A Remake 37 Years in the Making: 'Dune' Review
Photo of sand dunes by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
Some would say taking on the sequel to a beloved science fiction film such as Blade Runner was risky enough. So, what are we supposed to make of Canadian director Denis Villeneuve choosing Frank Herbert’s sprawling magnum opus epic Dune as his next project? Thirty-seven years after David Lynch’s polarising take on Herbert’s universe, Villeneuve’s vision of the Machiavellian intergalactic intrigues of humanity in the far future is vividly mesmerising.
In the far future, humanity has dispersed among the stars under the dominion of the ‘Imperium’ and its unseen emperor. The financial lubricant of this society is ‘spice’, which can only be found on the harsh desert world of Arrakis, which for eighty years has been controlled by the ruthless house of Harkonnen. However, trouble begins to brew when the emperor “awards” the governorship of the planet to the powerful House of Atreides, led by the Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac), enraging the Harkonnen Baron (Stellan Skarsgård). The duke immediately knows this is a Game of Thrones-esque plot by his enemies to undermine his family’s position, though he along with his son Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and concubine Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) make the move to Arrakis.
Meanwhile, Paul is plagued by dreams of a woman (Zendaya), one of the natives of Arrakis called the Fremen. These dreams come to the attention of his mother, an adherent of a Jedi-like cult called the Bene Gesserit, led by a supremely creepy Reverend Mother (Charlotte Rampling). Paul is apparently destined to become a messianic figure to the Fremen, a destiny he struggles to accept.
This sense of dread (masterfully crafted by Villeneuve once again) marinates the first half of the film, the anxiety heightened by Hans Zimmer’s typically evocative musical score, at times awe inspiring but more often unsettling. The lush green lands of the Atreides home world of Calladan are replaced by the sun blasted dunes of Arrakis and it becomes quickly apparent that this is a brutal, hellish appointment. The gargantuan scale of the ships and buildings the family inhabits reinforces the point that they are mere pawns in a larger game.
Villeneuve constructs a dark, brooding world where the giant-worm ridden expanse of sand starkly contrasts with the claustrophobic confines of the Artreides’ compound - this is no colonial paradise, it’s a prison. And when the hammer inevitably falls, it falls hard. The Harkonnen attack is brutal, (evocative of real life “shock and awe” warfare) with Zimmer’s score at its most unsettling, reflecting the fear and confusion of the Atreides household as they flee for their lives amid a bitter betrayal.
The film does begin to lag towards the end of its two and a half hour running time and there is a sense that the makers weren’t quite sure where to finish what is supposed to be the first of two movies, the latter of which is still to be green-lit. If for whatever reason there is no Part Two (this explicitly being called Part One in the opening credits), Villeneuve’s Dune will have been a very long, well shot prologue with no proper ending.
However, it’s hard to imagine such a fate will befall Villeneuve given the mesmerising, unsettling world he has built. For however reluctant the Atreides were to go to Arrakis, audiences will surely be keen to return, and see if Paul will fulfil his destiny.
Overall Rating: ★★★★☆