Thursday, October 21, 2021

Dune Movie Review

Timothée Chalamet stars in Dune

Desert Power

Rotten Tomatoes Plot: Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence, only those who can conquer their own fear will survive. Directed by Denis Villeneuve.



Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem

What's Good: Dune starts off strong, aided by a superb ensemble cast and the promise of something big. The visuals are, in a word, breathtaking. Expensive, lush and vast, it's really something to behold. Unfortunately, as with most big budget sagas, there's too many strange names and places to keep track of, and I (sadly) started to lose interest after an hour or so. That said, if you can follow along, you're in for a special treat.

What's Not: The sprawling sets are great to look at it (IMAX, IMAX, IMAX) but they're dark and hard to appreciate, amidst all the subsequent confusion. Plus, everyone seems to whisper their lines, save for the film's most interesting character (Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, deliciously portrayed by Skarsgård.) I could overlook those shortcomings, but Dune ultimately stumbles due to its lackluster conclusion centered around yet another "the one," who conveniently finds himself just in time to save the day (shocker.)

Budget: $165 million (and it shows.)

Runtime: 156 minutes

Target Audience: Sci-fi fans. People who remember the 1965 novel or (shudder) the David Lynch movie almost 20 years later.

Bottom Line: Zendaya's Chani warns, "This is only the beginning," and true enough, the final hour feels like a redundant commercial of sequels to come. Dune is gorgeous to look at, but unless you're a true fan, odds are you'll leave the theater thinking, "I've seen this before."

GradeB- (Apparently looks are everything.)