The long-awaited new movie adaptation of Dune his theaters and HBO Max in October, and the reviews are in. The movie stars Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, and Josh Brolin, and is directed by Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049, Arrival).
The film is adapted from Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune, which is one of the most celebrated and influential sci-fi books of all time. It’s been adapted twice before–in the ’80s by David Lynch, and as a TV miniseries in the early 2000s. While Lynch’s film is often praised for its visuals, most fans found it a narrative mess, with far too much crammed into the running time. This is not a problem that Villeneuve’s film has–he has only adapted the first half of the novel so far. If this movie is a success, then the cameras will roll on Part 2.
Like all of Warner’s movies in 2021, Dune will premiere on HBO Max on the same day it hits theaters. Villeneuve isn’t exactly happy about this–but hopefully, he will be pleased by the critical reaction so far. The majority of critics are very positive about the film, praising the movie’s amazing visuals and dark, serious tone. There is some criticism that the movie’s style overwhelms the plot, and there’s no getting away from the fact that it is only half the story. Nevertheless, Dune currently holds 84% on Rotten Tomatoes–so here’s what the critics have said about Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic.
- Dune
- Directed By: Denis Villeneuve
- Written By: Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth
- Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya
- Release Date: October 22 (United States)
GameSpot
“Fans of the series need only know this: Villeneuve’s Dune is the best possible adaptation of one of science fiction’s most iconic works. It’s the one you’ve awaited for over five decades, or since whatever time you first turned a page in Herbert’s seminal novel. The talented filmmakers and jaw-dropping cast have done it justice. Go see it so that they can tell the rest of the story.”– Michael Rougeau [Full review]
LA Times
“Not for the first time, [Villeneuve’s] craft seems to exist mainly for its own sake; it’s the hallmark of a filmmaker who’s more logistician than thinker, more technician than artist. As a visual and visceral experience, Dune is undeniably transporting. As a spectacle for the mind and heart, it never quite leaves Earth behind.”– Justin Chang [Full review]
Empire
“When you finally get there, the overriding emotion Dune evokes really kicks in: a near-constant jaw-on-the-floor awe. The sense of scale conjured up is, from moment to moment, frequently astonishing. It’s an absorbing, awe-inspiringly huge adaptation of (half of) Frank Herbert’s novel that will wow existing acolytes, and get newcomers hooked on its Spice-fuelled visions. If Part Two never happens, it’ll be a travesty.”–Ben Travis [Full review]
IndieWire
“For all of Villeneuve’s awe-inducing vision, he loses sight of why Frank Herbert’s foundational sci-fi opus is worthy of this epic spectacle in the first place. Such are the pitfalls of making a movie so large that not even its director can see around the sets.”-David Ehrlich [Full review]
Entertainment Weekly
“The sheer awesomeness of Villeneuve’s execution–there might not be another film this year, or ever, that turns one character asking another for a glass of water into a kind of walloping psychedelic performance art–often obscures the fact that the plot is mostly prologue: a sprawling origin story with no fixed beginning or end.”–Leah Greenblatt [Full review]
Total Film
“In the end, it’s not the performances so much that you’ll remember as the universe that surrounds them. When the sandworm makes its inaugural appearance, you’ll have a genuine OMG moment, in what is surely the most remarkable scene you’ll see in cinema all year.”–James Mottram [Full review]
The Wrap
“This version of Dune sometimes feels as if it aims to impress you more than entertain you; it’s grim on a staggering level, ditching most of the fun of sci-fi yarns in favor of a worldview that feels more like Villeneuve’s Sicario or Prisoners than his Arrival. But it’s also a formidable cinematic accomplishment, a giant mood piece that can be exhilarating in its dark beauty.”– Steve Pond [Full review]
Variety
“Dune, a majestically somber and grand-scale sci-fi trance-out, is full of lavish hugger-mugger–clan wars, brute armies, a grotesque autocrat villain, a hero who may be the Messiah–that links it, in spirit and design, to the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings films, though with a predatory ominousness all its own. Dune is out to wow us, and sometimes succeeds, but it also wants to get under your skin like a hypnotically toxic mosquito. It does…until it doesn’t.”– Owen Gleiberman [Full review]
