{"id":16472,"date":"2022-07-29T11:48:35","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T15:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=16472"},"modified":"2025-09-07T12:29:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T16:29:39","slug":"dune-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=16472","title":{"rendered":"Dune-2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dune-2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Denis Villeneuve<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,282<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed July 29, 2022<\/p>\n

Grade: B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dune (2021) is a film that, under normal circumstances, I would not have seen. I’m not a massive fan of blockbuster, fantasy films. If not for the slew of Oscar nominations the film received, ten to be precise, Dune probably would have flown under my radar.<\/p>\n

I needed to see what all the fuss was about.<\/p>\n

Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet), a brilliant and gifted young man born into a destiny that he doesn’t wholly understand, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people.<\/p>\n

As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence, only those who can conquer their own fear will survive.<\/p>\n

My assessment of the film before even viewing it proved correct. It’s an epic-length, science-fiction, fantasy type of adventure film all rolled into one. I liken it to the unwieldy Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) trilogy in tone and content, and it shares a peculiar reminiscence with the popular television series Game of Thrones (2011-2019).<\/p>\n

For most of Dune, my attention was squarely glued to the story as well as the astounding cinematic grandiose trimmings. I knew if I didn’t pay close attention, I would quickly be out in a left field (I’ve made this mistake before).<\/p>\n

Overall, I admired Dune and struggled to grade it either a B or a B+, finally deciding on the latter. The visuals are astounding and cleverly show off what can be done with enough CGI to make a film a marvelous spectacle.<\/p>\n

But, for me, there needs to be more, and I struggled with the plot after a while.<\/p>\n

The story is too confusing.<\/p>\n

Why do fantasy or epic films often have overly complex plots with too many characters to keep track of? It started okay, and I was clear who Paul’s family is, and more or less who the good guys are. But then other groups like the Fremen (who I think are good) and House Harkonnen (who are all bald and I think are bad) are introduced, and a battle over valuable spice ensues.<\/p>\n

To complicate matters, Paul suffers from strange dreams\/visions mostly involving a young girl and some battle scenes involving Paul’s connection to a mysterious sword. He can also command without speaking, somehow.<\/p>\n

I had no prior history to draw from, which in retrospect did me a disservice. Dune, a novel written by Frank Herbert in 1965, was adapted into a 1984 film directed by David Lynch, which was deemed a disaster.<\/p>\n

I probably should have read the book.<\/p>\n

The acting is quite good, especially by Chalamet and Isaac, utterly believable as father and son. Their connection and chemistry are pliable, but there is not enough of it; instead, the primary focus is on Paul’s relationship with his mother, played by Rebecca Ferguson.<\/p>\n

Chalamet, already an Oscar-nominated actor for Call Me By Your Name (2017), has the chops to carry a film.<\/p>\n

Other worthy turns are by legendary British actress Charlotte Rampling as a Reverend Mother, and Javier Bardem as Stilgar, leader of the Fremen tribe.<\/p>\n

Despite running for over two and a half hours, Dune does not drag. The bright, sweeping desert scenes featuring a pulsating underground worm were well balanced with darker scenes in the Harkonnen’s lair.<\/p>\n

Dune (2021) is incredibly healthy and is a clear spectacle. I found it too similar to other genre films to give it a thumbs up unless you are already a fan of the novel, but this style of cinema may not really be my cup of tea.<\/p>\n

Villeneuve, who directed Blade Runner 2049 in 2017, knows his way around the fantasy genre and is perfectly capable. He is directing Dune: Part II to be released in 2023, so I’d expect more of the same.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations: 6 wins-<\/strong>Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score (won)<\/strong>, Best Costume Design, Best Sound (won)<\/strong>, Best Film Editing (won)<\/strong>, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Cinematography (won)<\/strong>, Best Production Design (won)<\/strong>, Best Visual Effects (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dune-2021 Director Denis Villeneuve Starring Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac Scott’s Review #1,282 Reviewed July 29, 2022 Grade: B Dune (2021) is a film that, under normal circumstances, I would not have seen. I’m not a massive fan of blockbuster, fantasy films. If not for the slew of Oscar nominations the film received, ten … Continue reading Dune-2021<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[408,205,3057,2930,4147,194,201,8194,2611,2491,8195,4289,6140,103,6932,5991,2877,6561],"tags":[409,259,3059,2932,4149,195,257,8196,2612,2497,8197,4290,6142,105,6936,5993,2884,6563],"class_list":["post-16472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-movie-reviews","category-adventure-films","category-charlotte-rampling","category-dave-bautista","category-denis-villeneuve","category-epics","category-fantasy-films","category-jason-momoa","category-javier-bardem","category-josh-brolin","category-marianne-faithfull","category-oscar-isaac","category-rebecca-ferguson","category-scifi","category-stellan-skarsgard","category-stephen-mckinley-henderson","category-timothee-chalamet","category-zendaya","tag-2021-movie-reviews","tag-adventure-films","tag-charlotte-rampling","tag-dave-bautista","tag-denis-villeneuve","tag-epics-2","tag-fantasy-films","tag-jason-momoa","tag-javier-bardem","tag-josh-brolin","tag-marianne-faithfull","tag-oscar-isaac","tag-rebecca-ferguson","tag-sci-fi-films","tag-stellan-skarsgard","tag-stephen-mckinley-henderson","tag-timothee-chalamet","tag-zendaya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16472"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22068,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16472\/revisions\/22068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}