83% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 314 reviews)
Runtime: 155 minutes
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: An amazing cast
From: Warner Bros.
Perhaps Part 2 will have someone milking a cat...
Early in 2019, I finally saw and reviewed the David Lynch version of this property... discussed was both the theatrical version and a 3 hour fan edit I found elsewhere-which wasn't exactly the 3 hour fan edit that's on YouTube as of this moment. The 1984 movie was fine to me-I've never read any of the Frank Herbert novels-as it was not as impenetrable as I had always heard it was. Virginia Madsen floating in space delivering a hell of an info dump in the opening did help there. Via Twitter you can actually see the glossary of terms that some places handed out to people before they saw the film. Maybe it's just me but it was not so incomprehensible that such tools were needed.
Yet it was heinous that Lynch did not get final cut and this was not what he want released. As director Denis V has not always been a hit with me (Prisoners was a ludicrous piece of work, while I liked more than loved Blade Runner 2049 while Blade Runner is something I love) so it's not a guarantee this would knock me off my feet despite an amazing main cast-Lynch's movie also had a quality lineup of talent, after all-and trailers that looked promising but we've been mislead by trailers many times in the past.
The general story isn't the most revolutionary: an emperor sets up a royal family to fail as they now mine an important substance called Spice on a desert planet only to be thwarted by someone named Paul who happens to be The Chosen One... yet the details and the unique universe help make it breathtaking. It is understandable for someone to take the HBO Max option if they are still cautious about their health or their finances are tight; heck, you could be like me or at least one of my mutuals and have a bad crowd experience. I had to move seats to a not as appealing row because there were two Troglodytes right by me who wouldn't shut their cakeholes... and yes I stared them down as I left even though their BB-sized brains likely couldn't process WHY I reacted this way. That said, if you can see this on a PLF screen like IMAX or Dolby Cinema (I was the latter) it greatly enhances the experience. The movie just looks majestic in scope, an epic where there is no shortage of gorgeous settings and shots filled w/ grandeur. The unique score from Hans Zimmer isn't quite like what Toto and Brian Eno did back in the 80's-however, both fit what was on screen and unless my ears were playing tricks on me, the new score did at least once pay tribute to the original film.
Also critical in making this such a good time for myself was that for the most part, the illustrious cast full of famous faces delivered-along with expert direction from Denis V. The movie takes its time to slowly unfurl its story and at least for me the plot never became boring-the exposition dumps were also handled in a logical manner. Timothee Chalamet thankfully was able to deliver as Paul, but so did Rebecca Ferguson as his mom (they were the two most important roles) and I finally understand why everyone loves Jason Momoa. When there are action scenes, they are pretty badass. It's just a shame that this and Part 2 weren't filmed concurrently; theoretically, the sequel isn't even confirmed as of now although it is doing better than expected box office wise-and most importantly the general public in general seem to dig it-so there should be one... in a few years. The ending here wasn't a cliffhanger yet of course it's sort of cinematic blue balls that the rest of the story won't be viewed for so long, then you have to hope that Part 2 was done with the same amount of skill as Part 1.
All that said, for me there have been some 2021 theatrical disappointments—so it was a giant relief to view something that people love and I agree that it is great.
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