DUNE: Why you should see it in the theatres | Nerdthusiast Review

 


I’m going to be honest, my excitement level about Dune wasn’t really that high. It should’ve been. I love the book. I liked the 1984 film version and this latest adaption’s director, Denis Villeneuve made one of my favorite movies of the last 25 years in Blade Runner 2049. But for whatever reason, the news of Dune’s production made little impact on my interest radar. So needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise when this movie completely blew my mind! I won’t go too much into plot details, because while the story, characters, and world in which this film exists are all well-crafted; none of them were really the selling point for me.

Like the aforementioned Blade Runner 2049, Dune is absolutely stunning to look at. Villeneuve really has established himself as one of the best visual storytellers working today. Normally a 150 minute movie will drag for periods. Dune maybe drags for about 15 minutes at one point, but even then it’s still something else to look at. I really regret watching it on HBOMAX and not in a theatre. I will probably go out in the next few days to see it in IMAX because I can’t even imagine what that experience is like.

Dune has a very impressive ensemble cast who all seem to have completely understood their role. I can’t think of a single performance in this movie that I didn’t find impressive. Timothée Chalamet was excellent as the main protagonist portraying a young messiah type looking to fulfill his destiny. Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardom, and others round out this stellar cast.

When you do get to the battle scenes, you’re already immersed in the world of this movie, and then you’re thrown into a throttle when the fighting starts. These are some of the best looking action scenes I’ve ever seen. Combined with yet another excellent score by Hans Zimmer, all of this just makes for a near perfect cinematic experience.

I honestly can’t recommend this movie enough. And I know I didn’t get into the story at all, trust me there’s a very good one here. It would just take way more than a short movie review to talk about it. And I may have not been overly excited for the release of this film, but you can count on the fact that I will be counting down the days to its sequel!  4.5/5

 

By John Brenner

Nerdthusiast host and content creator

Twitter: SloopJ232