303.
Dune
7.5/10
Dune is a movie which has had a build-up for quite a while. Although the movie was originally made in 1984 and considered a flop, this remake by Denis Villeneuve had gained traction from the moment the first trailer hit the big screen. In the years between the two, special effects and visuals of movies has moved on ten fold and everyone was instantly stood to attention with what could be achieved with this one. The story is already available for the director as this is a novel. Not a novel that I have read and I also haven't seen the 1984 movie so this story will be brand new to me and I had no idea what I was heading in to. The movie sits at 2 hours and 35 minutes which is becoming so what of a norm with movie coming out in the past year or two. The thing is, this is just Part one of the story.
Focusing on the storyline first, its easy to see what this run time is only part one of the novel. It doesn't feel rushed and it seems that each of the little things were thought about and wanted to be portrayed. After reading the reviews of the 80's movie, that movie felt rushed and lost the essence of the novel. At times, for me anyway, it felt a little too slow and drawn out for the run time. The movie became climatic only for it to end abruptly and left the audience waiting for more as the characters walk away from the screen. The only way I can explain it is by comparing it to the ending of The Fellowship of the Ring, as we needed the second part almost instantly as the first part felt like it was leading to something huge. At the same time, there is a good point to be made which is the intrigue that the story has began. Making an audience which the second part was coming sooner to find out where we go from here is also only a good thing. I was more intrigued by the dark side of the story and following the villains narrative at times more than our 'hero's' mainly because the character of Baron Valadimir Harkonnen was so dark and creepy that there was almost an aspect of a horror genre. Will our main character be able to fight his war against the forces of evil to protect his family and also fight against his visions of a dark future? Only time will tell.
A lot was made of the cast of this movie and how stacked it actually was. More last longer than others due to their roles in the story and some with much larger roles in the second part I can imagine. Timothee Chalamet is a name gaining traction in Hollywood and he leads the way in this one. Firstly seeming as a young feeble boy, he is quickly trained to fight by a mixture of Josh Brolin and Jason Mamoa in order to last in his future mission. A parent partnership of Rebecca Ferguson and Oscar Isaac keep the cast names flowing before we start seeing Zendaya in Chalamet's visions before meeting her towards the end along with Javier Bardem's character. All doing a stellar job and leaving some questions to be answered with their stories rather than wishing they would be written out of the story. My stand out performance comes back to the Baron again. Played by Stellan Skarsgard, who has been in many a successful project, the Baron was a sinister 600-pound man from the depths of hell. He didn't have to do much to still command the scenes he was featured in.
We can't finish a review of Dune without talking about the cinematography of this movie. The special effects and overall look of this movie made the planets, vehicles and every technical piece look as real as possible. Watching this movie in the context of a cinema setting, big screen and plenty of speakers to blare that movie's score into the audience. The score was so loud, in a good way, that the cinema screen's seats were shaking from the sound's bass.
I'm left waiting for the second instalment but one thing I've noticed since watching this movie the first time a while back is that I haven't looked to go back and watch this movie again. I will need to and will eventually want to watch it again before the second instalment hits the screen but I don't know how I feel about the fact that I've not been drawn back since.
