Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Zendaya
Rated PG-13, 155 minutes
If “Blade Runner 2049” had been the last film Denis Villeneuve ever made, he already would have left his mark on sci-fi cinema. As it turns out, that movie (and “Arrival” before it) was something of a test run for “Dune,” Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic novel and a lifelong passion project for the Canadian director. Like its predecessors, “Dune” feels massive; billed as a movie best seen in a theater, “Dune” aims at every turn to overwhelm the senses.
By any measure, the movie succeeds at that goal. A busy story of politics, colonialism, environmentalism, prophecy and legacy, “Dune” is fitting source material for Villeneuve’s brand of maximalism. Sweeping, endless deserts where every crest cuts a pleasing curve in the sand; giant sandworms with teeth as long as limousines; elaborate costumes and headdresses that establish the distant future setting as effectively as any spaceship; an enormous and richly talented cast; “Dune” has it all and more, and for two and a half hours takes us through the farthest reaches of Villeneuve’s imagination.
For all the source novel’s extensive lore, Villeneuve makes the story of “Dune” remarkably easy to follow. At its center is Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me By Your Name”), the son of Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac, “The Card Counter”) and Lady Jessica Atreides (Rebecca Ferguson, “Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation”), and the heir to their domain. The Duke, at the Emperor’s behest, takes control of the planet Arrakis, where a precious substance called Spice is found in abundance, and so the family relocates to the desert planet in order to oversee the Spice collection. But other forces, both political and mystical—Paul has recurring visions of the Arrakis native Chani (Zendaya, “Malcolm and Marie”), whom he has yet to meet—are at work, challenging the Atreides’ claim to the planet and propelling Paul to a troubling fate.
In this way “Dune” is a coming-of-age story, in which the young and idealistic Paul comes to terms with political realities that force him into situations he’s sought to avoid. When the Duke first meets a leader of the Fremen, the Arrakis natives, and makes his case for peace between them, the Fremen leader rejects the idea, accusing the Empire of being interested only in draining resources from the planet. “That’s true,” Paul says quietly, but just loudly enough for his father to hear. Timothée Chalamet’s stoic performance aptly reflects Paul’s lack of desire to rule, which remains Paul’s attitude even when he nearly succumbs to the merciless wilds of Arrakis, even as House Atreides comes under attack. In a vision late in the movie, Paul sees armies fighting a war in his name, and despite what has befallen him and his family, the sight fills him with palpable despair.
Paired with a grim aesthetic, all obsidian and fog and desolate landscapes, the story invites reflection on current events, most pointedly with regard to the environment. To wit, when Lady Jessica tries to negotiate with a band of Fremen, their leader tells her that her greatest value to them is the water in her body. That it speaks so plainly to the crisis of the environment and the need for compassionate leadership makes “Dune” a timely parable for 2021; not just a sci-fi adventure produced with technical bravura, “Dune” is a statement whose power lies in its clarity of purpose.
It isn’t perfect, of course. As happened with “Blade Runner 2049,” Hans Zimmer’s score, full of his signature booming arrangements, merely bludgeons the viewer with gravitas. The film’s sound design is muddied elsewhere, too, making us strain to hear some of the most important lines of dialogue. And even if these are minor quibbles when weighed against the film’s myriad strengths, Villeneuve makes the undeniably curious choice to adapt only the first half of the book, with the second installment to come whenever a studio greenlights it. (“This is just the beginning,” Chani says in the movie’s final scene.) Such risks have failed in the past, even for big-name directors, but Villeneuve, at the top of his form, is betting he’ll succeed where others have failed. And there’s reason to think he’s right. Like Paul Atreides embracing his fate on Arrakis, “Dune” finds Denis Villeneuve embracing his filmmaking legacy with an unshakeable and admirable certainty. There is life in the desert yet.
Originally published in The Harvard Press on 11/5/21.