Denis Villeneuve is a director that I've adamantly followed since the beginning of his career in Quebec. It took a while for him to finally hit it big. In 2010 he released what is still his best movie, “Incendies”.
On a personal note, I lived through the Montreal film scene when Villeneuve, Jean-Marc Vallee, and an 18-year-old Xavier Dolan, among others, revolutionized French-Canadian cinema, and in the process gave themselves a shot at the Hollywood studio system. It was a very exciting time, but it was always Villeneuve that I kept a close eye on. The fact that he has become such a hot commodity is not surprising. Hollywood and audiences alike have clearly been impressed by the man. Hell, he was even given the outrageously important task of directing the sequel to Blade Runner in 2017, and then offered a $165 million budget to shoot “Dune.”
“Dune” is certainly an ambitious endeavor for him. He’s been dreaming about making a film sourced from Frank Herbert’s novel since his teenage years. Now that Villeneuve has become one of the most popular filmmakers within the studio system, that dream can be realized. Herbert’s novel has always been deemed “unfilmable,” especially since David Lynch struck out with his 1984 adaptation. Of course, Lynch never got his full vision out, at least without major studio interference, but Villeneuve seems to have been given carte blanche here to, at the very least, to make Part One exactly the way he wanted it to be shown. No alterations. No cuts. Pure cinema.
That’s what it’s aiming for. Whether it does that successfully is up to the viewer. I’m very mixed on “Dune.” I’m trying to be polite here because I know Denis and he’s one of the most talented filmmakers out there, but I tried watching his sci-fi epic — twice already — and I have come to the conclusion that it just isn’t my cup of tea. It left me cold, distanced, and entirely unsatisfied.
Don’t get me wrong, the visuals here can feel transcendent; the sandworm sequence is an astonishing display of CGI, the glow of the spaceships, the legions of army marching down with astute conviction thanks to production designer Patrice Vermette’s sweeping eye. Hans Zimmer’s score is a true original as well, with electronic tones, guitars, and boomy percussion.
Villeneuve tries to honor Herbert’s text the best way possible, so much so that the size of the whole thing feels epic in scope. And yet, even with an astonishing budget, it still fails to fully reveal Herbert’s vision. 155 minutes and hundreds of millions of dollars isn’t enough. There’s also the fact that “Dune,” the novel, has been imitated by so many sci-fi films over the years (Lucas used it as a blueprint for “Star Wars”) that its vision just doesn’t seem as fresh and original today.
I may have read the novel way back in high school, but I’m no “Dune” aficionado. The arcane details could have used some more elaborating. Villeneuve should have focused more on building up his characters, delving deeper into the story, the meaning of it all, rather than continuously showing off the grand scale of the whole thing. One can easily get lost watching this film unfold.
It also feels like half a movie, all set-up/no payoff, one conceived with the primary intention of world-building before, hopefully, going for the kill shot in the not-yet-greenlit sequel. All of the best moments of Herbert’s novel have yet to be tackled. [C+]
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.