Review: 'Dune' is big, bold and beautiful — and it's only the first half of a sprawling space epic
The first sign that Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” might have a shot at getting it right — at succeeding where avant-garde directors like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky failed — comes at the very beginning, when two words appear under the title: “Part One.”
This is an instant signal that Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Blade Runner 2049”) is going to take the time necessary to tell Frank Herbert’s sprawling science-fiction epic properly. No need to cram everything into one movie, as Lynch did in 1984.
And, even though the plot revolves around a mind-altering spice, Villeneuve soon shows he’s taking a down-to-earth approach to the visuals. Gone are the hallucinatory wonders of Lynch’s pre-“”Blue Velvet” imagination, or the fevered phantasmagoria of Jodorowsky’s doomed ‘70s project (as described in the documentary “Jodorowsky’s Dune”).
Villeneuve, who shares screenplay credit with Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth, starts with the basics: It’s the year 10,191, and two mighty clans are in conflict. On the bad guys’ side is House Harkonnen, led by the pustulant and corpulent Baron Harkonnen (Stellen Skarsgard), which has operated the spice harvesting on the desert planet Arrakis — collecting the drug that navigators need to “fold space.” The good guys are House Atreides, with Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) grooming his son, Paul (Timothee Chalamet), to one day succeed him, helped by the Duke’s loyal aides: Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa) and Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Harrison).
Someone else has been training Paul: His mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, the holy order that’s officially acting as peacemakers as House Atreides takes over Arrakis’ operations from House Harkonnen, under order of the emperor.
Then the Mother Superior (Charlotte Rampling) comes to test Paul’s abilities and his bravery. These skills will become important, when Duke Leto is betrayed, having walked into the trap set by the nasty Baron. Paul and Jessica must travel the deserts, careful not to attract the skyscraper-sized worms that roam the dunes outside the castle walls. so they can meet the Fremen, the desert-equipped natives. Paul has seen one Fremen, Chani (Zendaya), in his dreams.
Being the first of a planned two-part adaptation, those dreams are about all you see of Zendaya, and Javier Bardem’s appearance as the Fremen leader, Stilgar, is scant in this chapter. On the other hand, there are characters in this first installment who won’t be around for Part Two. (Not saying who.)
The script includes some of the palace intrigue, without letting the narrative get sucked into it, as happened with Lynch (and, for that matter, Herbert). One clever touch is how Villeneuve tacitly compares Arrakis to Afghanistan, where desert dwellers watch as foreign superpowers, some with better intentions than others, come looking to impose order on a secretive native population.
The look of Villeneuve’s Arrakis is breathtaking, combining the best of modern CGI images with the sweep of an epic like “Lawrence of Arabia.” Every detail, from the giant sandworms that explode from the sands to the desert “stillsuits” the Fremen wear to collect their sweat, is executed to movie perfection.
First and foremost, “Dune” is a coming-of-age story, with the young Paul growing into the role destiny has assigned — to lead his world into a giant cosmic battle to come. In that context, Chalamet is inspired casting. Chalamet’s Paul can be impetuous at times, like when he begs his pal Duncan to take him along on a reconnaissance flight. But this Paul also can be thoughtful, observant, and heroic. Some heroism won’t come until the second chapter, but there’s enough potential, in Paul and in this franchise, to suggest this “Dune” can go the distance.
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‘Dune’
★★★1/2
Opens Friday, October 22, in theaters everywhere and streaming on HBO Max. Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing images and suggestive material.