Dune

Frank Herbert’s Dune—an awesome and dense mythology of feudal intrigue in space, which meditates on religion, politics, environmentalism, and other topics—is rightfully considered one of the greatest science fiction novels. It’s also, admittedly, not the most accessible tome. From the opening pages, the prose is heavy on series lore and so full of in-universe jargon and strange names that nearly every edition ever printed has included a glossary to aid the reader (and even with that, I still read it with the Dune Wiki at the ready).

Even giving a concise synopsis is difficult, but I’ll take a stab at it: The setting is a far distant future where humans have colonized space and live in a feudal empire of rival houses vying for control of the cosmos. In this society, the most prized substance is “the spice,” a chemical which gives humans the power to navigate through space using their minds. “Spice” is only found on the desert planet Arrakis (aka “Dune,” though rarely referred to as such on film), long controlled by the cruel House Harkonnen, but coming under control of their rivals House Atreides as the story opens. The plot mainly follows the young Paul Atreides (played onscreen by Timothée Chalamet), who is plagued by visions of a future where he either dies or becomes a messiah to the Fremen, the desert-dwelling native people of Arrakis.

Director Denis Villeneuve’s film is a pretty good adaptation, for better and for worse. It certainly tries to compact the book’s lore into digestible exposition. But this amounts to little more than refresher cliff notes for the already familiar. Frankly, anyone who hasn’t read Herbert’s novel will likely be lost at sea. Those who have, however, will see as great a Dune movie as could probably be made.

It’s a beautiful film full of visual wonders. The desert landscapes are stunning in their starkness, and the look—the sets, the costumes, the starships—is truly otherworldly. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Blade Runner (Ridley Scott’s original or Villeneuve’s sequel), the picture knows how cool it looks and takes it slow at times to give the viewer a chance to just take in the incredible sights. When things are moving, the action is never less than exciting, and a few battle sequences are absolutely breathtaking.

Villeneuve’s style can be a little stiff for scenes of dialogue or emotion, but it absolutely fits the material in this case. Herbert’s characters know they’re important people at the center of major moments in their fictional history. This is certainly reflected in the cast, who give scenes heavy on dialogue and exposition urgency and momentum between the big moments.

As Paul, Chalamet practically jumps off the page. He looks appropriately young and green, and is note-perfect as someone who alternately knows he’s destined for something big, but is unsure and not yet ready to face it. His visions of the future and the story’s present coursing to intersect form the main narrative, and he anchors it splendidly.

This Dune is huge in scope, fairly long in runtime, and meticulous in its craft. And yet, it still isn’t big enough to contain Herbert’s tale. Even though the picture only covers the first half of the book (it’s subtitled “Part One” on film), details still get left out or eschewed to the background, characters reduced to near-cameos. Even though the cast is terrific, aside from Chalamet, most don’t get much more screentime than mere role players (Dune the book is often compared to The Lord of the Rings, and the movie could definitely benefit from the same extended cut treatment of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy).

It is, however, very faithful to the spirit and vision of Herbert’s epic. For fans of the book, seeing scenes from it come to life in all their glory and splendor is pretty thrilling. For everyone else, I can’t say for certain if it’ll provide much clarity, but it might be worth doing a little homework brushing up on the basics of Dune’s mythology, to at least try to understand what those vivid images on the screen mean. I so strongly hope we get to see “Part Two.”