Dune, part one 2021
Dune, part one (2021)
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Cinematography – Greig Fraser (Rogue One)
Score – Hans Zimmer
SPOILER ALERT, mostly for those who’ve never read the novel. If you’ve read the novel or saw the 1984 film… well, it’s more of the same only with better special effects and less time spent on minor characters.
Dune, part one (2021) is a sprawling adaptation of the 1965 Frank Herbert novel that revolves around religious beliefs, which parallel those of the Islam religion, especially certain terms that Herbert borrowed like Jihad and the name of the principal character, Muhai’dib (which sounds similar to Muhammad) – the name that Paul Atreides (Ah-tray-dees) takes when he becomes leader of the Fremen; and even the desert setting (aka, the Middle East). But I digress… let’s start at the beginning; not of the novel; or the 1984 film; but the current film project released today.
The opening is rather confusing, I would think, for most audiences to grasp. There is a brief narrative voice-over summary delivered by Chani – a Fremen woman who later plays an important role in her relationship to Paul. She explains something of the desert planet Arakis (Dune), of the Harkonnen (enemies of the Atreides), and the spice mélange, responsible for inter-dimensional space transport. Then we jump to the Atreides home world, which is a water world (sharp contrast). The Emperor’s messengers have arrived with a new assignment – take over the spice mining operations on Arakis; as the Emperor Shaddam has ordered the Baron Harkonnen out. Not wishing to start a war, Duke Leto Atreides obeys and prepares to transfer his family to Arakis, a desert world.
The focus of both the novel, and this film, quickly changes to the Duke’s son, Paul. Unlike the novel or the 1984 film that makes an attempt to air out background or minor characters, we don’t know why the Emperor’s Bene-Gesserit Mother has dropped in to visit. The Duke’s wife, Jessica, with her worried face telegraphs that she knows why and later we learn it is because she’s kept her son’s identity hidden until now. Paul is special and in spite of his military training, the boy has certain qualities that make him stand out, such as using a commanding voice and vivid dreams of Arakis.
All of the novel’s main characters are here but in extremely truncated roles, even smaller than they were in the previous 1984 film. The transfer to the planet and the ultimate demise of House Atreides happen in rapid fashion with the main emphasis falling on the story about Paul and little else. This also differs from the 1984 film in that, all of the “little intrigue scenes” with Gurney, Duncan, Thufir, Raban, Dr. Kynes, Mapes, the Emperor, the Baron, and other minor characters are basically reduced to a few lines of dialogue or nonexistent. It’s every character-building detail you know and love about the novel thrown away as unimportant. The Emperor’s daughter is only mentioned as that, no name, and in a throw-away line.
What you have is a pounding percussive score, massive-scale visuals, and a smattering of plot points from the novel, just enough (such as the names of planets) to place them in the familiar “story” territory important to Dune aficionados but perhaps confusing to those unfamiliar with the terms and the long list of characters who are only presented in superficial fashion. Villeneuve has Timothée Chalamet play Paul as a pale, confused, dark teenager troubled by continued angst; his long black curls often obscuring his scowling face. If he isn’t bothered by constant dreams or visions, he simply stands there with the same blank expression on his face in nearly every shot. Chalamet comes across more as a fashion icon than he does someone who fits into the story. With the camera focused so much on just his still expressionless face, it starts to come across as more a fault of the director than the actor for giving so little attention to Chalamet’s reactions.
Cinematographer Greig Fraser is as good as Lawrence of Arabia’s Freddie Young shooting widescreen drifting dunes, but then what’s so difficult about pointing the camera at sand… and there’s lots of it. Hans Zimmer’s score is more pounding militaristic percussion than it is soaring violins or memorable leitmotifs as Williams or Barry would do, fitting perhaps, considering all of the military emphasis. Where Villeneuve has more advantage in this 2021 version is in terms of visual effects. The scale, even in the novel, is a massive one… and when it comes to the final reveal of the worms, Villeneuve doesn’t disappoint – they’re big, as we expected them to be; gigantic creatures overwhelming in size… in both shots… that’s right… in nearly three hours, two shots.
Overall impression was high expectation followed by… wait, what about this person… and this person… and this event… but that was important! STOP! Sorry. We’re moving on without them. And finding none of the complexity or nuances on the screen. In my mind, Herbert’s novel is so complex and so steeped in terms of character depth, that it’s impossible to make a film of it that justifies the story as Herbert conveyed it in print. Dune needs to be told, every week, in about twenty or so one-hour episodes, where we could learn about all of the people in Paul’s life who help shape him to become the most powerful person in the universe. Dune, part one 2021 does not. It’s big. It’s grand. It’s also missing too many parts. Probably good if you’ve never read the novel. Otherwise, goodbye Duncan Idaho… we hardly knew ye.
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