Warner Bros. has dropped the final trailer for Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Three," and with the film only weeks away, this is the last big look we're getting before opening day.
Quick refresher: the film seemingly adapts Frank Herbert's "Dune Messiah" and picks up years after ‘Part Two.’ Villeneuve recently told Empire he sees this one as "a sophisticated epilogue" to the first two films, and Chalamet called it "its own beast."
That said, and stating the obvious, this looks like an absolutely massive departure from the book. At times it plays like an original story built around a handful of ‘Messiah’ beats. This is a very different Chani from Herbert's, and the kids appear to have been born before the time jump, which could rewire the novel's climax. Villeneuve is taking real liberties with the source material.
I have no problem with that. Book purists will moan, so get ready for that. Hell, some already are online, especially over Paul apparently saying he can't see the future. In Herbert's version, the tragedy is that he sees all of it. We'll see how Villeneuve tackles that.
Herbert wrote ‘Messiah’ partly as a corrective for readers who finished "Dune" thinking Paul was the hero. He isn't. He's actually a monster, which explains why everybody in this trailer seems to want him dead.
‘Messiah,’ the novelC is not as cut-and-dried as the first book. Chalamet's Paul Atreides, now a powerful dictator, is not the least bit likable. The storytelling isn't blockbuster material; it's more solemn, with less action. It reveals itself not as a "hero's journey" but as something closer to a villain's origin story. Villeneuve has probably taken liberties in adapting it for these very reasons.
Meanwhile, and unlike the first two movies, ‘Dune 3’ was shot on film, and boy oh boy does it show. As gorgeous as the first two films were, there's something about 35mm that's second to none. Linus Sandgren, taking over from Greig Fraser, looks like he's knocked it out of the park. I'll take texture and grain over digital any day of the week. This is going to look stunning on an IMAX screen.
If Villeneuve sticks the landing, this could turn out to be one of the great modern trilogies. "Dune: Part Three" hits theaters December 18.
Last year, "One Battle After Another" dominated the Gothams and then won the Best Picture Oscar. This year, there's no clear frontrunner, with five films tied for the most nominations at four.