DUNE (2021)

DUNE (2021)

Tagline: Beyond fear, destiny awaits.

(Sci-Fi, Drama, Walking Around In The Desert) [PG-13]

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

In this one, we get the story of Paul Atreides who has “gifts” and a slight understanding that he is destined to go to a desert planet to free the people there from tyranny. He is aided by the fact that his father is already going there to join with the people of the planet to ultimately gain enough power for his “house” to overthrow the emperor. Once there, things are not as they seem and the emperor has turned his evil gaze upon destroying Paul and his father’s house’s entire existence. 

First off this thing is beautifully filmed. I mean this movie has some really cool concepts regarding ship design and the engineering introduced for the desert suits etc. I want to say that first and foremost because it’s clear to see that there was just a ton of effort poured into this thing. Some of the writing is also good and there are some great lines in here. The score is really well done and I really actually liked the cast. 

Acting-wise I know there were some complaints about Zendaya (best known for SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME) being such a huge part of this movie, but she isn’t the problem. Oscar Isaac (best known for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS) is outstanding as Duke Leto Atreides. Rebecca Ferguson is okay as Lady Jessica, but I have seen her in much better roles. Jason Momoa (best known for AQUAMAN) who I really like is a bright spot in this movie as far as the character he plays (Duncan Idaho), but his role feels out of place in this movie especially given that he delivers the only semblance of any humor at all. It would be kind of like if the earth had just 1 person with a personality. Timothée Chalamet plays Paul and I just felt like this was a rough outing for him. I didn’t see him in this role when the previews came out and after seeing it, my thoughts on that haven’t changed. 

Where this damn thing just goes off the freakin rails is the storyline. After seeing the first adaptation of DUNE in the 80’s I thought the story was so bad that I couldn’t even bring myself to review it. I pretty much have the same thing going on with this production, only I have to just get this out. DUNE was one of the first if not the first major book in the sci-fi world to introduce ideas of religion on top of trying to tell an epic sci-fi saga. STAR WARS was actually largely influenced by DUNE and you can see that in the dark and light sides of the force in that series. Where this one gets just all jacked out is in the theological drivel that just spews from the creepy-sounding voice patterns every time some religious element is brought up. It feels like both sides of this conflict are terrible. Even the people we are supposed to see as good in this movie basically have a fight to the death during one scene over some totally stupid pride issue. 

All of this makes the grandeur of the visuals fade into obscurity. I think the bottom line is you just can’t take a nonsensical story void of substance and make it better by making it longer. Most of this movie is people literally walking around in the desert with tubes up their noses, being chased by giant vacuum cleaners. I guess they are supposed to be worms, but whatever, it’s sawing wood-boring. I saw this in the biggest theater in AZ and almost fell asleep twice. The sleeper has not awakened, the sleeper is still sleeping and he or she is in a foreboding coma of senselessness. 

If you ever want to see faith or spirituality in sci-fi watch STAR WARS. This thing is some weird a-s trash that I can’t recommend to anyone. I wish I wasn’t saying that because after the previews I was pretty excited to revisit this world because they looked fantastic. Now I am hoping I can forget it.  

If just effort could be scored, this would be higher, but when you push the 3-hour mark on this kind of convoluted nightmare fuel, all I can muster is a 0 out of 7.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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