After being delayed a whole year due to COVID-19, Dune is finally getting its time in the sun. Adapted from Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name, director Denis Villeneuve, who co-wrote the film alongside Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth, brings the futuristic space odyssey to life in grand and detailed fashion. It’s no secret that Dune has been deemed too difficult to adapt to the big screen, but Villeneuve certainly does a decent job making sense of the world in which the characters dwell. Ambitious, occasionally thrilling, and visually striking, Dune is mostly set up, building out a heartless world that never truly feels complete.
In the year 10191, Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) is tasked by the emperor to travel to the desert planet Arrakis, where House Harkonnen (led by Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron Vladimir) has had control of for decades. House Harkonnen was mining the planet’s spice, a hallucinogen that also powers space travel. The control over this valuable substance has left the Fremen, Arrakis’ natives, brutalized and mistreated. Meanwhile, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), Leto’s son, is having visions of Chani (Zendaya), a Fremeni woman, and a future that suggests he will become important to the Fremen. Paul is also caught between two worlds — succeeding his father as duke and training to use mind control and persuasion (called the "voice") taught by the Bene Gesserit, a religious and political group in which Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), is a member. At the same time, plans of a coup brew beneath the surface.
Dune is visually captivating, the wide shots showcasing Arrakis in all its intensity and beauty. There is a sense of foreboding that permeates the film, elevated greatly by Greig Fraser’s stunning cinematography. Herbert’s sprawling world and the politics that make up its conflicts are easy to understand in the film, if certain aspects remain vague. Villeneuve, Roth, and Spaihts’ screenplay explains things well enough without condescending to its audience. Dune is certainly grand and epic in scale. The tensions between House Atreides and House Harkonnen are intensely felt, raising the stakes and underscoring the entirety of the story and the characters’ decisions. Hans Zimmer’s haunting score is all-encompassing and unnerving, though the sound design is often so loud that it's hard to hear the quiet dialogue. There is enough mystery and intrigue to keep one watching, and Villeneuve knows how to create a breathtaking world. However, it isn’t enough to keep the film afloat on these merits alone.
Spectacular visuals aside, Dune is emotionally empty and incomplete. Everything the film introduces is simply a set up for something to come later on, if ever. Establishing that this is part one when part two hasn't been confirmed makes it feel as though the story is being stalled. Dune, like so many other individual franchise films — including The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Star Wars — should still feel like it can stand on its own while still having enough to connect it to the larger storyline. However, Dune’s worldbuilding doesn't amount to a satisfying payoff and there is a distinct lack of emotion with everything that happens. Its thinly drawn characters speak as though the end is near, but there is little effort made to develop them beyond their importance to the plot. The central conflict is robbed of depth, as are the Fremen, who are more of an idea than fully realized people. Dune often feels hollow, relying on aesthetics and the potential of what this world could be rather than delving deeper into what it already is. Its spectacle undermines further exploration of its characters and its slow pacing lulls the story’s progress at times.
Chalamet’s portrayal of Paul is lacking in gusto. It’s often unclear how Paul is meant to feel about any of what’s happening and that makes it hard to connect to him in any way. Zendaya is barely in the movie at all and, worse, she has so few lines, appearing primarily in dream sequences. Her character is more of a bridge connecting part one to part two, which is a shame and a waste of her presence. Isaac plays Duke Leto with militaristic stoicism and duty, but it’s Ferguson and Jason Momoa (as Duke Idaho, a soldier for House Atreides) who are the standouts. Ferguson gently conveys Jessica’s fears and wariness, and Momoa portrays Duncan with a lot of joyful energy. The rest of the supporting cast, including Javier Bardem (Stilgar, a Fremen tribe leader), Chang Chen (Dr. Wellington Yueh), and Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Dr. Liet Kynes), are all great in their smaller roles.
Dune is wonderfully diverse, but it still erases Middle Eastern and North African peoples despite Herbert clearly drawing influences from the region (Villeneuve filmed parts of the film in Jordan and Abu Dhabi). The costumes, the music, and the story all borrow from MENA cultures, language (“Padishah” is Persian for king, “Muad'dib” is Arabic for teacher or one who is respected), and Islam, and yet no actors of MENA descent are featured. It seems counterproductive to the story that is being told, especially one that so heartily takes from the area (spice is, after all, a stand-in for oil).
The film is also bloated and there is perhaps too much information to establish. Largely delivered through exposition, it makes the first half of the film feel somewhat sluggish. Anyone waiting for Dune to build towards a big, effective, and satisfying ending might be disappointed. Is Dune thrilling to behold? Absolutely. The sheer magnitude of the film is admirable and ambitious. All that said, however, Dune is missing an emotional core, with all of its characters essentially pawns waiting for Villeneuve’s next move. Whether or not part two ever happens, part one is only worth watching for the visual elements, lacking in overall depth, heart, and sense of completion.
Dune will be released in theaters and on HBO Max on Thursday evening, October 21. The film is 155 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing images and suggestive material.
