DUNE: PART ONE Review – ****

Update 11/7/21: I made a guest appearance on Words About Books to discuss this film, the David Lynch adaptation, and the original novel with Ben and Nate! Click here to listen!

It’s hard to find the words to do justice to Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel, not because its greatness defies description, but because so much of its greatness rests in its images. The film boasts a tremendous cast, from Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides and Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica all the way down to Stephen McKinley Henderson (Kansas City’s own) as Thufir Hawat and David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries. But the true stars, besides Villeneuve himself, are cinematographer Greig Fraser, editor Joe Walker, production designer Patrice Vermette, costume designers Bob Morgan and Jacqueline West, and both the sound design and visual effects teams.

The film brings the world of the story to life, above and beyond my expectations. I wasn’t surprised that the buildings looked so right, or that the brutalism of the Atreides’ home on Caladan was distinct from that of the Harkonnens’ home on Giedi Prime; one suggests a legacy of centuries and a lofty grandeur, the other suggests malice as a way of life. I wasn’t surprised that the sand-worms, when we see them, are so huge as to dwarf the humans, with mouths so wide they could swallow any known creature, yet move with speed and grace.

I was surprised at how well they realized the ornithopters, which look like mechanical dragonflies yet seem wholly practical. And I was surprised at how varied yet functional the costumes are, from the robes of the Imperial delegation to the Atreides’ dress uniforms to the uniforms of the various armies. And I was just a little surprised at how seamless the CGI was, how everything felt real, such that I never questioned the ships, the body-shields, or the blue eyes of the Fremen, which felt so much more organic than the glowing blue eyes they had in David Lynch’s infamous adaptation.

I wasn’t surprised that Walker’s editing did a fine job of balancing the huge cast, of weaving the various dreams and visions into the story, of keeping the pace consistent throughout the film’s 155-minute running time. He did so well with Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival, after all. And I wasn’t surprised that Fraser’s images were so striking, the use of light being especially impressive as we move from the cavernous buildings to the open desert. The nighttime attack on the Atreides’ home on Arrakis is especially striking to behold.

I was pleasantly surprised by Hans Zimmer’s score, which leaves behind the pulsations he crafted (extremely well, to be sure) for Christopher Nolan in favor of a mix of industrial rhythms blended with themes of a celestial, even mystical nature. Such are the contrasts at the heart of this story.

And while I figured the script (by Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, and Eric Roth) would do a better job of adapting the sprawling story than Lynch does, I was pleasantly surprised, by and large, by what they decided to keep, cut, change, and rearrange. In particular, they change much of the dialogue to sound rather more like actual speech than the fairly stilted dialogue in the novel, but they also add a scene to establish the Sardaukar troops (engaged in a grisly ritual), restore the novel’s theme of the Bene Gesserit seeding the Fremen culture with prophecies about the coming messiah which Paul will conveniently fulfill, and tweak the character of Dr. Liet Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster), both making them a female and giving them a slightly different fate, which probably works better, at least in a cinematic sense, than what happens in the book.

On the other hand, I’m not sure I’m surprised that, with so large a cast of characters, some have less to do than others, but I am a little disappointed. In particular, De Vries, Hawat, and Dr. Wellington Yueh (Chang Chen) have too little to do, De Vries’ fixation on Jessica being totally omitted and Yueh’s tragic backstory being tossed off rather quickly. And some story points are, despite the ample running time, a little rushed. Could it have been helped? Maybe. Am I faulting the film more because I know what was compressed or removed outright? Quite possibly.

That raises the question of how much it helps to know the material beforehand. It’s a trade-off, to be sure; some aspects do make more sense if you’ve read the book, especially the symbolism of the bull which killed an earlier Atreides who fought them for sport. But you may also find yourself thinking “well, if they had time for this, they should’ve had time for this,” and that’s not really a profitable path to go down.

But I will say that, if anything tempted me to pull the film out of the **** and rate it a high ***½, it’s the comparative lack of emotional investment I felt. A second viewing may change my tune – I appreciated Arrival and 2049 more on repeat viewings – but I do think it’s the kind of film I admire without quite loving. That said, there’s so very much to admire that I can’t really argue that this, at one level or another, a great film.

And I will say that the cast does fine work all around. Chalamet strikes the right balance of callowness and budding potential as Paul; Ferguson is an excellent Jessica, desperately trying to protect her family while fulfilling her own duty to the Bene Gesserit; Oscar Isaac, whom I and a friend cast as Leto well before he was officially chosen, is suitably noble yet inescapably ill-fated; Stellan Skarsgård subtly relishes the role of the malignant Baron Harkonnen, and Dave Bautista perfectly combines physical brutality and a childish mentality in the role of Rabban; Josh Brolin is a dryly funny, fiercely loyal Gurney, and Jason Momoa is a rather excellent Duncan Idaho, a ruthless fighter but a warm friend; and Charlotte Rampling is a creepy Reverend Mother, her face always obscured by a veil of some kind, but her imperious voice never muffled.

Others, like Zendaya as Chani (mostly seen in Paul’s dreams and visions until the last few minutes) and Javier Bardem as Stilgar, largely set the stage for the larger roles they’ll play in Part Two. We don’t even know who’ll play Feyd-Rautha, the Emperor, Irulan, Alia, or, if they even include him, Count Fenring.

But as solid as the cast is, I hoped for a truly dazzling ensemble instead of one that was, all in all, subordinate to the director and the technicians. And as good as the film is in every department, and great in most, I find myself wishing it stirred my heart or swept me up with excitement more than it did. But I feel something of the same way about the book; it’s filled with imagination, with interesting ideas and worthy passages, but it’s also hampered by uneven pacing, villains who are more interesting than the heroes but are heard far less from, and a lot of repetition, especially about the Bene Gesserits’ long-range plans.

In the end, it’s not quite the best film you could’ve made of that difficult novel, but it’s a pretty damned good one – and I can’t wait for Part Two.

Update 11/2/21: I saw the film a second time, and as I expected, I appreciated it a good deal more. There are still nits I could pick – characters who are underused, some awkwardly expositional dialogue – but I appreciated the magnificent filmmaking on display just as much, and the storytelling a good deal more. Walker’s editing in particular is nearly as good as that in 2049, with the brilliant way it balances the various groups of characters and the sometimes fragile division between Paul’s visions and reality.

I also appreciated the acting and writing more; I still think Ferguson gives the best performance in the film, but there’s really not a weak turn in the bunch, just some who get less of a chance to shine. (I still really wish Dastmalchian and Henderson had a bit more to do.) And while there are story points I’d have liked to see more of, what’s actually put on screen works extremely well. In particular, I think the scenes with Yueh, brief as they are, convey what they need to with a minimum of fuss.

I’m bumping my score up from an 87 to an 89, which I think was about where it belonged to begin with. Definitely the best blockbuster of the year so far – and I’m not sure what would top it.

Score: 89