Dune

Dune came to the film industry at the right time to support struggling movie theaters and generate interest in grand epic spectacles primarily designed for the big screen. For this category, the choice of the Canadian visionary as director is ideal, and it must be noted that Denis (not only) fulfilled expectations to a T. The film looks and does not function exactly as I anticipated. My relationship with the source material was shaped by my encounter with Lynch's Dune, which was very problematic even during filming and now, years later, looks painfully tacky and ridiculous. The motif of almost half-kilometer-long worms traversing the sand dunes and devouring giant mining machines is unbearable to me in any refined presentation, and above all, I generally do not have a liking for fantasy combined with caricature of the sci-fi genre. Spaceships and intricate machines combined with mysticism and magic, which infected and devalued a significant part of the sci-fi genre, irritate me, and I see the origin of this degeneration precisely in Dune. Unfortunately, I cannot praise Herbert for that. It is true that Dune is not Star Wars, at least not in the sense that the SW world is intended for a childlike and childish audience, whereas Dune aims to appeal primarily to more mature teenagers. But thanks to Villeneuve's top craftsmanship, it is possible to consider it the ideal family entertainment of the present. As I mentioned before, when a screenwriter presents me with a "voice" or "power," I turn the other way. I do not like the use of religious motifs such as the coming of the Savior. Additionally, Dune is clearly influenced by Islamic apocalypticism. My last complaint is that I do not like the cinematic world where elite super-fighters are attacked only to be subsequently massacred in personal combat by a hero who, mind you, is an ultra-super-cool fighter. So why the weak 4-star rating? Because I appreciate Villeneuve's ability to create monumental images and an equally monumental soundtrack, and I am a big fan of Villeneuve. Because I understand that world cinema needed Dune. Because going to the cinema this time was a social event for me in the form of having my daughter with me, whose enchantment with the film has somewhat transferred onto me. Overall impression: 70%, with the understanding that I will not be present for the sequel to Dune. It has nothing more to offer me, nor does it have anything to surprise me with. (07/11/2021)

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! (20/10/2021)

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. (11/01/2022)

The audiovisual experience of the year. A regular movie theater is too small. Any imperfection on the screen and the weak sound are painfully obvious. Putting this book onto the movie screen at this moment in time makes perfect sense and creates the necessary counterbalance to most of today’s movie production. Civilization as a relic that needs to be cleansed of the lives of unbelievers in a holy war made to thrill the fighters of ISIS and their supporters. And the indication that men aren’t so absolutely useless as we first thought is also very audacious. Underneath the traditional western-geared topics, we sense Herbert’s fascination with the Middle East. Villeneuve does his very best at depicting the world and its mechanisms. The movie is bristling with ideas, e.g. technical details, Harkonnen songs or the Scottish bagpipes. Comparison to Star Wars is relevant only in terms of scale, and in this respect ⊃∪∩⪽ is much more realistic. The acting is top-notch from all of them. Emotions bubble under the surface and aren’t needlessly displayed. The only trouble is that it’s terribly short, even though what takes place in the first part covers material that fills more than half of the original book. Zimmer is darkly thundering. (20/10/2021)

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. (12/11/2021)