There’s not much I can say that will prepare you for Dune. But I will say this:
If Part 2 is as good as this Part 1, we’ll have a sci-fi Lord of the Rings on our hands. When it comes to scope, artistry, and quality, it can only be compared to Peter Jackson’s seminal work.
Usually these reviews are formatted with The Good, The Bad, and The Verdict, but there isn’t enough bad to necessitate writing an entire Bad section. Anything that could possibly be improved with Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the influential sci-fi epic feels nitpicky and inconsequential.
Simply put, Dune is a masterpiece.
A friend and I watched it in IMAX and I want to implore you with the name of House Atreides to experience this movie on the biggest screen possible. It is visually spectacular. Every single frame feels like a work of art, and the careful manipulation of light and darkness feels deliberate at every moment. This is the frosting on the cake of fantastic costume and set design that make Arrakis feel vast and foreboding. Lastly, the visual effects are also a sight to behold. Everything looks real, and like Lord of the Rings, the visuals will probably hold up for decades to come.
The script adaptation was also incredibly smart. At this moment, I’ve only made it through the first half of the original novel by Frank Herbert, and let me tell you, it is dense. It’s easy to see why so many doubters deemed this book unfilmable. But the writing team did a fantastic job of focusing on the plot points that matter most and amplifying them to appropriate effect.
The only things that could possibly use improvement were the occasional fight coordination. In big groups, you can spot some extras that are more or less flailing around aimlessly, but in one-on-one battles, things are tight and intense. That’s it. That’s the only thing that could have possibly been better with this film.
That’s all you need to hear. Go watch Dune as soon as you can.
And forget about whatever the heck that other thing was from 1984. Frank Herbert now as a motion picture worthy of his masterwork.
Overal Score: 10/10
What do you think?