Director Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE covers about a third of Frank Herbert’s classic Science Fiction novel. DUNE was scheduled to be released about this time last year, but the Pandemic postponed the date until now. DUNE is available in IMAX format, regular 2-D at your local movie theater, and on HBO Max.
Villeneuve, who directed two other SF movies–Arrival and Blade Runner 2049–spent $165 million on this sprawling tale of a desert planet which is the only source of spice. Spice becomes the most valuable commodity in the Galaxy because it allows interstellar travel.
My favorite character in this movie is Lady Jessica, played by Rebecca Ferguson, who is a powerful member of the Bene Gesseritt sisterhood. Much of DUNE–both the novel and the movie–concerns politics on a galactic scale. The Bene Gesseritt, who operate behind the scene of Power, play the Long Game for control. Their designs extend for centuries.
The cast features Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.
When I saw DUNE at my local AMC Theater, the showing I attended was sold out. I, and a dozen other viewers, wore masks. When the movie ended, there were a lot of groans as the realization that the bulk of the story of Frank Herbert’s DUNE is yet to be told…and only if this movie makes a lot of money. Are you a fan of DUNE? GRADE: Incomplete
Liked the book. Disliked the previous film and the mini series. Going to see this Monday. From what I just read there will be a Dune 2 whether this does a lot of box office or not. The box office looks pretty healthy. It has done 129 million so far.
Steve, I was surprised DUNE had a sell-out audience when I saw it at my local AMC Theater. The reviews I’ve read and heard have all been positive. Hope you enjoy it!
I have a Emagine theater one block from my apartment. I tend to go to matinees which are seldom crowded. I saw the new Bond movie there the Friday it opened and there were only about 12 people there.
Steve, Diane and I prefer attending matinees, too. I saw DUNE at a 6:00 P.N. showing…didn’t get out until almost 9:00 P.M.! Twenty minutes of previews!
It’s rare to see a film that respects its source material. If and when DUNE 2 is made. may it be as well-crafted as this one. I’m cautiously optimistic,
Jerry, the scenes of the deserts of Arrakis jump off the screen! I’m impressed with the cinematography! But, there’s still a lot of story to cover in the (maybe) Part Two.
Never read it. Tried once or twice but couldn’t get interested at the time. Also, not a fan of Timothee Chalamet.
Jeff, DUNE and its sequels are dense, complicated novels. I know many people who have tried reading them and have given up. But, I heard on NPR yesterday that DUNE is the best selling Science Fiction novel of all time!
Hard to beat FRANKENSTEIN or THE TIME MACHINE thus. Makes for good blurbing, though. (Maybe even LOOKING BACKWARD or 1984.)
As a big fan of the book, although it’s been 50 years since I read it, and also a big fan of Villeneuve’s previous movies that I’ve seen, I was incredibly optimistic about this. I watched it on HBO/MAX last night and thought it was just awful–slow, plodding, and badly underlit. Admittedly, watching it on a tv screen is not ideal, and I’ve heard that Villeneuve was furious when he learned that HBO MAX was going to show it this way. I actually preferred the much maligned David Lynch version.
Michael, I missed the quirkiness of David Lynch’s version when I watched Villeneuve’s DUNE. I thought about watching DUNE on HBO Max, but opted to see it on the Big Screen. Most of the really important parts of DUNE will be in the projected Part Two. Part One spent a lot of time setting up the story and the setting.
George, I can’t believe you’ve been this cautious for this long, and yet you went to a SOLD OUT screening where people weren’t wearing masks!
Jeff, I was wearing my mask. And, my AMC has installed a new air filter system that is supposed to eliminate Covid-19 from the circulating air in the theater. But, I’ll feel safer when I get my Moderna Booster shot.
We’re going to the theater for the first time tomorrow at 1 to see TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. But everyone has to show proof of vaccination and keep their masks on.
Jeff, I wish AMC and REGAL had the same Covid-19 rules as Broadway. I’m sure you’ll enjoy TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.
I read the book at age 15 and remember thinking at the time, “This is a good book for a 15 year old.” There’s a vaguely patronizing, YA-like tone to Herbert’s writing that I outgrew before I was even out of high school and although I bought the mass market paperback box set I couldn’t bring myself to finish it.
I’m not much of a Ridley Scott fan but I do think his almost-filmed version might have been the best we could have ever gotten. I found the Lynch version hugely disappointing-it was neither Lynch nor Herbert and way too much De Laurentiis. The miniseries had numerous problems but I confess it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. Villeneuve strikes me as an immensely overrated filmmaker, pretentious, visually bland and surprisingly unimaginative. He’s also a lousy storyteller, what he did to “Bladerunner” was tragic.
You seem a bit guarded in your review although clearly you found some things to like about it. Personally, breaking the story into two parts strikes me as a bad idea. Good directors and writers should be able to cut the fat from the heftiest novel and still get to the heart of a story. Whenever these things get broken up into multiple films the seams always show and the first film inevitably wallows in exposition. Too many directors underestimate audience’s abilities to simply roll with it. Sci-fi and fantasy’s ongoing obsession with “world building” at the expense of storytelling has also really left me cold to both genres.
Nonetheless, I’m happy for you that you are getting out and seeing movies. I won’t be dropping my guard until I get my booster shots and the CDC says it’s safe to sit in a theater without a mask.
If you have any Halloween movies/books lined up for next week please share them.
Byron, I think you’ll enjoy next week’s posts pre-Halloween. Yes, I’m a bit guarded about DUNE because I can’t really judge it until I see the Final Product, whether it’s one or two more movies. Yes, I was impressed by the scope of this version of DUNE: everything is HUGE! The desert scenes captivated me. But, this 2 hour and 35 minute movie is Just The Beginning.
As with some others, I’ve never gotten very far with DUNE the novel…too declamatory, too much ponderousness, and Algis Budrys’s critique–paraphrase, it’s hard to believe that one can get so wrapped up with the roar of history shifting around one that one can’t hear the shriek of an infant being murdered–seemed on target. Not quite sub-par Heinlein nor Ayn Rand, but in their ballpark.
Though as some of the other commenters remind us, DUNE was originally in two parts, as two different ANALOG serials.
Todd, DUNE’s success over the decades draws on its commentary of politics and capitalism. I agree DUNE is ponderous, yet it continues to attract new readers.
I’m shocked you were so reckless as to go to a theater with non-masked people!
I don’t think anyone seriously expected DUNE movie to be like the novel. Directors don’t make books, they make their version of them. I loved Dune when I read it. After reading the second novel, I realized the first was all I needed.
Rick, Western New York’s infection rate is low. I was wearing a mask. The AMC Theater installed an air-filtering system that captures Covid-19. I consider seeing DUNE a calculated risk.
I haven’t read DUNE since it was first published, but I loved it then. I bought the January 1965 issue of ANALOG, which had the first of five parts of the second Dune serial, “The Prophet of Dune.” I had missed the first serial, “Dune World.” When the book came out, with both stories, I planned to read just the first part, but couldn’t resist rereading “Prophet” as well. And that was it for me. I never even attempted any of the sequels.
Yep, same here, except I read the first serial, also in Analog, then the novel when it was published.
Jeff, Frank Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert, teamed up with Kevin J. Anderson to write a dozen more DUNE books. I have them, but I haven’t read them.
Don’t. They are awful. Dune and it’s immediate sequel Dune Messiah are the only ones you need to read. The law of diminishing returnes is very much in effect here.
Steve, thanks for the heads up on the DUNE series by Herbert’s son and Anderson. Good to know!
I also fondly remember finding Astounding and then Analog in a bookstore on my way to university in the early 60s and of course I read al of it.
My wife’s son, his wife and their 11 years old daughter will go to a cinema in Budapest this week to watch the film – let’s wait for their impression.
my wife read the Dune novels many years ago in a Hun garian translation – much of the great US SF was available there.
There must have been real fans who did the translation and the communist rulers saw no problem if the books had no political connections.
I already told my wife to join her young ones for this – my knowledge of Hungarian isn’t good enough for this so I’ll have to wait for a chance to see the original.
PS:
I totally agree that films like this have to be watched on the big screen!
Wolf, the whole shooting schedule for DUNE revolved around the effects that would grab audiences in IMAX format.
Just found this:
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/dune-denis-villeneuve-blasts-warner-bros-1234851270/
Villeneuve is very angry at Warner for showing Dune streaming at the same time that it came to the cinemas
A German magazine reports that the Dune sequel will be shown in October 2023
Wolf, Scarlet Johansson sued Disney for Streaming BLACK WIDOW on Disney+. She forced Disney into giving her a settlement rumored to be about $50 million.