Welcome to this week’s edition of the Nerd Review!  Every week the Nerds give you their take on a different movie from the Nerd-o-sphere.  This week, Patrick and Dave the review Denis Villeneuve’s film adaptation Dune Part 1!

• The Flick:  Dune Part 1 (2021)
• What’s it About:  Young Paul Atreides is haunted with dreams of the future and a beautiful woman on a faraway planet. When his family is given dominion over a planet of abundant resources only to betrayed by the Emperor who gave the gift, Paul seeks to make his way in a new world filled with political betrayal and a mythical destiny.
• Metacritic Score: 74

The Nerds’ Take on Dune Part 1:

Patrick:  Every now and again someone will write an article listing works of literature that just can’t be translated to film. One such work that often makes the list is the Frank Herbert novel Dune. Dune is the first and most well known in a series of space-epic novels chronicling the rise of the Atreides family to power in the galaxy. This rise is connected to the power gained in controlling the resource Spice, necessary in Herbert’s universe for interstellar travel. Herbert weaves a tale rife with political intrigue and magic. Long before G.R.R. Martin wrote his Song of Ice and Fire, sci-fi fans had Herbert’s Dune novels. Many fans dreamed of the time when they would be able to see Herbert’s vision come to life on the big screen. A few directors even tried to, most notably David Lynch. But the complexities of the story made efforts damned near impossible to create a fully realized version of Herbert’s vision. Denis Villeneuve, however, has taken on this enormous task and apparently been given the leeway to tell Paul Atreides’ tale to its fullest with part one of his Dune adaptation.

Watching the trailers one would think Dune part 1 will be a space opera in the same vein as Star Wars,  But moviegoers will quickly learn that for part one, at least, we get more Game of Thrones.  And that is absolutely what this movie needed to be for a complete tale to be told. Villeneuve spends much of Part 1 building Herbert’s world for the audience. He sets up the universe itself, develops the universe’s political families, introduces the true power players known as the Bene Gesserit and finally explains the importance of the planet Arrakis and its primary resource: Spice.  Villeneuve doesn’t waste time with unnecessary battles, although there are some impressive combat scenes. No, this movie is all about the exposition, baby.

At the center of Dune is Paul Atreides, the son and heir of Duke Leto. Paul is haunted by dreams of the planet Arrakis and a native woman he sees in these dreams. Paul knows he must be on the planet, yet he does not know why. Most of the movie is Paul’s journey and eventual decision to choose his destiny.  Another focus of the film centers on the Atreides family recently being given the planet Arrakis by the unknown Emperor from the former rulers the Harkonnen family. Arrakis is mined by the Empire for the Spice.  Spice is needed for interstellar travel, however there are other properties to the Spice that impact living creatures in some way. We also learn that Paul may be a chosen leader of the universe according to the Bene Gesserit, a quasi-religious/magical/ coven of women who secretly pull the stings of the Empire. Caught in the middle of these maneuverings are the natives of Arrakis known as the Fremen, a people who have learned to survive on the harsh desert planet.

That paragraph above is the most minimal of summaries and it barely scratches the surface of the intrigue in this story. Bearing the weight of carrying the story is the character Paul, played by young Timothee Chalamet. Fortunately for Villeneuve, he did well with this casting. Chalamet is all at once a tormented youth, ambitious to prove himself to his father and desperate to forge his path in the universe.  I didn’t clock it, but Chalamet dominates the screen time and holds his own with all kinds of heavy hitting actors including the likes of Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin and Jason Mamoa.

With strong acting all around, Villeneuve enhances their work with breathtaking cinematography. This is a movie that begs to be seen on an IMAX screen.  Arrakis is both brilliant to behold, yet the audience can see and feel through the screen the harsh desert environment. The Harkonnen strongholds are black pits of depravity that actually gave me a visceral reaction of revulsion. It is masterful work.  While violence is few and far between, there are a couple of notable sequences of action that feel epic to witness on the big screen.  Finally there are the sand worms of Arrakis. They are known entities in the film and Villeneuve rightfully teases out their appearance to the point that leads to a very satisfying payoff. I loved the look of this movie.

Dune Part 1 is an excellent first installment of what I hope are multiple films. As I write this, I do know Part 2 has been greenlit, so minimally we are likely to see Paul’s journey reach its conclusion. Villeneuve has taken a complex novel and pared it down for a film audience without losing much of the novel’s rich story. I came into the film looking for a world to be built and my expectations were exceeded. Dune Part 1 will make you think, hold your attention, yet still manages to be epic in scope and provide some thrills.  I am strongly recommend this first installment, a foundation has been set for what I believe will be a very satisfying Part 2.

Patrick’s Rating:  4.54/5.0

Dave: Of all the movies we have reviewed for The Nerd Review, Dune might be the toughest one to place or analyze. It’s not that the movie is bad at all. It is more because the finished product felt too unfinished. Confused? Stay with me.

Dune is based on a massive piece of science-fiction written by Frank Herbert back in 1965. It has already seen the bright lights of Hollywood with a movie adaptation in 1984 that was met with mixed reviews. Part of the problem with the 1984 movie was that Dune was simply too much content to undertake in one movie. We fast forward to 2021 and Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation. Villeneuve was smart enough to announce, right from the jump, that his version would be a two-part movie. This ends up being both a blessing and a curse.

Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides. Paul is coming of age in many ways. He is the son of Leto Atreides and his concubine, Lady Jessica. Jessica is a descendant of the Bene Gesserit, an ancient sisterhood of what could perhaps be termed witches. Whatever they are, they possess psychic and magical abilities of a sort. House Atreides has been given control of the planet Arrakis by the Emperor. They are displacing a vicious race of humanoids known as the Harkonnen. Arrakis is a desert wasteland. It makes Tatooine look like a desert oasis and, to make matters worse, it comes complete with massive sand worms that threaten any and all living creatures that venture anywhere outside of the outskirts of the primary city Arrakeen. But Arrakis has something priceless that makes it worth all the effort: spice. Now, in this instance, spice is not something one would use to make their food taste better. In Dune, spice is a substance that extends human vitality and makes interstellar space travel possible. It is therefore the most valuable resource in the universe meaning that he who controls Arrakis, in essence, controls all. The forced change in leadership does not sit well with the Harkonnen but, in reality, it is all a set up. The Emperor sees House Atreides as a threat and wants to use the Harkonnen to eliminate that threat.

Paul keeps having visions of a young woman who is part of a tribe of the indigenous population of Arrakis known as the Fremen. As the movie progresses, Paul’s powers and abilities slowly grow and just in time too as the takeover of Arrakis is swift and very violent. Leto perishes in the aftermath of the attack. Paul & Jessica barely escape and eventually meet up with a group of Fremen. Paul is challenged by one of the group members and has to prove himself by killing his opponent. He doesn’t want to do it but he has no choice. Part 1 ends with Paul, Jessica, and the group of Fremen heading into the desert presumably to regroup and stage a counterattack that will destroy the Harkonnen and restore control of the planet to the rightful people.

That is as quick and basic a summary as I can give you. To be honest though, you will have to likely watch Dune more than once to grasp all that is going on. That is what I am presently doing. To say the movie is deep is like saying Mt. Everest is tall. There are layers upon layers upon layers of story and intrigue here. There is a lot of politics going on as well. It is all fine but it grinds the flow of the movie to a halt in many places. As Patrick told me after he saw the movie about a day before I did, Part 1 of Dune is all about world-building. There is not a ton of action to be found here. The few action scenes we get are very well done though. And, make no mistake, cinematically speaking, Dune is one of the most beautiful movies you can see. You might not think that sand can be done in such a way to be cinematically appealing. You would be very wrong.

The problem with the movie is that it crumbles under the weight of the knowledge that this is only Part 1. There is world building and then there is this. Dune pays excruciating attention to all the details and, too often, it sacrifices pacing for more story. There are several places in the movie where it is hard to hear exactly what is going on and, in the theater where we saw it, the volume discrepancy with the music as opposed to the dialogue was terrible. It is one of the reasons why I am actually rewatching it on HBO Max. That and to catch all the things I might have missed.

The cast, however, is tremendous. Timothee Chalamet does a great job as Paul and he is excellent at portraying Paul’s internal conflict at the man and ruler he must become, even though he is not really ready for it. From there, the cast sounds like the greatest Marvel/DC/ Star Wars cross-over of all-time. Oscar Isaac plays Leto Atreides. Josh Brolin plays Gurney Halleck, one of Paul’s trainers and a bit of a weapons master. Dave Bautista plays the lead member of the Harkonnen. Jason Mamoa plays Duncan Idaho, one of Paul’s most trusted mentors and friends. Zendaya plays the Fremen woman of Paul’s dreams. The rest of the cast is top-notch as well and the performances of everyone, across the board, are quite likely the strongest part of the movie.

In the end though, the movie stops just as it is picking up steam. You can’t really call it a cliff-hanger. As I left the theater, I was not sure what I had just watched. I was still rather confused by everything, as were others who were with me. We knew we were watching something epic in scope that had clearly been cut off at, perhaps, the worst time. I suspect that once Part 2 comes out in 2023, a lot of everything will make more sense and I suspect Part 2 will make it so that Part 1 will be viewed entirely differently. To me, it might be a lot like Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2. Part 1 was very slow and deliberate. It slowed things down greatly only to unleash the fever pitch of non-stop action and drama that was Part 2. Once Part 2 was released, I looked at Part 1 differently, I suspect Dune will be the same way. My suggestion would be to watch the movie more than once, as I am. Watch it on the big screen for the cinematic effect as it is definitely a movie that needs to be seen on the big screen. Then re-watch it on HBO Max to dig more deeply into the story, characters, and subtle nuances, of which there are plenty. Standing alone, Dune is a good movie, but definitely not great. It will just leave you wanting more and even when the credits roll some two and a half hours after the movie starts, you will feel like it ended too soon.  It is absolutely worth your time though and you will certainly want to watch it before Part 2 comes out. But, if you are like me, you might not feel Dune Part 1 quite as much as you hoped you would.

Dave’s Rating:  3.25/5.0

Overall Nerds’ Rating for Dune Part 1 (2021): 3.89/5.0