Dune

UK Release Date: 21 October 2021

Certification: 12A

Director: Denis Villeneuve 

Cast: Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Mamoa, Stellan Skarsgård, Zendaya

Rating: 93%

My favourite movie of the year. 

Review:

What has often been described as the 'unfilmable' book, Dune is my favourite movie of 2021 so far. It's based on Frank Herbert's 1965 novel of the same name which was a huge success and soon become a long running saga of sci-fi novels - I haven't read the book so knew near to nothing going in but  I would very much like to (no hints for Christmas). A movie was released in 1984 to horrific reviews that saw it named as the worst movie of the year. However, this year highly esteemed, director, Denis Villeneuve accepted the challenge and I've became fully immersed in the world and the lore. Dune took a little while to get going but once it did I was hooked.  

The cast assembled for Dune is one of the most impressive ensembles put on screen. Timothée Chalemet is perfect in the main role of Paul Atreides - he's believable and is able to portray the inner conflict of Paul's identity between the House of Atreides and the Fremen. But saying that Rebecca Ferguson is phenomenal as Lady Jessica. She's such a complicated character who's true intentions are never really known because from watching the trailer I would've presumed she'd betray House of Atreides at some point and there are little undertones of this throughout the movie. Her performance was just so detailed with her emotions being displayed through both facial expressions and her body language. Definitely an early front runner for best supporting actress when Oscar season comes around. Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac and Jason Momoa all added something unique to the movie. I especially enjoyed Jason Momoa's character as his action scenes were very cool. 

However, Zendaya was so poorly marketed. She was marketed as if she was the co-star - which is a decent strategy with her popularity - but in reality it was Rebecca Ferguson. Zendaya did all the press, all the interviews and was the centre of attention. But many people were left disappointed upon release when she had a total of seven minutes of screen time. If it's any consolation she's reported to be the main character alongside Paul in the upcoming sequel. 

Hans Zimmer's score is incredible. He turned down frequent collaborator Christopher Nolan on Tenet to create the score for Dune. It's very unique and intense using many techniques to make it feel more authentic and realistic to the world of Dune. 'Armada' is my favourite piece as bagpipes come into play from out of nowhere and being Scottish it just had me so excited. 

This is the most beautiful movie I've ever seen. The first hour or so is pure world building and that makes for some breathtaking shots. Cinematographer, Greig Fraser, who was involved in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and will be involved in the upcoming The Batman shot a stunning movie. The CGI was perfect, the visuals were gorgeous and every scene was delicately made. 

My only real complaint about Dune is that I feel it's not a completed story. The movie does a fantastic job creating the world but it ends suddenly as it had too much to do in too little time setting up a sequel (which is coming in 2023). There are a few solutions to this problem in my opinion. A lot of scenes were left on the cutting room floor in a two and a half hour movie, so if they're going to leave scenes out then the movie could've been trimmed a little to allow a four hour movie to be made. Saying, that I did enjoy every single minute - both the world building and the action - and I will without doubt be heading straight to see the sequel on opening release when it comes out.