Dune

Denis Villeneuve's long-awaited Dune finally arrives in Australian cinemas and it's a technical marvel. To start with, there's the amazing production design by Patrice Vermette. A lot of the sets and machinery have been physically created, to add weight to the visual effects. A highlight is the appearance of the 'ornithopter', a clunky, dragonfly of metal, that flaps its wings to fly. The scale of the buildings and cities is mammoth, many of them made on a studio lot in Budapest (see this Architectural Digest article for more). The cinematography, by Melburnian, Greig Fraser, is suitably magic, in keeping with Villeneuve's stylistic requirements, For example, desert scenes have a tendency to go all wind-whipped and blurry, but even when a dragonfly enters a storm, acuity is admirably maintained. 

The visuals are just a part of Villeneuve's signature language - the almost ethereal long shots across vast rooms and landscapes; the measured, even slow pacing to convey emotions, while juxtaposing these with flurries of well-rehearsed action; the shimmery close-ups on faces; the high levels of spectacle, which are many in Dune. Small pods leave a giant, cylindrical mother ship; huge transport ships (some ball-like, some triangular) land on planet surfaces; other behemoths emerge from fjords (though, in this case, I'm not sure why); an ambush occurs; and of course, fecking giant Sarlacc worms feed on anything with a vibration. 

Another string to Villeneuve's bow is his use of sound and music, and Hans Zimmer brings the big guns out here. The music is probably the best of many very good parts that make up this whole. I usually only notice the score if it's discordant or 'bangy', and while these can be good, this Zimmer stuff is from another drawer (the top one). Here are some words from him in an interesting Indiewire article:

"I asked for more things to superimpose the sonic quality of one instrument onto another so you would [create] these impossible sounds. The characteristics of a Tibetan long horn on a cello and let a cellist play it so that you've invented a new instrument. I wanted it to be things that would float across the desert dunes and penetrate between the rocks, and I wanted things to sound dangerous."

The cast get the job done, with far less camp than David Lynch's 1984 iteration, but a whole lot of serious. Sure, intergalactic politics and war don't lend themselves to frivolity, but it's really only Jason Momoa's Duncan Idaho who gets to have a giggle here and there. Timothée Chalamet, as the lead Paul Atreides, is a strong enough presence, staring down the heavy hitters like Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem. Some of the best turns come from sideliners like Stellan Skarsgård and Charlotte Rampling, in roles with nasty meat to them. And Rebecca Ferguson is imperious as Lady Jessica, anxious at times, handy with a blade at others. The only minor issue with the cast is the fact that Zendaya is all over the promotion for this film, yet she's in it for all of 10 minutes. 

Which brings me to one of my bugbears with Dune. I was going along with the film (see above), when I realised quite some way through, that if this was to finish, it would be a 5 hour plus movie. And then Zendaya mutters something naff like, "This is just the beginning" and the screen cuts to black. Well, that's some beginning. Yes, I'd heard there would probably be another Dune film, and I did see the big PART ONE at the start, but my overriding feeling at the 'end' of the film was disappointment. This, I think, is due to the fact that Villeneuve is one of my favourite directors (of any era), and I just wanted him to make a self-contained movie, not have to wait until 2023 for the finale. I guess this is where the Herbert nerds jump in and say 'you can't make a 3 hour film of this material, look what happened to Lynch (and Jodorowsky before him), THINK OF THE TEXT!!!, etc.'

A final word on the writing. I think the world building was fantastic, the details like the compass and sand compacter, the stillsuits they wore on Arrakis, the odd nice touch like the desert mouse using its ears as reservoirs, this stuff is mint. And probably all (or mostly) thanks to Herbert. Thanks, Frank. But, unfortunately, he's also responsible for the wrung-dry trope of the Chosen One, which is beginning to tear me a new orse. Sure, large form story-telling, high stakes, maybe it's a requirement - and yep, they couldn't rightly disavow this crucial angle, but I'm just getting weary of it. There's my grumble all done.

The issues just mentioned luckily don't detract from the film as a whole, though I'd be happier watching this and the future second part back to back. Dune is quite the ride and it'll be a hard act to top this, but if anyone can do it, Villeneuve can.

Dune is showing in loads of cinemas NOW.

See also:

Of course, track down Lynch's Dune (1984), if only to see Patrick Stewart and Sting in the same film. The Ghibli film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), directed by Hayao Miyazaki, takes a lot of cues from Herbert's book.

SPOILERS AND SPICE-AFFECTED MINDS IN POD.