Dune 2021
Dune is a tough movie to make. First, it is pretty much hard science fiction, with tons of crazy concepts, worlds, creatures, and technology. Second it has some royal intrigue as different clans make deadly plays for power under an emperor. Then there is this crazy desert planet with a lot of things going on. The royal intrigue stuff is the weakest link, but it also drives the whole story. My biggest problem is the concept seems completely artificial: the emperor tells a rich family it has to give up its money-making planet to another family, but then immediately the rich family and the emperor conspire to overthrow the newly installed family? A lot of people are going to ask why that even needs to happen, but I suppose it is just a McGuffin to set everything in motion. Still, I‘m taking off a little just for that. The rest of the story is more interesting if you’re up for it, and it doesn’t hurt at all if you are already familiar with the story. I read the book in high school and watched the original movie, so I knew a lot of it. For a three-hour movie, things move pretty quickly even though maybe there isn’t a lot of action. It is interesting and the cast is very good. Oscar Isaac is great as the head of the pawn family. Timothee Chalamet is very good as his son, Paul, who is destined for greatness if he lives that long. Still, this is mostly setup for a second movie. There is still a lot that happens, but it does feel like when it is over that we have just started. In fact, one of the characters says just that at the end of the movie. Still, I enjoyed it, but partly because I am hoping for a very good second act which won’t arrive for two more years.
Written: 14 Nov 2021
Owned on: UHD, Blu-ray, Digital