throughout. Not a single shot looks wasted or fake, the CGI is some of the best I’ve ever seen, the sandworms, as an example, looked incredible, and their sequences made for a few of the most thrilling action scenes of Dune. Hans Zimmer was, to quote my dad “on fire” during this film, this is easily a top soundtrack from the legendary composer, keeping the tension levels at a high when there wasn’t action, and greatly elevating it when there was, creating this perfectly matched atmosphere surrounding chilling visuals.

Timothée Chalamet has proven himself to be an extremely promising younger actor time and time again, I loved him in Beautiful Boy, Little Women, Call Me By Your Name, the only time I’ve ever disliked him was in Hot Summer Night’s, but we don’t talk about that one. Chalamet, once again, rocks it out of the park in Dune, he embodies the role of conflicted prince Paul Atreides amazingly well, a character who has one or two parallels to Hamlet that I noticed and pulled off a few powerhouse emotional moments. The rest of the ensemble cast was fantastic, the other standouts being Rebecca Ferguson and Jason Mamoa, I thought they were absolutely phenomenal in this film. The world-building might be the best aspect of Dune, the first half smartly takes its time to introduce you to the many different elements of the story, and as the film progressed, I only became more and more invested in the complexity of Dune. There’s so much to digest in this film, that I needed a little bit of time to process what I had just witnessed, a sci-fi epic with the thematic depth that’s been missing from so many films of the same genre.

Overcoming fear is the main idea at play here, the “what’s in the box” scene, no, not the one from Se7en is so mesmerizing in its writing and directing, establishing key parts of Paul’s character. It’s also about being called to leadership, there’s this great moment between Paul and his father, the Duke of House Atreides who explains that “a great man doesn’t seek to lead, he’s called to it. And he answers.” now that’s a motivational line to have hung up in your room, thanks, Oscar Issac. As an extra note, maybe this was in the novel as well, but I noticed, that thousands of years from now, humanity is still using swords for combat, compasses for finding directions, and wood boxes for packing furniture, I don’t know why this stuck out to me, but I think it keeps a grounded, more human side to this film, reminding us that this is still our species, just more advanced and developed. It’s mind-blowing how ambitious this movie was, I only read half of the book, but now I’m thinking that I should probably read the rest, largely because I can’t get enough of the gargantuan fantasy world of Dune. I feel like I should be saying thank you to Villeneuve for this entertaining and marvelous cinematic experience, and I see it as a sin to watch this on your couch when a film like Dune is in the theaters, we don’t get movies like this every day, go see it on the biggest screen possible, it deserves your attention.