'Dune' (2021)


It took me a while but I finally got round to watching 'Dune' last night. I wasn't going to bother to be honest, I read the book when I was a kid and it was a little too dry and heavy going for my taste, but Youtube kept throwing me clips (when I should have been working) and I thought, 'you know what...?'

So that's what I did last night. Well, and a little bit of this morning as well, 'Dune' is about fifty minutes over my tolerance threshold (for movies) so I had to do it in two installments. God, I am so middle-aged... But anyway. I'm really glad that I gave it a go actually. I might even have to catch Part 2 in the cinema when it arrives.

Paul Atreides, a brilliant, gifted young man born into a destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and 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 fear will survive.

The first thing to note is the look of the thing, basically absolutely gorgeously shot and something you can just sit and gaze at for, well... a good hundred and forty one minutes ;o) I didn't know you could make sand look so interesting but apparently I was wrong. And the way that Arakeen just squats there like a heavily armoured beast and the way that you can almost see the futility of man trying to bend Arrakis to its needs while the Fremen adapt themselves to it instead... There's so much to see here and loads to think about.

And onto the plot...

This is where the movie fell down a little bit for me, only a little bit though. I get that there's only so much book that you can adapt into a movie and 'Book Dune' is heaving with minutiae for plot and world building. Villeneuve's approach seems to be to just stick with the basics of the plot and to be fair, what we get is very watchable (most of which is down to some very strong performances from the likes of Oscar Issac, Rebecca Ferguson and Jason Momoa, Timothee Chalamet's 'Paul' is good but it feels like there's a stronger performance still to come). It all just feels a little too stripped back though to sit comfortably in that majestic backdrop. And maybe that was the point? I don't know, let me get back to you on that one.

Whatever the answer to that question, what we do get works well and that's the main thing. 'Dune' has got me keen to revisit the book, many years after I last read it and covid permitting, you'll probably see me in the line for the cinema when Part 2 makes it's appearance. Like I said, I'm glad that I finally gave it a chance.


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