Reviewing Dune (***)
Sure, it’s big, ambitious, and uncompromising. It’s also little more than a prologue to a story that would likely have been far more interesting.
In case you haven’t seen it yet, or in case you saw it and didn’t understand one second of what was going on (like many of us), here’s a rough synopsis. Our hero Prince Paul is the Chosen One, but his father has been betrayed and so Paul is forced to go on the run. He ends up in the desert where these mysterious nomads allow him to join them – he intends to use this alliance to bring peace to the planet. And for what it’s worth, that sounds like a great way to kick off a movie. The only problem is that’s not the opening – that’s the whole movie. The entire film is a setup for a larger story. There’s not really any resolution by the end of the film; as a result, it can’t stand on its own legs. The film will remain essentially useless until the sequel comes out. Compare any other franchise kickoff – Iron Man, Star Wars, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone…even Fellowship of the Ring. Each of these films laid the groundwork for a much larger saga, but they each managed to tell their own self-contained stories as well. In the case of Fellowship, the Ring is far from destroyed, but we end things in a place where many of our characters (Aragorn & Frodo in particular) are forced to choose the quest for themselves instead of being chosen by fate or happenstance. I don’t see that happening so much in Dune. It really feels like the whole movie is a prologue.
Now, don’t get me wrong – it’s not like this was a bad prologue. The special effects are great. The world-building is intense and fascinating. It’s a rich and exciting world that I look forward to spending more time in. It’s just that I can’t help but feel like I was given an unfinished project. I mean, all of the posters titled this film Dune. But when the title comes up on the screen, they call it Dune: Part One. They had to trick us into thinking it’d be a complete story in order to get us in the seats. Will I see the next one? Probably. Will this one day become a revered spectacle of science fiction film? Who knows. Was this the kickoff I was hoping for? Definitely not.