Villeneuve’s 'Dune' at Least Worth One Viewing

Credit: Pixabay

I saw "Dune" this past Veterans’ Day. I hadn't been intending to see it when it released late last month. I had been skeptical of it being just another remake for Hollywood to cash in on during this wave of remakes. But I had the day off, and I didn't want to just make it another day of routine even outside of my day job which would've meant that I would've been writing all day, not that I didn't have any to catch up on. (You know me with my latest book project!) I thought Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel of the same name was made good and personally liked it to a degree. But I wasn't a "Dune' fan from the beginning. I saw only once the 1984 original when I was a kid and just thought it was okay. That was over 30 years ago so I’m not even going to try to compare the two. I've never read the novel and probably never will. It’s a giant thing and I don’t have an attention span for books that go much more than 400 pages. So that’s why this is a movie review only, and not a Book-To-Movie review. But I do have the attention span for even just mildly good space opera film, and Villeneuve’s “Dune” was more than mild. 

Synopsis

The story to “Dune” is a young man by the name of Paul Atreides assists his father, a Duke, to the desert planet of Arrakis to ally with the natives against the empire. The empire wants the planet for an essential spice that grows there. The Atreides family’s quarters are attacked by the empire and Paul and his mother are kidnapped. The two are left stranded in the planet’s wastelands that are nearly impossible to survive and they must find their way off the planet and back to their own world. 

Reception of the 1984 Original Movie

The story has many of the usual space opera tropes. The 1984 original movie adaptation came out during the space opera movie craze which began just after the first “Star Wars” film released in 1977. However, it would be a mistake to say that 1984’s “Dune” was a “Star Wars” knockoff. The novel was published in 1965, more than ten years before George Lucas’s space epic film. The only influence the movie got from “Star Wars” was probably the timing of its production and release. However, even though it was a time of space opera movies, it didn’t do well audiences and critics, probably in part because that subgenre of science fiction was beginning to wind down

2021 Remake

Then comes the remake in 2021. It received better audience and critical response than the original. I'm normally a person who prefers original movies over remakes but I won’t compare the two “Dune” films because, as I said, it’s been too long since I saw the original and so I can’t remember enough of the details. But this remake was made good. The acting and character interaction are likeable and believable. The special visual and sound effects do great jobs at making the audience feel like they’re engulfed in another universe. The timing of action and characters’ decisions are accurate making the audience want to keep watching. Also, the many dark and shadowed scenes help convey the suspense and mystery of the “Dune” universe. The creature effects are really good although the giant sandworms are mostly shown from their fronts until around the end of the movie. But that flaw, if it could be considered a flaw, was no big deal. While the movie ends satisfactorily it’s open-ended enough to allow for a sequel. And because Herbert’s “Dune” is a series of books, there’s definitely room for a sequel film.

I'll give a lot of credit to the "Dune" remake because Villeneuve, the rest of the crew and the cast put a lot into making the movie and it shows. If you’re not a fan of the book, like I'm not, but like space opera films then you'll probably like this movie. Or you’ll at least find it worth a one-time viewing.

Until next time . . .