Danny D’s review published on Letterboxd:
"The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. A process that cannot be understood by stopping it. We must move with the flow of the process. We must join it. We must flow with it."
I still remember the first time I saw Dune in theaters. The film opened with an intense drum beat during the Legendary logo that quite literally shook me to my core. No other film I’ve seen in theaters made me feel the same way I did in that moment, and no home viewings brought the same feeling, no matter how hard I tried. I tried bass-boosting my headphones, cranking up the volume way too high, and using a soundbar with a subwoofer but nothing worked. Part of me wondered whether the drum beat was always so mediocre or if the theater experience was just that powerful, but I have to remember that the latter is true. Until I get myself an authentic home theater setup, nothing will be able to elevate a film as much as the theater can.
Taking a step back, I want to talk about the first teaser trailer for Dune. From the moment I first saw it, it has been my favorite trailer of all time. It got me hyped for a movie that was barely on my radar and encouraged me to immediately start reading the book (which I had been putting off for a while). The visuals, editing, and glorious cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Eclipse’ resulted in me watching the trailer probably close to a hundred times. None of the other Dune trailers (except the second trailer for Part Two) came close to igniting the same feelings I had for that very first teaser.
To prepare for Villeneuve’s Dune, I made sure to read the book and then watch the 1984 David Lynch adaptation. My opinion is that knowing the book made the Lynch version worse and this Villeneuve version better. I don’t have to struggle as hard with understanding the lore and characters because the book already taught me it. I’ve heard the opinion thrown around that this movie has too much exposition, but to me, it is significantly less than that of the book and Lynch movie. Thank goodness Villeneuve had the balls to cut Princess Irulan because without her, the exposition and story progression is a lot more natural and intimate. However, one of the difficulties of adapting a book written in third person to film is the loss of internal thoughts of characters, and I unfortunately don’t think this movie makes up for it. The true intelligence and power of characters like Lady Jessica, Duke Leto, and Baron Harkonnen aren’t fully realized, and that was a large part of what made the book so interesting to read.
Now for the film itself. To start, I completely understand the “it’s boring” complaints. The first half takes its time establishing the world, circumstances, and characters; however, for me personally, I think the lore is extremely interesting, and the visuals, score, and story are so great that they almost distract from how slow things are moving (not to mention this adaptation significantly cuts back on the things that make the book so difficult to get through). And my gosh, those visuals are absolutely breathtaking! This was the first time I watched a 4K disc, and the explosions during the Sardaukar invasion were intense and vibrant against the night sky. I know a lot of the sets in this movie were practical, but I honestly cannot tell which ones aren’t. Even the ornithopters and sand worms aren’t obviously CG. If you know me, though, I have to mention the Hans Zimmer score. There’s some stiff competition, but this might be my favorite film score of all time. It’s very obviously a Hans Zimmer sci-fi movie score yet feels entirely unique from anything else he’s done.
My overall love for this film is undoubtedly helped by my general love for sci-fi. Despite the book being the primary sci-fi model since its release, I watch this movie and am shocked by just how rich and unique the world and story still are compared to other films today. It raises important questions about religion, power, and revenge where much of the sci-fi genre instead focuses on themes of morality and existentialism or just plain fun. My guess as to why this is is because the sci-fi elements of Dune are rather detached from the story, allowing the story to remain outside of time and explore themes less strictly associated with the genre. The world could be stripped of all advanced technology and take place in the 9th Century, and it would remain largely the same. To me, Dune being science fiction is just a bonus on top of the strong narrative.
The moment I got out of that theater, I knew I had seen one of the greatest science fiction movies ever, and that it would undoubtedly become a classic. Without giving it too much thought, I put Dune in my top 5 films of all time where it remained until the sequel bumped it down a spot; not because my opinion of it changed. I can’t say enough about how much I adore this movie. Dune is simply an incredible work of art.
Featured in Lists:
