Dune

Ten Second Review: It’s Denis Villeneuve directing the first instalment of a high fantasy sci-fi epic. It takes a moment but it does grab you.

I was fortunate enough to catch a preview of Dune and the feeling in the screening was one of pure anticipation. There’s obviously been a few cracks at adapting Frank Herbert’s sci-if classic, but with the space to build a big enough stage, it seemed like Villeneuve might just succeed in telling the epic story.

Set on the desert planet of Arrakis in 10191, Dune focuses on Paul Atreides. When his family are given imperial orders to take over mining operations of the fuel Spice, there is contention from those that used to mine there. There is also threat from the native inhabitants of the planet leaving the family beset by problems on all sides.

It’s hard to write a quick summary of Dune, harder still to do so without spoiling major plot points, and I would be truly pained to spoil something in a film that runs for over two and half hours. It’s very much a film that you bed in to watch and you need to become enveloped by its characters, story and lore. It’s sheer scale, detail and politics make it quite the challenge to understand let alone to put in the big screen. The decision to split this particular film in to two parts does actually feel like a smart move and faithful to the storytelling rather than a cash grab (the accompanying HBOmax series does instead scream “cash grab”). It also feels like a film that would do well in an IMAX format. I’m not always sold on the extra types of screenings, and I would say seeing a film in IMAX is a wholly different experience than seeing a film on a regular screen, but here I can see it working as a second viewing alternative.

But it has to be asked, even with all that said, it’s not worth much of the film isn’t any good. So is it any good?

It’s certainly a well made film. It’s slow to start, but it’s paced opening gives way to an exciting second act that is well informed by the first half. All the parts are there and I think it feels like it’s presented quite clearly, I would imagine some people will still complain about it being to complicated but this leads to a larger question about whether the film is good or not.

The film is incredibly well made with almost seamless VFX played well with some practical work, it’s filled with striking design choices, the acting is convincing and the music will draw you to the edge of your seat all on its own. The bigger question as to whether you enjoy this film has little to do with its quality, but rather its tone. It is high fantasy sci fi in the purest sense. It is a huge world that you need to submit yourself to to truly enjoy. We can sit and nit-pick some language or technology used in the film but overall it is a film that makes its rules and obeys them. Whether a person likes it will largely be defined by what they like in a film. Some will be enraptured by it, some will be excited by its scale, some will be bored by it within an hour and some will find it a ridiculous chore to watch from beginning to end. 

If this type of film is your thing then you’ll have a hard time not enjoying it, if you don’t know what you signed up for when friends invited you or you’re not in the mood when you sit down, you’ll feel robbed of your time. 

So go see it if it looks like your thing, but if you don’t think you’ll like it, then be cautioned, it’s not for everyone!