Starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Chang Chen, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sharon Duncan-Brewster
(4-Bad Film)
Tedious. Hollow. Superficial.
Duncan Idaho: Dreams make good stories, but everything important happens when we’re awake.
How long are you willing to stare at something beautiful that you don’t connect to? The newest adaptation of Dune, directed by Oscar-nominated director, Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049), helped me answer this question, because I couldn’t make it past the first twenty minutes without wanting to be somewhere else. With no prior experience with the world of Dune or its source material, my understanding of the plot is certainly limited. As much as I could follow, the story follows Paul Atreides (Chalamet), the son of Duke Leto (Isaac), as he and his family move to a new planet, Arrakis, and attempt to establish themselves there. While acclimatizing themselves to Arrakis, the Atreides are beset on all sides by hostile natives, rivals, and traitors. Dune is often as beautiful as advertised. The problem for me is that it’s devoid of personality. No humor, no distinct characters or character development, no compelling villain, no wit or colorful dialogue. Dune is a chore.
-Walter Tyrone Howard-
(1,106)
I wondered what viewers with no prior experience of Dune would think of this film. It seemed to go in the complete opposite direction of the David Lynch adaptation in terms of exposition… like, we’re just not gonna bother to explain anything.
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I had trouble getting into this film, but I liked it well enough. I wasn’t familiar with the story, and I was disappointed at how simple it was onscreen. I expected something more complex. But the cinematography was amazing, so that was worth it.
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I’ll have to wait for the sequel to form a full opinion about it. Hopefully, it will all come together in the next one and perhaps I’ll like this one more.
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That’s a fair thing to say, and I have to agree.
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