When I was in high school, I think that I once came across Frank Herbert's book "Dune" in a random manner in the library. If I borrowed it or began to read it, I don't think that I made it too far into the first page before deciding that it wasn't for me, as in I just had no interest in continuing reading the book. Many years ago (in 1984) there was a film adaptation of the book which, by many reports, was a mess but I can't comment on this as I never saw it. These omens did not bode well for me in deciding to watch this latest adaptation of the very long novel. So, in the spirit of just giving this film a go, I went to the cinema today to see it, perhaps with a nagging suspicion that I would find it to be very dry and very boring. Despite its long running time (156 minutes), I enjoyed this epic science fiction tale which, at the start, announces that it is the first part (unlike the promotional material for it). Although I have no idea how many sequels are to follow, I will look forward to seeing the next one, at least. Perhaps I might even consider watching David Lynch's 1984 version at some point in the future...after I see the conclusion to the new adaptation.
The story concerns the royal family of Duke Leto of House Atreides (played by Oscar Isaac) being commanded to take over the spice mining operation on the planet Arrakis from the incumbents, House Harkonnen, by an emperor we never see. I appreciated how well the film portrayed both the nature of spice and the politics behind the emperor's decision to change which royal family ran the mining operation.
Looking at the film, you can see how Herbert modelled this world in a galaxy far, far away (perhaps...or is this some future where humans have colonised other worlds?) on human historical eras. Even the word "spice" would conjure history lessons some of us might have taken (if I studied the spice trade in history lessons, well, I've already forgotten about it). In any case, in this film, spice is a substance which has differing value/s to the 'indigenous' Fremen and the colonising royal rulers from other planets who exploit it. You don't see the results of this lucrative trade beyond the world of Arrakis, really. Hopefully the next instalment will reveal that. In any case, spice being so lucrative has left House Harkonnen enraged that they no longer control the trade and that will create problems for House Atreides. There will be blood spilt.
House Atreides comprises Duke Leto's concubine Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), who has a background in something akin to a religious cult, perhaps, and her son with the Duke, Paul (Timothée Chalamet), who is a young adult and the Duke's only child and heir. Paul has dreams of Arrakis and the 'natives' there, who are akin to Arabs in deserts here on Earth. The 'natives' have striking blue eyes, due to the influence of the substance spice in their environment. Paul has never been to Arrakis though. A hero's quest is in play here, which is nicely undercut by a remark of Lady Jessica's 'cult' superior. Maybe Paul can be likened to the Luke Skywalker character from the Star Wars films...Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) has a flicker of Darth Vader about him too (no plot spoilers there and I'd add that the scene where he is introduced is lifted from "Apocalypse now" where we first meet Colonel Kurtz, from memory). Despite this Star Wars analogy by me, "Dune" is a more sophisticated science fiction epic. Its analysis of the galaxy's politics as well as the nature of religion are more nourishing to the mind than George Lucas' Star Wars films or, at least, more grounded in realpolitik which is recognisably human in nature. Having brought up Star Wars, I'm now reminded of another parallel...the worms of Arrakis...they remind me of a scene in "The Empire strikes back" where Han Solo tries to avoid pursuers by going into an asteroid field. It wouldn't surprise me at all if George Lucas drew influence from Frank Herbert's novel. (Edit in: and then I remembered "the voice" element of this film, which again has an echo in Star Wars...and then I read The Age's review of this film - 02/12/2021 - which confirms the influence on George Lucas.)
All in all, this film kept me engaged for its entirety and I do remember laughing out loud for one part of it, probably the scene involving spitting. I did have concerns whether my bladder could last the distance but fortunately it did...I suspect that it could have lasted another 30 minutes, at least. There should be an IMDB badge for this, with a picture of a bladder saying: "That all you got?".
Random notes:
* The scene where the nephew of Baron Harkonnen, Glossu Rabban (played by Dave Bautista), is introduced seemed a bit overplayed, as in it was signalling in an obvious manner that he was metaphorically drunk on power.
* I don't know how much content was missed in the film compared to the book. On reflection, a large distance is covered between the start and where it ends, however, I never felt like there was too much missing and perhaps any shortening is justified for a film.
* Some of Paul's interactions with his family's warriors seemed out of place, a bit too 'dudebro', for my tastes, as if it was a Disney Star Wars film.
* Some aircraft reminded me of dragonflies.
* Every now and again I struggled to hear clearly what was being said.
For the scoring of this film, it was an easy 80%, which I considered turning into 85% (but still 8 out of 10 stars from me on this site) to 85+% (in order to nudge it to 9 out of 10 stars on this site). 90% was considered but maybe 87.5% is fair, considering it was an engaging experience from start to end and I want to see the sequel. Having seen a few Marvel films recently, I half expected to see a closing credits sequence where we see how the franchise will overlap with another Marvel character's franchise. It's a relief to not get that in this case!
N. B. Maybe for younger viewers, they could find watching this film "boring" but I suspect that if they do find it so, they may very well find it more rewarding rewatching it when they're older. I can't imagine that people would find this film boring and not something like George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The phantom menace". After the joy experienced seeing his first film (as a child) in this franchise ("Star wars", episode 4!), it was a poor way to start a new trilogy in this world.
The story concerns the royal family of Duke Leto of House Atreides (played by Oscar Isaac) being commanded to take over the spice mining operation on the planet Arrakis from the incumbents, House Harkonnen, by an emperor we never see. I appreciated how well the film portrayed both the nature of spice and the politics behind the emperor's decision to change which royal family ran the mining operation.
Looking at the film, you can see how Herbert modelled this world in a galaxy far, far away (perhaps...or is this some future where humans have colonised other worlds?) on human historical eras. Even the word "spice" would conjure history lessons some of us might have taken (if I studied the spice trade in history lessons, well, I've already forgotten about it). In any case, in this film, spice is a substance which has differing value/s to the 'indigenous' Fremen and the colonising royal rulers from other planets who exploit it. You don't see the results of this lucrative trade beyond the world of Arrakis, really. Hopefully the next instalment will reveal that. In any case, spice being so lucrative has left House Harkonnen enraged that they no longer control the trade and that will create problems for House Atreides. There will be blood spilt.
House Atreides comprises Duke Leto's concubine Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), who has a background in something akin to a religious cult, perhaps, and her son with the Duke, Paul (Timothée Chalamet), who is a young adult and the Duke's only child and heir. Paul has dreams of Arrakis and the 'natives' there, who are akin to Arabs in deserts here on Earth. The 'natives' have striking blue eyes, due to the influence of the substance spice in their environment. Paul has never been to Arrakis though. A hero's quest is in play here, which is nicely undercut by a remark of Lady Jessica's 'cult' superior. Maybe Paul can be likened to the Luke Skywalker character from the Star Wars films...Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) has a flicker of Darth Vader about him too (no plot spoilers there and I'd add that the scene where he is introduced is lifted from "Apocalypse now" where we first meet Colonel Kurtz, from memory). Despite this Star Wars analogy by me, "Dune" is a more sophisticated science fiction epic. Its analysis of the galaxy's politics as well as the nature of religion are more nourishing to the mind than George Lucas' Star Wars films or, at least, more grounded in realpolitik which is recognisably human in nature. Having brought up Star Wars, I'm now reminded of another parallel...the worms of Arrakis...they remind me of a scene in "The Empire strikes back" where Han Solo tries to avoid pursuers by going into an asteroid field. It wouldn't surprise me at all if George Lucas drew influence from Frank Herbert's novel. (Edit in: and then I remembered "the voice" element of this film, which again has an echo in Star Wars...and then I read The Age's review of this film - 02/12/2021 - which confirms the influence on George Lucas.)
All in all, this film kept me engaged for its entirety and I do remember laughing out loud for one part of it, probably the scene involving spitting. I did have concerns whether my bladder could last the distance but fortunately it did...I suspect that it could have lasted another 30 minutes, at least. There should be an IMDB badge for this, with a picture of a bladder saying: "That all you got?".
Random notes:
* The scene where the nephew of Baron Harkonnen, Glossu Rabban (played by Dave Bautista), is introduced seemed a bit overplayed, as in it was signalling in an obvious manner that he was metaphorically drunk on power.
* I don't know how much content was missed in the film compared to the book. On reflection, a large distance is covered between the start and where it ends, however, I never felt like there was too much missing and perhaps any shortening is justified for a film.
* Some of Paul's interactions with his family's warriors seemed out of place, a bit too 'dudebro', for my tastes, as if it was a Disney Star Wars film.
* Some aircraft reminded me of dragonflies.
* Every now and again I struggled to hear clearly what was being said.
For the scoring of this film, it was an easy 80%, which I considered turning into 85% (but still 8 out of 10 stars from me on this site) to 85+% (in order to nudge it to 9 out of 10 stars on this site). 90% was considered but maybe 87.5% is fair, considering it was an engaging experience from start to end and I want to see the sequel. Having seen a few Marvel films recently, I half expected to see a closing credits sequence where we see how the franchise will overlap with another Marvel character's franchise. It's a relief to not get that in this case!
N. B. Maybe for younger viewers, they could find watching this film "boring" but I suspect that if they do find it so, they may very well find it more rewarding rewatching it when they're older. I can't imagine that people would find this film boring and not something like George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The phantom menace". After the joy experienced seeing his first film (as a child) in this franchise ("Star wars", episode 4!), it was a poor way to start a new trilogy in this world.