Dune (2021)

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

Everyone who follows this blog knows that my favorite book of all time is DUNE. After seeing the 1983 movie many times that Christmas I was compelled to read the book if only to understand the truly mind bending universe that Frank Herbert created with his work. So many rich themes and a truly epic tale of a young man's journey to manhood and godhood in the midst of galactic betrayal and conspiracy. The minutia and the detail haunted me unlike any story I have ever read in my life. I had to know more. 

Over the decades my love for the property has only deepened. While the SciFy networks adaptations of the first three book in the series were great and epic in their own right, a TRUE adaptation felt yet to be made. Lynch's movie was a glorious failure as was a previous attempt by Jodorowsky in the 70s that is one of the great Hollywood stories of what could have been.

      

If anything, all these attempts taught us that a visionary director had to come along to create a film worthy of the novel.

Denis Villeneuve was the director we were waiting for all along. As a fellow devotee of the source material, the man who made The Arrival and Blade Runner 2042 proved he had the skills and more importantly the LOVE to make the film he has made.

I am still tingling after finishing my copy of the movie which I will see one day on IMAX as it was meant to be seen. Nothing else would get me back into a movie theatre I think. Even IMAX doesn't seem worthy of the scope of the film but it is the only way to see this beautiful creation that in itself is only tells HALF the first book. It seems insane to me that a conclusion sequel is not already a forgone conclusion but it is not..

The look of the film is gorgeous from the desert settings to the future tech, all perfectly realized from the novel. Ornithopters fly like you would expect them to fly, worms look as awe inspiring as the giant worms of Arrakis should look. The cast is uniformly excellent and perfectly chosen for their roles. The music is haunting. The film was shot with very little use of green screen and that shows. Grand settings can only come from actually filming IN the desert.

It's all very overwhelming to see in front of me but the film's biggest surprise is it's intimacy. For a story of such vast ambition that is a delicate trick to pull off at the best of times but is a sheer miracle in this case.

If you have never experienced DUNE you will not be lost and if you know DUNE like your left hand  you will never be bored. I found the whole enterprise to be as thrilling as I hoped for, even with all I already knew from following the production since day one. Everyone should get to watch their favorite book come alive in front of them like DUNE 2021 did for me. It's a gift.

My only problem with the film is the fact that it ended way too soon. Part 2 is not even greenlit yet but is sure to be. I will just hate the wait for resolution, something I have no patience for.