This film’s final line of dialogue, spoken with a soft smile and the hint of promise by a key character: “This is only the beginning.”
Deliberate irony, I’m sure, on the part of director Denis Villeneuve.
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| With seconds to spare before a massive sandworm erupts to the desert surface, Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin, left) drags Paul (Timothée Chalamet) onto their ornithopter, just as the aircraft takes off. |
From what I recall — the read was decades ago — Villeneuve and co-scripters Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth get slightly more than halfway into Herbert’s chunky book. In fairness, the breakpoint is logical — more or less where Herbert divided the two portions of his novel — and the film’s conclusion is reasonably satisfying.
But let’s just say that about 17 chads are left hanging. Resolution ain’t in the cards. Not yet.
That aside, Villeneuve’s always engaging film is a breathtaking display of sci-fi world-building: absolutely an honorable adaptation of Herbert’s blend of future-dreaming, socio-political commentary and (for its time) ground-breaking eco-fiction.
Dune has, practically since publication, been the great white whale of filmmakers. Surrealistic Chilean-French filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky spent three years, in the mid-1970s, trying to mount an adaptation that would have starred David Carradine and Salvador Dali(!), with music by Pink Floyd (!!); the project finally collapsed when backers bolted over the rising budget.
David Lynch’s misbegotten effort, deservedly loathed by fans and critics, did make it to the screen in 1984 (and more’s the pity).
The 2000 TV miniseries isn’t bad; it also isn’t very good.
Neither holds a candle to the bravura work by Villeneuve and the massive, massive crew that brought this vision to the screen. This is true sense-of-wonder moviemaking.
For all its merits, Herbert’s novel is a slog at times, burdened by didactic passages and tediously descriptive prose. This film’s greatest achievement — scripters, take a bow — is the distillation of such stuff: retaining just enough to highlight the essential plot points and narrative beats, while simultaneously juicing up dramatic tension.
That makes this film frequently exciting: something that’s rarely true of Herbert’s novel. Villeneuve and editor Joe Walker move things along at a suspenseful clip, and matters almost never flag. (This can’t be said of Villeneuve’s previous film, Blade Runner 2049, which — despite its many merits — is hampered by far too many dull stretches of Nothing Much Happens).
With Dune finally realized so marvelously on the big screen, one can readily see — as just the most obviously example — how much this story influenced George Lucas.
As with Star Wars, this is sci-fi absent any mention of Earth: a long time ahead, in a galaxy far, far away. The year is 10191, the setting a universe occupied by rival planetary fiefdoms pledged to an overlord emperor. All are dependent upon a natural resource — “spice” — found solely on the inhospitable desert planet Arrakis; spice facilitates space travel, commerce, knowledge and even human existence.
Arrakis has long been occupied, and its spice harvested, by the cruel, despotic members of the Machiavellian House Harkonnen. Its ruler, Baron Valdimir (Stellan Skarsgård), is a dark, sadistic, gravity-defying monster of a man (brought to nightmarish life by an impressive blend of makeup and CGI). His chief enforcer is his nephew, Glossu “Beast” Rabban, depicted with feral, snarling intensity by Dave Bautista.
Among the numerous other Great Houses of the galaxial Landsraad, House Harkonnen is most resentful of House Atreides, based on the ocean planet Caladan, and governed by the benevolent and honorable Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac). Leto’s kinder, gentler approach to rule has been enhancing his status among the other Houses, and — apparently as a reward — the emperor commands House Atreides to replace House Harkonnen on Arrakis.
Which, suffice it to say, infuriates the Baron and his nephew.
Leto moves his entire warrior fleet to Arrakis; he’s also accompanied by his concubine, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), and their teenage son, Paul (Timothée Chalamet). Additional trusted individuals include the Duke’s warmaster, Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin); Mentat strategist Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Henderson), whose brain functions like a super-computer; skilled physician Dr. Wellington Yueh (Chen Chang); and legendary swordmaster/warrior Duncan Idaho (the perfectly cast Jason Momoa).
Although supposedly a gesture of respect, Leto — no fool — knows that this transfer is a trap. The emperor is jealous of the righteous Leto’s growing esteem among the other Houses, and — likely with the clandestine collusion of House Harkonnen — has set up House Atreides to fail.
(It’s comforting to know that, no matter how advanced the civilization, no matter how far into the future, Herbert understood that human behavior would continue to be defined by avarice, duplicity, conspiracy, treachery and betrayal. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.)
Ah, but there’s yet another layer. Paul, despite his enthusiastic youthful innocence — Chalamet conveys this callowness endearingly, in the first act — is far from an ordinary teenager. Lady Jessica is an acolyte of the mystical Bene Gesserit, an all-female order whose members wield impressive mental powers, and who pursue their own mysterious political ambitions behind the scenes.
Just as Gurney and Duncan have been training Paul to become a warrior, Jessica has been teaching him Bene Gesserit skills: most notably “the voice,” a means of weaponizing words in order to bend the will of others. This brings Paul to the attention of Jessica’s superior, the Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling) … with intriguing results.
All this upper-echelon posturing and maneuvering overlooks the fact that Arrakis is far from uninhabited; it has long been occupied by the native Fremen, who’ve adapted to its harsh environment. They’ve learned — after decades of being subjugated, exploited, hunted and killed by the House Harkonnen invaders — not to trust any off-worlders.
Key Arrakis players include Dr. Liet Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster), the “agent of change” tasked with facilitating the transfer of power from Harkonnen to Atreides; Stilgar (Javier Bardem), leader of the Fremen; and Chanti (very nicely played by Zendaya), a mysterious young woman who has haunted Paul’s dreams of late.
Herbert’s devoted fans will be delighted by the inclusion of the saga’s most suspenseful and exhilarating elements: the excruciating Gom Jabbar test; the sinister, floating, tadpole-like hunter-seeker assassination weapons; and (of course) the ginormous sandworms, which move beneath Arrakian deserts like whales swimming through water, and have teeth-laden maws immense enough to swallow a huge spice-gathering platform whole.
Isaac is appropriately regal and charismatic as the ethical Duke Leto, who — despite realizing, going in, that he and his family are in mortal danger — tries to shield such knowledge from his son. Isaac’s bearing is determined, but his gaze is resigned; he knows that disaster cannot be far away. It’s heartbreaking to watch such a good man march resolutely toward doom.
Ferguson’s Lady Jessica evolves just as dramatically as Chalamet’s Paul. At first apparently little more than an adornment on Duke Leto’s arm, and then a cowering figure in Reverend Mother Mohiam’s presence, Jessica rises to the occasion when her son’s life is imperiled. Ferguson turns her into a true mother tiger.
Momoa easily dominates all of his scenes; Duncan is the pluperfect devil-may-care swashbuckler. Paul adores him, and so do we. Brolin’s Gurney is more ruggedly stoic, but no less capable in battle; Henderson’s Thufir is a gentle, amiable confidant.
Paul goes through hell as matters progress, and Chalamet persuasively expands the young man’s perception, manner, courage and fighting prowess. He transforms quite believably from a naïve youth to a budding leader in his own right.
“Stunning” is the only word to describe the many environments, majestic communities, space ships, gigantic machines, sandworms and much, much more: all realized with amazing detail by visual effects supervisor Paul Lambert, and special effects supervisor Gerd Nefzer. I particularly love the way-cool, dragonfly-like ornithopters.
Costume designers Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan creatively garb the various factions in distinct and culture-appropriate outfits; the Fremen’s fluid-recycling stillsuits are particularly nifty.
On a sour note — literally — Hans Zimmer’s so-called “score” is just another of his thundering, insufferably monotonous collections of low-end bass synth chords. While such unsettling cacophony appropriately backdrops Baron Vladimir and all members of House Harkonnen, it’s hardly appropriate for Duke Leto and House Atreides, or all the activity on Arrakis.
Delivering “music” that always sounds the same, regardless of good or evil events, or dramatic highs and lows, is a disservice to this saga’s richly varied characters; I’m surprised Villeneuve tolerated it.
That aside, his vision of Dune surely would have pleased Frank Herbert … and I’ve no doubt it’ll impress fans who’ve waited more than half a century for a definitive big-screen version.
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