It’s hard to remember the last time anyone in Hollywood ventured such a suicidal venture as Dune. And it is suicidal, no doubt about it.
For one thing, it’s not that the brand is recognisable. Yes, Frank Herbert’s novel has plenty of admirers, but they are incomparably fewer than needed to break even on a big picture. The casual audience (let’s extend that to cinema as well) has at best heard of David Lynch’s not-so-successful film (and there are a few older gamers who remember the strategy series based on it). Soil is so-so, you’ll agree.
Secondly, Dune is categorically unfit to be turned into a blockbuster. It is a large-scale science-fiction saga in a very unaccustomed near-Arabic aesthetic, with complex mythology, terminology (all sorts of shai huluds with quisaz haderachas), a convoluted plot and, at the same time, a measured, unhurried narrative. Basically, everything that today’s studio bosses are trying to avoid.
And, thirdly, the picture was entrusted to Denis Villeneuve, whose last film, the insanely talented “Blade Runner 2049”, collected unforgivably little, despite the famous brand and the stellar cast. And then there’s the pandemic, the postponements, the hybrid distribution… In short, if the film industry still obeys the established rules, “Dune” is doomed to a box-office failure.
One hundred and second century AD. Humanity has successfully conquered space and now exists as a galactic feudal state. The main resource in this outlandish world is the so-called spice, essential for interstellar travel. The only place to mine it is the desert planet of Arrakis. For years the hard-hearted Harkonnens ruled there, but suddenly the Emperor-Padishah appoints the noble Duke Leto of the House of Atreides as viceroy. Everyone understands that this is not a display of royal favour, but rather yet another political scheme to pit the most powerful aristocrats against each other. Gathering their strength, the Atreides sets off for the planet of sands, where great trials and great achievements await the young Paul, the duke’s son.
True, you won’t see the latter, and you have to be prepared for this. I’m sure not everyone has been following the news and not everyone knows that two and a half hours is only half of the story, so you’ll get a shameless cliffhanger at the end. It would have been fairer from the makers’ side to add a subtitle “Part 1” to the title, but it would only have aggravated the film’s rental prospects. However, what’s there is enough for your eyes, if you formulate your expectations correctly.
In no way should you go to a film like the new Star Wars or, as some reviewers have written, “The Lord of the Rings of our time”. “Dune is different. The picture is not trying to entertain you, it has no such task. The filmmakers’ aim is to bring Frank Herbert’s work to the screen, bring it to life and do full justice to its monumentality. Sure, there will be sword fights, and explosions, and giant worms – but only when the novel is supposed to, and not a scene before. Villeneuve is no Peter Jackson – he doesn’t lighten the tone of the original, he doesn’t dilute the narrative with hooky scenes in different genres, as was the case with the Tolkien trilogy. On the contrary, ‘Dune’ feels utterly solid, poised, without a single superfluous frame. It’s a cinematic illustration by the best artists on the planet.
The trailers didn’t lie – it really is so beautiful that it might be worth splurging on IMAX for once. Especially if you’ve been stifled by greed before. Villeneuve is obsessed with the world and tries to capture it in great detail as if he had teleported himself there with a camera at his side. Here, the general shots of gargantuan starships are paired with a macro shot of a desert mouse with a bead of sweat dripping down its ear. For all its fantastical, even surreal (you can’t get rid of Lynch’s influence that easily), the world of Dune seems remarkably plausible. This is perhaps the most “tactile” film since Fury Road: the sets, costumes and props are crafted and shot so that you can imagine what they’re like to the touch. It’s a rare film that can be so immersive.
The picture is completed by Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack, in which his beloved industrial rumble is intertwined with a piercing vocalisation. You don’t want to listen to it separately, but it fits perfectly as another element of the illustration. The same could be said of the cast. “Dune” attracted attention from early announcements with its impressive cast: Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac and Javier Bardem. Oh yeah, there’s also the trendy youngsters – festival favourite Timothy Chalamet and Spider-Man’s girlfriend Zendaya. If there’s one thing you can bet on in a promotional campaign, it’s the stars. However, the unprepared viewer may be in for some unpleasant surprises here, as we are in fact facing the most expensive fan-cast in history. That is, each character, regardless of his importance and the degree of his involvement in the plot, was selected with the best possible actor without regard to how popular he is. Josh Brolin runs in the background, the infernal and almost unrecognisable Stellan Skarsgard only appears for a couple of scenes, and Dave Batista and Zendaya have almost a cameo at all, simply because their characters have little to do at the beginning of the story. The first acts, by canon, are almost entirely about Paul Atreides and his mother Jessica.
That Schalame is bloody talented is no secret – how many at 22 could boast of an Oscar nomination? His Paul is a brooding, timid, hesitant young man who, however, has a sense of kindness, strength and courage. His portrayal, while seemingly simple, is not easy to perform from either an acting or a directing point of view. For Lynch, Paul came out as a naive fool with glowing eyes, despite the fact that he was played by the non-talented Kyle McLocklen. Here, on the other hand, the work is entirely different in depth and subtlety.
Dune’s main attraction, though, is unequivocally Rebecca Ferguson. You won’t need any more proof of this once you see the “pain box” scene spotted in the trailer. Lady Jessica is not just the ‘mother of the protagonist’, but a complex heroine who bears the stamp of her past, takes many of the blows of the present and builds the foundation for the future. It sounds pathetic, but that’s what Dune is all about.
This is a truly great, one might say majestic, visually impeccable, brilliantly acted canvas, whose creators are seriously counting on the viewer’s attention and feedback. Villeneuve has done his best to chew up Herbert’s mythology and, more importantly, ideas without descending into trivial exposition. And he succeeded, but you have to listen to every dialogue, see and understand everything that happens on screen – as practice shows, this is a pretty high census for visitors to multiplexes.
It’s hard to imagine an outcome in which Dune suddenly becomes a mainstream blockbuster. Unless in a parallel universe where Blade Runner 2049 didn’t fail like hell. Dune is too unlike a box office hit, too many factors against it. But even if the miracle doesn’t happen and the studio doesn’t agree to shell out another $200 million for such a venture, Denis Villeneuve’s film will be remembered by many as a sign that sometimes we can have a different kind of movie.