Dune: Part One

Look, let's say you don't need to see most films today in the cinema. Their visuals aren't interesting or sophisticated enough, they lack something that would give you that pleasant tingle in the back of your neck, they don’t motivate you to see them on the big screen, or it's just a dull colouring book for teenagers (oops, anyone heard of Marvel?), so you can get a big TV at home, or a monitor if you're a really undemanding viewer. But Villeneuve's Dune? My God! That's in a whole different league, that's the kind of film big halls and big screens are built for. There hasn't been a visual epic like this since ...... well, maybe since Nolan's Interstellar, and as for capturing the sheer genius loci of the desert, its magical dunes and scorching sand, there hasn't been anything like it for 60 years, when – as Steven Spielberg declared "the miracle of cinema" – Lean's Lawrence of Arabia premiered. And everything else in Dune is a triumph of cinematic design, a non-tactile architecture of spectacular proportions, an interior design that illustrates the fantastic visual compositions. Add to that the incredibly good cast – I was most excited about Chalamet, which is exactly how I imagined Paul Atreides. Other reasons why this is a film for the cinema: Zimmer's powerful, droning score (a quality audio set is a must) and then the simple fact that Villeneuve likes to shoot in the dark, at night, and much of the film is dark, with Villeneuve playing with light and shadows and ominous gloom. At home on the computer you’ll see fuck all. So I'll conclude with a nice little friendly jab at you – if you are judging a visual epic like this based on the aforementioned fuck all, you are an idiot (no smiley face). (10/21/2021)

This was an EXPERIENCE. Once every few years you sit down in a movie theater, and thanks to the subject matter you somehow know what to expect. Yet after a few minutes, all your ideas start to fall apart because everything that happens on the screen inevitably keeps you enthralled for 155 minutes. Not a single part of the film is wasted, the synthesis of image and sound is at its peak, and the gigantic spaceships amaze as much as the intimate story of the young messiah makes you shiver. The people who believed in it at Warner Brothers, and slapped that insane budget on it, are my personal heroes of the capitalist gamble of the movie business. Any objective criticism is beyond me. Along with Interstellar, I place Dune on the pedestal of the best science fiction of the 21st century. (01/11/2022)

It’s not without flaws, but euphoria prevails nonetheless. It’s a soulful epic and a surprisingly moving story about overcoming fear of oneself and the unknown. The distant future could hardly be more realistic and strangely intimate. The figures came out well, and Villeneuve overcomes the hollow mannerisms of Blade Runner and serves up images with sweat and blood. Duncan Idaho has finally replaced Aragorn in my heart. At several moments the film evoked exactly the same intense feelings as the book. However, it stands on its own sturdy legs as a film. I'd watch the sequel immediately... (10/18/2021)

Spaceships galore, but bringing a little water from Norway to the planet in gratitude for spices…just no! As a non-reader of the book, I enjoyed the second viewing more, at least the first half of the half-film. The second, “desert” half, however, was more drawn out in its dreaminess taken to the point of would-be profundity. A key question: If there were no books and only this screenplay existed, would there have been any reason at all to film it, especially in such an expensive production? Besides cool giant worms, what would it bring to today’s world of cinematic sci-fi? Furthermore, if visual splendour without emotion and with phrases having no connection to the philosophical questions of real human life is considered to be art today, I want to go back to 2001-2003, when spectacular cinematic journeys into fantasy worlds based on books could make me cry and fall in love with their characters. I’m giving this a purely IMAX fourth star for the excellent cast, for which this project had been waiting perhaps as much as for the creative visionary Villeneuve, for the display of costumes and make-up par excellence (Skarsgård!) and for the film’s breathtaking audio-visual immensity, boosted by the “heavier” Zimmer. After I listened to it in the car for the first time, I was sure it wouldn’t be the last. It wasn't, and I'm looking forward to hearing the track “Leaving Caladan” on Zimmer’s upcoming concert tour! (10/20/2021)

Unprecedented in scale and richness, but unfortunately at least a step backward in everything else. I want to endlessly explore this brutally beautiful world with all its principles, but it is closer to me as a concept, maybe even as a metaphor. Definitely more than the story that takes place in it, no matter how much its characters experience emotions and twists. I want to get under the skin of characters other than Paul, and the most interesting ones unfortunately leave too quickly. 70% for the weakest of Denis Villeneuve's films, but the sequel might still be the event I was expecting the first time around. (11/12/2021)