Denis Villeneuve's 2021 picture treats Frank Herbert's novel with the respect and the intelligence that previous adaptations had not achieved. As its title announces, it is the first half of a larger work, and its conclusion leaves the central narrative at a point of suspension. But as a piece of world-building, as a visual achievement, and as a demonstration of how science fiction literature of genuine complexity can be translated to the screen without sacrificing its intellectual substance, it stands among the decade's most remarkable films.
At a Glance
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Runtime: 155 minutes
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Zendaya
Release: 2021
Critics Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5/5 stars, a visually magnificent and tonally assured first chapter)
Audience Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars, the definitive screen adaptation of the source material)
Plot
Paul Atreides, the son of a noble family entrusted with the stewardship of the desert planet Arrakis, the sole source of the universe's most valuable substance, must navigate the political intrigue, the ecological complexity, and the prophetic destiny that converge on his arrival on the planet. The screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Villeneuve, and Eric Roth handles Herbert's densely plotted novel with a selectivity and a clarity that give the picture a narrative coherence that the source material's complexity might have prevented, and the decision to adapt only the first half of the novel gives it the space to develop its world and its characters with a depth that a single-film adaptation could not have achieved.
Characters
Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides is the central achievement, a protagonist of intelligence and vulnerability whose gradual awakening to his prophetic destiny is handled with enough ambivalence to give the character a moral complexity that the messianic narrative's more straightforward treatments would not have allowed. Rebecca Ferguson's Lady Jessica is the most dramatically layered supporting figure, a Bene Gesserit whose love for her son and her loyalty to her order are in constant tension, and her performance gives the character a strength and a vulnerability that make her the most fully realised human presence. Oscar Isaac's Duke Leto is drawn with particular authority, a leader of warmth and conviction whose fate gives the first half its sharpest emotional moment. The ensemble is the picture's strongest element after the visual design, a collection of performances of such consistent quality that even the more briefly sketched characters achieve a presence that the narrative's density might have prevented. Jason Momoa's Duncan Idaho is the most purely entertaining presence, a warrior of charisma and loyalty whose scenes with Chalamet give the picture its most direct human warmth.
Meaning / Themes
The central concerns, the relationship between ecological exploitation and political power, the dangers of messianic thinking, and the moral complexity of colonial resistance, are Herbert's key contributions to the science fiction genre and are handled with enough specificity to give them force without reducing them to simple allegory. The treatment of Paul's prophetic destiny as a potentially dangerous imposition rather than a straightforward heroic calling gives the messianic narrative a moral ambiguity that the genre's more conventional treatments of similar material have not always achieved.
Direction
Villeneuve pitches the picture at a register of epic solemnity, a tonal choice that gives the material a weight and a grandeur that suit Herbert's novel's ambitions without tipping into pomposity. Greig Fraser's cinematography gives the picture a visual identity of rare beauty and scale, moving between the lush interiors of Caladan and the vast, merciless landscapes of Arrakis with a compositional intelligence that gives each environment a specific visual character. Hans Zimmer's score is one of the decade's most distinctive, using unconventional instrumentation and vocal techniques to give the picture a sonic identity as alien and as beautiful as its visual world.
Villeneuve's direction is the most tonally consistent and visually ambitious of his career to this point, maintaining the epic register across a 155-minute runtime with a patience and a discipline that the material's complexity requires. His handling of the sandworm sequences is the film's standout directorial passage, giving the creatures a scale and a physical presence that make them among the most cinematically imposing elements in the science fiction genre's history.
Dune: Part One received outstanding reviews on its release and was a major commercial success. Critics praised Fraser's cinematography, Zimmer's score, and Villeneuve's direction, and it won six Academy Awards including Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Score. It is now regarded as the definitive screen adaptation of Herbert's novel and one of the decade's most carefully crafted works of science fiction filmmaking, and its success directly enabled the production of Part Two.
Final Verdict: A visually magnificent and tonally assured first chapter that treats its source material with an intelligence and a seriousness previous adaptations had not achieved. Chalamet's Paul anchors the picture with intelligence and vulnerability, Fraser's cinematography is one of the decade's great technical accomplishments, and Zimmer's score gives the film a sonic identity as distinctive and as beautiful as its visual world. As a first chapter it is necessarily incomplete, but as a piece of world-building and as a visual achievement it is without equal in the genre's recent history.