A Review of Dune

Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Blade Runner 2049”), is a new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name. The movie tells the story of Paul Atreides, a young man born into an important family, who must travel to the dangerous planet of Arrakis to prepare for his family’s future. Arrakis is home to a precious resource, spice, which is essential for space travel and the House of Atreides has been placed in charge of it. There are numerous players in this tale, with the House of Harkonnen and the Fremen being crucial. In addition, Dune has a star-studded cast. Timothée Chalamet stars as Paul Atreides, and the movie features Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac, Dave Bautista, Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, and Stellan Skarsgard. 

Before I get into the review, I should say that I’ve never read the novel and besides knowing it’s a landmark sci-fi book, I knew basically nothing about it when I started watching it. Seeing all of the promotion and buzz about this movie with the actors and the cinematography had me really excited to watch it. Due to the novel’s popularity, I had relatively high expectations and the synopsis sounded interesting. It did not live up to those expectations. However, I had assumed this would be a lighter movie and a thrilling group adventure story, so I was particularly surprised by my own response to the feel of the film. 

First, the plot. To be honest, I was really lost for most of the movie. As I said before, I haven’t read the book, so I can’t speak to the movie’s accuracy, but it may have made more sense to someone who was familiar with the original series. I found many elements confusing and not properly explained, even though so much of the film was exposition. For instance, were the sandworms just there to have an element of danger? What did people use for space travel without spice? Why does everyone have to travel through space? I understand that nobles and rulers need to oversee their land, but do ordinary people really need this mysterious ‘spice’? How much do they need? There was also a lot of importance placed on visions. While this related to Paul’s power, I felt that there were too many and slowed the movie down instead of advancing it. Also, the visions were not vague premonitions, they showed a lot of what was happening in the movie. Yes, that is the whole point of visions but here, I felt that it ruined the element of surprise for the viewer.

More importantly, the ‘plot’ of Dune seemed to be basically non-existent. The fact that this is Dune, Part 1, in my opinion isn’t properly marketed until you’re actually watching the movie. While I’m sure there was a lot to introduce, it was ALL exposition. It seemed to be a set up for the next movie. I have two problems with this. First, there needs to be some important, surprising events in the first movie to keep viewers interested in the sequel. Second, even with all of this time, so much wasn’t fully explained, leaving the average viewer confused and not drawn into the plot. It wasn’t very memorable and I couldn’t give you a coherent explanation if I tried. 

Next, the characters felt a bit pretentious at times. They lacked any kind of intensity and seemed overly serious and dull. This isn’t to say that the acting was bad by any means, but I think the writing lacked characterization. The cast was also misrepresented in the marketing. Zendaya was promoted so much as a star of the movie, and she very well may be in the next movie, but she barely had a few lines in this movie and the ones she did have were at the very end. Other stars were rarely utilized and you might be able to at most surmise a few character traits about them. The audience forms no attachment to the characters. I feel the movie relied on the popularity of the cast and hoped that as an audience, our feelings about the cast would transfer to the characters. As a viewer, I never felt emotionally invested in the characters or their journeys. Crucially, the antagonist(s) were underdeveloped. I still don’t understand their motivations or even who the main one was. They were static, with questionable motives.

Lastly, I’d like to discuss cinematography and music. I was in awe of the visuals and the audio. The visuals were beautiful. Everything felt expansive and luxurious. The landscape felt electrifyingly alive - to the extent that a desert can be. However, despite the cinematography being absolutely gorgeous, it did feel like a bit much at times. It’s a desert planet, and there are only so many times you can see sand dunes with a finite amount of variations. I felt the same way about the soundtrack. For the first hour or so, I was entranced by the audio. It was interesting and new but soon, it became overly dramatic. Instead of helping the viewer feel emotion, it was cheesy and I grimaced when it started again. 

In conclusion, this movie severely disappointed me. I was expecting thrilling sci-fi adventure and found a boring story with absolutely no plot and characterization. Perhaps a major fan of the books could enjoy this - but it’s going to be a no from me. 

by Atreyi Basu