Dune

 

Dune: Part 1, is the first installment of the epic story of Paul Atreides, the son of a noble family, whose house has been ordered by the Emperor, to rule over the desert planet, Arrakis, informally known as Dune, and the export it’s natural resource. This is the second attempt at turning Frank Herbert's science fiction novel into a feature film adaptation, with the original coming out in 1984.

The plot was interesting and engaging though at times quite convoluted so took a couple of watches for me to fully understand everything. Because it is the first installment there were obviously still questions left unanswered. There was not enough of a backstory for me and Zendaya’s character, Chani, is featured a lot in the previews but her story and time on screen is pretty minimal, so I'm looking forward to the sequel to get more of each of those lacking parts.

The script was well written and the fight choreography was creative, futuristic and unique.

I loved the sets and artistic cinematography. There was a lot of complexity and symbolism in the edits. The sets were another character of sorts, you really felt the heat, the vastness and the dryness. The CGI was also crisp and realistic.

The costumes were modern, sleek yet functional. The hair and makeup were also well done. At times I could see a Star Wars influence. I also noticed strong religious influences throughout. Joseph Hammond's Washington Post article said it best, "The Duniverse, as some fans call it, is heavily influenced by ecology and sociology — as well as imagery from the Islamic world and the Middle East. Herbert also used Middle Eastern languages, in particular, Arabic, throughout his novels”.

I know that there was criticism for Arab cultural appropriation and I can see why Maya Lang for Rowdy Magazine pointed that out. But what I will say is that this movie is fiction and is set in 10191 A.G., so we have no clue how ethnicities will evolve and change in the future. And even though there wasn’t a strong Middle Eastern presence, they did provide much more diversity and female empowerment than the original 1984 film, which was an all-White cast with women who did not have strong leading roles.

In the end I left this movie excited for the next one. Timothée Chalamet is a leading man and he held his own with seasoned veterans Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin & Javier Bardem. Everyone brought their A-Game and really helped in the temporary transportation to another space and time.