Dune

Auteur-director Denis Villeneuve did what many deemed impossible and filmed the unfilmable book. Frank Herbert’s novel was so dense with lore, characters, and world-building that any adaptation would either need to be a massive miniseries or make alterations to the source material that would leave fans of the book rightfully upset. In 1984, a film adaptation was released, but the result was heavily compromised, suffered from studio interference, and was ultimately panned by critics and audiences alike. It has since grown into a cult film with fans applauding the ambition and scope of the film. Still, it condenses the massive tome into a two-hour feature, and a lot, especially in the second half, was heavily altered.

Attempts in the years since have also struggled to get across the sheer scope of Herbert’s vision. A 2000 miniseries for the Sci-Fi channel was released. This version, while more faithful to the novel, suffers from being unable to portray the sheer scale of the world it is representing, a victim of the limited budget such a project had available to it. Still, fans were grateful to have a faithful adaptation, and it led to a follow-up film, Children of Dune, which adapted the second and third books. This follow-up suffered the same limitations of the 2000 miniseries and ended any other efforts to adapt this franchise further for nearly two decades.

But Dune fans still had hope that their favorite science fiction series would eventually get the adaptation it deserved. One of those fans was Denis Villeneuve, a writer/director who viewed this property with great reverence and had wanted to bring it to life for many years. After the box-office flop Blade Runner 2049, he was in need of a rebound film, something that could be looked at as a sure-fire hit for the studios. Instead, a gamble was made on a license that had heretofore proven impossible to properly do. To make it even more of a gamble, Denis had plans to divide the book into two halves, releasing the first half and waiting to see if audiences turned up enough to justify making the second. It was a risk, but a cautious risk.

Dune released to theaters in the fall of 2021, right at a time when people were skipping the theater altogether thanks to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Warner Bros., who distributed the film, had a standing deal with HBO to release their new releases simultaneously in theaters and on their streaming service, a deal which dampened the box-office potential for this film. Even so, it turned a decent profit and excited audiences for this franchise. So much had changed in the cultural landscape since David Lynch’s adaptation in 1984 and a film so deep in lore and heady science fiction concepts and details found an audience where the original film faltered. In virtually every way, this film was a success. It has since had the second half released to even more fanfare and, as of this writing, a third film, adapting Dune Messiah, is just over the horizon. 

Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the son and sole heir to Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) and Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). House Atreides has been assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (unseen in this first film) to replace Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) as the fiefholder of Arrakis, a desert planet and sole source of “spice”, a valuable psychotropic substance that is also a key to interstellar travel. Without the spice, Spacing Guild Navigators would be unable to guide starships through space safely. This makes the spice invaluable and mining it of the utmost importance. But Arrakis is home to a nomadic people, the Fremen, who sabotage mining operations. There is also the danger of the giant sandworms which follow the vibrations in the sand and can swallow whole entire mining ships. Duke Leto is suspicious of the emperor’s motives for assigning House Atreides this duty but cannot give up such a valuable assignment. 

Emperor Shaddam indeed has ulterior motives. He has grown fearful of the power of House Atreides and has gifted them this assignment so that he, alongside House Harkonnen, can destroy them. Not long after Duke Leto takes over, an assassination attempt is made on the life of Paul. But Paul, trained in combat by Weapons Master Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), escapes the attack. His father, though, is soon killed, and a full-on assault leaves House Atreides decimated, Paul and his mother stranded in the desert, and House Harkonnen once again in charge of the spice mining.

This synopsis barely scratches the surface of what happens during the course of the two-and-a-half-hour runtime. This is a film that has a world to build, and it takes its time to do so. Things that David Lynch didn’t have the time to portray are given ample time to germinate here. But that’s not to say that all of it makes perfect sense to the layman. There are a lot of things that are difficult to piece together if you are going into this film without any foreknowledge of the original prose. Concepts such as the Bene Gesserit, the relationships between the houses, even the various guilds, are presented in a bit of shorthand, and we are expected to accept what little we get and move on. This film is not going to spoon-feed difficult concepts to us, but it also doesn’t ignore just how foreign these things will be. Denis gives us just enough detail to keep us afloat while also leaving plenty of stuff as strange and a bit confusing. It’s a balance that he has managed to do well here. 

Denis had confidence that he would get the greenlight to make both halves, but he didn’t shoot himself in the foot with the marketing of this film. Nowhere on the posters or in the trailers does it come out and tell you that this would be just the first half of the story. Those following the production of this film knew this information, but most moviegoers didn’t. Those who saw it in the theaters or on HBO got to see that the full title on screen was Dune - Part One, a clear indication that more was to come. 

This was to be the film that elevated Timothée Chalamet above his already established indie cred and prove that he could lead a big-budget film. He had already gained media attention for his daring performance in Call Me By Your Name and had important parts in the lauded Greta Gerwig film Little Women as well as the Wes Anderson picture The French Dispatch. Dune proved that he could be a star. It wouldn’t result in any Academy Award nominations, but he would start getting those shortly afterwards and, as of this writing, is a major contender for the win this year in Marty Supreme. 

What Denis Villeneuve has done with this property is impressive. He has taken a very dense book, worshipped by generations of fans who view this as virtually sacred material, and made it accessible to the average moviegoer. He has also made a film that doesn’t feel like it leaves you unsatisfied without the second half of the story. This is a feat even Peter Jackson didn’t quite accomplish at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. While there is no doubt that this story isn’t complete once those credits start to roll, you don’t feel cheated by the ending. By the time this film ends, we have had an experience unlike anything we have seen before in film. 

Dune, Parts One and Two are among the few films where both movies have been nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It was anticipated that Wicked would do the same this year, but the Academy soured on that franchise, and Wicked for Good was completely blanked at the Oscars. The Lord of the Rings and The Godfather have a trilogy of Best Picture nominations, too. With Dune, Part Three due out in December of this year, it may just pull off the same feat. For now, though, it ranks up there with the greatest film franchises of all time at the Oscars. 

Denis has seemingly done the impossible by making this franchise appeal to the masses without alienating the devoted fanbase. He has made a film that is challenging, filled with symbolism, and explores deep themes while remaining accessible to the average moviegoer. Paul is a complicated leading man who is not exactly a hero figure, something that becomes all the more apparent in the second film. Here we are seeing him develop into the character he will eventually become, and not all of that is good and right. It makes for a far more nuanced story than we got with Lynch, or even in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries. This is truly a science fiction masterpiece that most will enjoy without sacrificing what makes Dune different than any of the other science fiction franchises out there. It’s a masterpiece in writing married to first-rate production values, exactly what Dune fans have been clamoring for ever since that book hit shelves.

Academy Award nominations:

Best Picture: Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve, and Cale Boyter

Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts, and Denis Villeneuve

Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer (won)

Best Costume Design: Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan

Best Sound: Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill, and Ron Bartlett (won)

Best Film Editing: Joe Walker (won)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Donald Mowat, Love Larson, and Eva von Bahr

Best Cinematography: Greig Fraser (won)

Best Production Design: Zsuzsanna Sipos and Patrice Vermette (won)

Best Visual Effects: Paul Lambert, Tristan Myler, Brian Connor, and Gerd Nefzer

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Release Date: October 22, 2021

Running Time: 156 minutes

Rated PG-13

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen M. Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Mamoa, and Javier Bardem

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve