Dune

David Lynch's 1984 film of Dune is a fascinating failure. It's got great concepts crammed into two and a quarter hours. That doesn't bode well for cohesive storytelling, does it? But now, director Denis Villeneuve and his co-writers, Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, try their hand at adapting Frank Herbert's career-defining novel into cinematic form. 

Or, at least about half of it, considering it calls itself Dune: Part One.

In the way far-off future, the desert planet Arrakis, aka Dune, is the center of the universe. It's the only source of Spice, which lets people live longer, smarter and in the hands of the ominous Spacing Guild, allows them to navigate spaceships across the universe. The creepy Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard) cedes control of the Spice Mining Operation to his arch-enemy, the goodly Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac). It's a plot to lure the Duke to his death.

Meanwhile, Leto's son Paul (Timothee Chalamet) has prophetic dreams about Arrakis. These get the attention of the Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling) of the Bene Gesserit, the order which his mother, Jessica (Rebecca Fergusson) was part of. The Rev. Mother is worried that Paul might be the prophesized Kwisatz Haderach. Arrakis's native Fremen view Paul as their prophesized Messiah. Paul's not happy with the future knowledge of a violent war in his name. The Harkonnens' sneak attack doesn't help either. He'll have to seek help from the Fremen to ward off the desert, its humongous sandworms and Team Harkonnen.

It's only half the story of Lynch's film but it's a better film. Its massive worldbuilding is spread across the story as opposed to the first film's college lecture exposition. Concepts that were barely defined or not at all in that film are better defined here. The Maud'Dib, a desert mouse whose survival skills inspire Paul to chose his Fremen name later in the novel, is a great example. You'll get the gist of this universe pretty well. The half-way story might not feel like a complete one. But the climax is still relevant for Paul.

Every role is perfectly cast here. Chalamet as Paul is a strong Messianic deconstruction. He's not happy about the future violence in his name and wants to change it. Still, he recognizes he needs to help free the Fremen. His friendship with soldier Duncan Idaho (Jason Mamoa) is strongly defined, which makes the latter's demise somewhat sad. Somewhat because he went down fighting. Isaac as Leto is a good man, while Skarsgard is perfectly repulsive as the Baron, as is David Bautista as Harkonnen's nephew Rabban. Zendaya is fine as Paul's literal dream girl, Chani, while Sharon Duncan-Brewster is better as Dr. Kynes. Other highlights include Josh Brolin as Paul's mentor, Gurney Halleck, Javier Bardem as Fremen leader Stilgar and Chang Chen as Dr. Yueh.

Yes, I saw this on HBOMax, but on my largest TV. Its technicals were still amazing. The ludicrously massive spaceships, the dragonfly-esque Ornithopter and the sandworms are amazingly realistic CGI. Cinematographer Greig Fraser perfectly establishes the scale of this universe. Production Designer Patrice Vermette visualizes each world, from the Harkonnens' bleak Giedi Prime to the harshly serene Arrakis, splendidly. The aural side includes some great sound design and an eerie score from Hans Zimmer. I should make plans to see it in theatres eventually.

This is a movie I wanted to review for a long time. And I hope that the Part One in the title isn't tempting fate. Dune is a good start to this latest attempt at Herbert's universe. Its worldbuilding across 155 minutes is intriguing instead of soporophic. There's some welcome levity in this serious space story. It's quite an experience to compare it to past versions. You can have that experience too on HBOMax and theatres now.