Dune. They got it RIGHT!
Oct. 30th, 2021 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreA brief review, with very few spoilers, but you have been warned.
OK, first of all, this is a gorgeous movie. The cinematography is amazing, and you feel the power of each scene's setting. Arrakis comes across as suitably dangerous and mysterious. The palace is set of ziggurats in a maze-like city. Everything feels right and old, which is important to the tone of the film. Placed against this are Clarkesean levels of technology used by the great houses and the gigantic starships of the Guild. Things hang in the air in exactly the way that bricks don't. The effects for the personal shields are also very nice, understated, and amusingly color-coded to indicate blows that are blocked and allowed to pass.
The cast is perfection, and I was joking that it was an MCU reunion in many places. Jason Mamoa was perfection as Duncan Idaho, and one interesting choice was having Liet Kynes portrayed by Sharon Duncan Brewster. As Kynes has a significant place in what happens later, I'm curious to see how they handle this in Part II (Which we are getting, it has been confirmed.) But all the performances are great. Timothée Chalamet shows Paul's exceptional growth in a short time, Rebecca Ferguson is wonderfully wonderful and shows the weakness of the Lady Jessica, and really, not a bad performance to be found.
This is a Part I, and with a runtime of 155 minutes, we tell a lot of the story and still have a long way to go. The movie ends with Paul and Jessica being found by the Fremen and being accepted into the sitch after Paul's duel with Jamis. I fully expect that we will eventually be loading into the theater for a six-hour endurance showing of both halves.
I really like how Director Denis Villeneuve handled Paul's visions. One thing I noticed was an ongoing focus on Paul's hands, starting with the test of pain. We see Paul run his right hand through a tidal pool on Caladan, then later there's a close-up of his right hand sifting spice-rich sand through his fingers. Conversely, when he's having visions of the jihad he will one day lead, we see his left hand drenched in blood, and before the duel with Jamis, his left hand is pressed against a rock wall as he sees premonitions of his own death in the fight. I like this and hope it continues in the next film.
So, really, really good. 4.5 Sand Penguins of our 5.
Now a note from the Burning Man guy.
As the name implies, much of the action takes place on Arrakis, Dune, a desert world. Well, I know a few things about deserts and living in them. While the still suits look amazing, one thing was missing: Goggles. Look at any gallery of photos from Burning Man and almost everyone is carrying or wearing goggles. Blowing dust and sand can blind you, damage your eye permanently, and in a very arid environment, you lose moisture out of your eyes constantly. I get that actors want their faces seen, and eyes are very expressive, but having goggles worn most of the time would have made me a bit more satisfied.
Then there's the dustiness factor. Paul and Jessica should have been caked in the stuff after their trek across the desert. Ask any Burner, sand and dust get everywhere and it is impossible to get rid of. Yet their hair and faces looked clean, as did that of the Fremen. Mess them up a little, c'mon!
Aside from those two nits, I was extremely happy.
OK, first of all, this is a gorgeous movie. The cinematography is amazing, and you feel the power of each scene's setting. Arrakis comes across as suitably dangerous and mysterious. The palace is set of ziggurats in a maze-like city. Everything feels right and old, which is important to the tone of the film. Placed against this are Clarkesean levels of technology used by the great houses and the gigantic starships of the Guild. Things hang in the air in exactly the way that bricks don't. The effects for the personal shields are also very nice, understated, and amusingly color-coded to indicate blows that are blocked and allowed to pass.
The cast is perfection, and I was joking that it was an MCU reunion in many places. Jason Mamoa was perfection as Duncan Idaho, and one interesting choice was having Liet Kynes portrayed by Sharon Duncan Brewster. As Kynes has a significant place in what happens later, I'm curious to see how they handle this in Part II (Which we are getting, it has been confirmed.) But all the performances are great. Timothée Chalamet shows Paul's exceptional growth in a short time, Rebecca Ferguson is wonderfully wonderful and shows the weakness of the Lady Jessica, and really, not a bad performance to be found.
This is a Part I, and with a runtime of 155 minutes, we tell a lot of the story and still have a long way to go. The movie ends with Paul and Jessica being found by the Fremen and being accepted into the sitch after Paul's duel with Jamis. I fully expect that we will eventually be loading into the theater for a six-hour endurance showing of both halves.
I really like how Director Denis Villeneuve handled Paul's visions. One thing I noticed was an ongoing focus on Paul's hands, starting with the test of pain. We see Paul run his right hand through a tidal pool on Caladan, then later there's a close-up of his right hand sifting spice-rich sand through his fingers. Conversely, when he's having visions of the jihad he will one day lead, we see his left hand drenched in blood, and before the duel with Jamis, his left hand is pressed against a rock wall as he sees premonitions of his own death in the fight. I like this and hope it continues in the next film.
So, really, really good. 4.5 Sand Penguins of our 5.
Now a note from the Burning Man guy.
As the name implies, much of the action takes place on Arrakis, Dune, a desert world. Well, I know a few things about deserts and living in them. While the still suits look amazing, one thing was missing: Goggles. Look at any gallery of photos from Burning Man and almost everyone is carrying or wearing goggles. Blowing dust and sand can blind you, damage your eye permanently, and in a very arid environment, you lose moisture out of your eyes constantly. I get that actors want their faces seen, and eyes are very expressive, but having goggles worn most of the time would have made me a bit more satisfied.
Then there's the dustiness factor. Paul and Jessica should have been caked in the stuff after their trek across the desert. Ask any Burner, sand and dust get everywhere and it is impossible to get rid of. Yet their hair and faces looked clean, as did that of the Fremen. Mess them up a little, c'mon!
Aside from those two nits, I was extremely happy.
