Dune: Part One

Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part One follows Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides as he’s forced to embrace his destiny as the leader of his family and an entire race of people. Filmmaker Villeneuve, working from a script written with Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth, delivers a fairly faithful adaptation that is, for the most part, visually impressive yet dramatically inert, as the movie, much like its source material, suffers from an arms-length feel that’s exacerbated (and perpetuated) by an emphasis on dull, one-dimensional characters and dialogue-heavy sequences transpiring predominantly within dimly-lit environs – with the far-from-enthralling atmosphere preventing the viewer from working up much interest in or enthusiasm for the protagonists’ deliberately-paced exploits. It’s clear, consequently, that Villeneuve’s larger-than-life approach doesn’t fare nearly as well as one might’ve hoped (or anticipated), as the picture’s myriad of meticulously-crafted set-pieces are unable, generally speaking, to pack the exciting, visceral punch for which the filmmaker is obviously striving (ie the movie is, ultimately, big on spectacle but frustratingly short on everything else). By the time the nigh endless third act rolls around, Dune: Part One has cemented its place as a distressing misfire that seems to confirm that Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel is just not suitable for big-screen treatment (ie Dune: Part One and David Lynch’s Dune are about on the same level in terms of entertainment value).

*1/2 out of ****