The Wylde Review: DUNE
Review by Alex Griffin
“Dreams make good stories,” says Jason Momoa’s galactic warrior Ducan Idaho,
“but everything important happens when we’re awake.”
Since its publication in 1965, Frank Herbert’s sprawling epic Dune has achieved near scared status as the definitive work of science fiction.
The task of adapting Dune for the big screen was originally accepted by surrealist Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky, whose skill in blending the mystic and macabre seemed an ideal driver for the project. Initial storyboards designed by French fantasy artist Moebius generated much excitement, but ultimately Jodorowsky’s Dune wasn’t to be. Spiralling massively over budget and into a 14-hour running time, no production company could be found to support Jodorowsky’ s vision and the project eventually passed to American filmmaker David Lynch.
Lynch’s madly disjointed 1984 realisation, which Jodorowsky would later refer to as “truly awful”, seemed to confirm the widely held belief that Dune was unfilmable. In the years that followed, fans were left wondering whether the near mythic promise of Jodorowsky’s vision could ever be realised by a new director with access to the full spectrum of visual affects of contemporary film making.
Step forward Dennis Villeneuve. A director who in recent times has been credited with reimagining the high concept, high budget sci fi epic; think Bladerunner 2049 and Arrival.
Villeneuve gives Dune time and space to breathe, slowly unwinding its vast and mysterious galactic landscapes with spectacular effect. Meticulous attention to detail, courtesy of visual effects supervisor Paul Lambert, perfectly capture the uncanny strangeness of Herbert’s world. Whether through the wingbeats of an insect-esque spacecraft or the haunting dream sequences of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides, the desert expanses of planet Arrakis become a captivating blend of eerie otherworldliness and exotic allure.
The opening shot informs us that this is ‘Part One’. Like many tales of science fiction and fantasy, it’s a story fuelled by varying dynastic struggles. Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac), head of the House of Atreides, travels to Arrakis at the behest of the emperor (a grotesque Stellan Skarsgård) to take oversight of the planet’s spice extraction operation. It’s a set up born of political outmanoeuvring, but this is obviously just the surface and it becomes evident that this first instalment will raise more questions than it answers. What is the agenda of the sinister cult-like Bene Gesserit order to which Paul’s mother Jessica (masterfully played by Rebecca Ferguson) belongs to? What is the true significance of Paul’s visions of mysterious Freemen girl Chani, and most importantly is Paul the prophetic ‘one’?
Despite its near three hour length, Dune feels very much like the opening sequence in a story that’s yet to unfold. As a standalone film, it is visually spectacular and succeeds on this basis alone. It also manages to strike a balance between abstract surrealism and coherent lucidness - something that eluded the original. Whether it will lose itself in its own disordered cosmic narrative or develop into one of the great sci fi sagas remains to be seen. Roll on Part Two.