Dune

I’ve been excited for Dune for years. As soon as I heard it was happening, I was sold. Something advertised as “the next Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings”. That sounds fucking great to me, so I’m all in. The you tell me you’ve got Denis Villeneuve behind the camera, and I’m there opening night. Covid-19 has truly destroyed the world, but luckily it didn’t keep us from seeing Dune on the big screen, which is exactly how it needs to be viewed. Start to finish, this is Villeneuve’s Magnum Opus. It’s a sprawling story with truly unimaginable scale, that of which we’ve never truly seen on screens before. The establishing shots off planet harken to shots of Imperial Star Destroyers, or Deep Space 9. Our time spent on both Caladan and Arakis have this almost familiar feel to them, yet they’re so far removed from our earthly realities. Everything about this movie looks fantastic, it’s a feast for viewers. From production design of the sets, to the costume design, to the ships. Good god the ships, some of the best we’ve ever seen. So unique, so well done. Like I said, the costumes are fantastic. Everything felt intentional, like there was a great amount of care and dedication put into this. With a star studded cast, you might expect some people to phone it in in hopes that others pick up the slack, but that’s not the case. Everyone gives it their all, and they deliver. The standouts to me would be Timothee Chalamet and Jason Momoa. Timothee steps into the shoes of leading man on a scale we haven’t previously seen from him. It’s definitely his biggest role to date, but he doesn’t let that weigh him down. He owns his time on screen as Paul of House Atreides, and does it well. Jason Momoa has every opportunity to do his standard gruff, hyper masculine, warrior character. He doesn’t, and it’s all for the better. Duncan Idaho is a great character who is a positive influence to Paul, but is also a fantastic ambassador for House Atreides. There are great performances all around, with Josh Brolin (loved the little details of his character), Rebecca Ferguson, and Oscar Isaac rounding out the top of the cast. One thing to note is that the movie is long, and it feels that way. It’s told in two halves, a pre and a post of a certain event. However, each half has its own three arc structure within itself, it’s really well done. Finally, the score. Slow clap it out for Hans Zimmer because holy fuck, it’s fantastic. It’s so god damn good I’ll be listening to it again tomorrow at work, I’ll be buying it on vinyl, the whole 9 fucking yards. Combined with some truly jaw dropping sound design, I think they’ve got multiple Oscars heading their way. I love this movie, and I hope you all go out to see it. I need more, I need multiple sequels, and I need them now.