Dune...

It's truly hard to say with certainty that the 2021 version of Frank Herbert's classic novel, Dune, will be widely considered to be the definitive screen version of the tale years from now.  Since the filmmakers decided, wisely, to split the massive story into two separate movies to let the narrative breathe a final judgment will have to wait until we get the second instalment.  At the moment, there's no guarantee that there will even be a sequel yet.  Between the huge financial bump in the road that was 2020 for movie makers and the as yet to be determined profitability of the first film, it's all still a waiting game.

I fully expect there to be a sequel, based on the impressive quality, direction, production and effects of the first film.  I've been wrong about this kind of thing before but I think it's a pretty safe bet this time.  This is a good film and from what I've seen it's done reasonable business in this weird, difficult to judge environment.  History just isn't a good yardstick of success in the movie biz at the moment.

In terms of the film itself, I was reasonably impressed.  It's more conventional than the 80's version from David Lynch but still looks lush and fully engages the grand spectacle of the novel.  Like the SyFy mini-series from 2000, the longer format lets the story unfold without feeling rushed.  This is a slow burn film compared to most big sci-fi epics we've seen in the 21st Century.  There's more than a little 2001 A Space Odyssey baked in here and unlike the SyFy version, this film looks and feels HUGE and brings a high end polish to the screen.  I hoped for exactly this when I heard about the plans for this new set of films.  

The problem is that to make a great Dune film, it's exceedingly difficult to make a film that will appeal to a wide audience.  Dune is a dense novel that lays a deep foundation for a total of six novels that Herbert eventually published.  His son teamed with another author to pen another dozen or so novels set in the same universe.  The politics, religion, history and philosophy that seep through the whole novel, its sequels and prequels get detailed and complex explanation on paper.  Not so easy to accomplish on the screen.  At least not in a way that will appeal to that wide audience I mentioned.

I've read Dune and the sequels four or five times in my days.  I've read most of the novels that Herbert's son added to the series and I've seen both the Lynch and SyFy versions multiple times.  I have exactly NO idea what it would be like to watch this most recent movie without already knowing what a Maker is, who the Bene Gesserit are and a thousand other things about the Dune mythology that I just know.

I think this film does a decent job of explaining such things without bogging the viewer down in detail.  I'd love to know what a non-fan would make of this movie on first viewing.  It's a perspective I can never have and one that would make an interesting study.

Like most films adapted from great novels, this one adds and subtracts from that base to create its own truth.  I noticed more than a few places where the film strayed from the source (I reread Dune about a month ago) but there wasn't a "what the fuck?!?" moment where they deviated in any huge way like Lynch did with the whole vocally directed weapons thing.

I truly look forward to the sequel if we get it.  It'd be nice to have a solid, generally true to the source, Dune film at long last.