• Director: Dennis Villenueve
• With: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgard, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Charlotte Rampling
• Music by: Hans Zimmer
• Duration: 2h35
• Based upon the book by Frank Herbert
• My rating: 8,5/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: no

Synopsis:

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who 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-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Review:

Last year in September I read the first book of the Dune Chronicles, together with a few friends of mine on Bookstagram. When we did a group chat we all were very much excited for this movie and I don’t have to say it lives up to its expectations.

Dennis Villeneuve is one of the best science-fiction movie directors of this age. Although with his previous movies I always had a feeling of watching ‘slow movies’, such as Arrival and even Blade Runner 2049. This is because he focuses on storytelling and fantastic visuals over highly suspenseful and action-packed scenes. This would not work always but for Dune it definitely does!

The story is rich with lore and with so many characters it needs that storytelling aspect as to get to know all of the characters (especially for those that don’t read the books!) and in typical Villeneuve style we get wonderful, stunning camerawork and incredibly fantastic visuals… the sound of Hans Zimmer together with the dessert scenes even makes it eerie and makes you want to drink a gallon (or a liter) of water… the costumes in this movie were amazing as well… (I remember when the Artreides arrive on Arrakis, Lady Jessica’s veil in the wind… 😱 perfection as a shot and as a costume!!!)

This movie is also one of the rare movies that actually adapts the book as it is written, without all too many changes made…

But… there is just one thing that bothered me a little bit… I know it’s a very elaborate story and if you really want to tell everything, you need the time… but it was too long for me… if they’d left the final scene (and here comes a spoiler, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet nor read the book, stop now and go to the next paragraph! Now!)… ‼️the final scene should have been Jessica and Paul meeting the Fremen, but the fight between Jamis and Paul should have been kept for Part Two.‼️

No more spoilers from here on out:

But I am so looking forward to Part Two. It does justice to the novel, acting is perfect (everyone was perfectly cast!) and that music, heavenly! A must see for every fan of the books and of science-fiction!