I have something to say! I liked Dune…I really liked it. Granted, there was a part of me that was going to walk out of that theatre amazed just because Timothée Chalamet was playing the main character, but it was about more than that. I went home craving to know more about the story, and as someone who isn’t the sci-fi genre’s biggest fan, that’s saying a lot. There was some hesitancy on my end as Dune is a complex adult fantasy, but the film did an amazing job making it easy to understand as I hadn’t previously read the book.
The 2021 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune, follows a young man named Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) whose family is given the desert planet of Arrakis to care for and rule. Unbeknownst to them, House Atreides was sent there to get ambushed by House Harkonnen, the rival house that will stop at nothing until the Atreides lineage is wiped out. Arrakis is home to the Fremen, and the desert is their domain. To cut a two-hour and 30-minute story short, Paul and his mother Lady Jessica, played by the wonderful Rebecca Ferguson, barely escape with their lives and seek out the Fremen for help. Enter the Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and one of his followers Chani (Zendaya), a woman whom Paul constantly dreams about.
Now, you’d think because Zendaya was at every tour stop and on every promo possible for Dune that she’d have substantial screen time, right? Well, I can tell you right now – she doesn’t. I’d say she was in it for about 10 minutes out of the 156 minutes running time. Since Dune has been greenlit for part two, slated for an Oct. 2023 release, I am expecting Chani to play a much bigger and prominent role in the film continuation.
This was a star-studded cast, to say the least. Oscar Isaac, who played Duke Leto, Jason Momoa, who played Duncan Idaho and British actress Sharon Duncan-Brewster, who played Dr. Liet-Kynes, really brought their characters to life. They are all incredibly charismatic and do excellently in their given roles. The powerful cast doesn’t outshine the story but enhances it. For example, Ferguson and Chalamet, the mother-son duo no one knew they needed, were great at bouncing off each other, creating a great dynamic that shone on-screen.
With a seasoned director at the helm, Denis Villeneuve did not disappoint. Villeneuve has said he wants to make three Dune films, and I say – let him! He has clearly proven himself with Dune: Part 1. This film has visuals that make everything feel gigantic and magnificent in a way I’ve never experienced, with an overpowering yet incredible score. Every shot is filmed in a way that really emphasizes just how large the world they’ve created is. And don’t even get me started on the soundtrack. It’s genuinely one of my favourites ever. Hans Zimmer has outdone himself again.
I do need to mention that as a novel, Dune is heavily inspired by Arab culture and the Islamic religion, and while Villeneuve didn’t lean into that as much, he did touch upon it in certain scenes. For example, there is a scene where Paul Atreides enters the Arrakis palace courtyard. The shot cuts to pilgrims gathered in long hijabs (known as jilbabs), reading small scriptures that resemble the Quran and carrying prayer beads meant for Tasbih. Besides that, it’s never seen or addressed.
All in all, I highly suggest watching Dune, especially in IMAX. It was one of the most engaging and theatrical film experiences I’ve ever witnessed.