"A great man doesn't seek to lead; he's called to it. And he answers."
Hello everyone!
Aka I've actually watched this movie relatively quickly after it's release AND gotten in on the hype that everyone and their mother seems to be feeling about it, especially given that a part 2 has already been green-lit (and why wouldn't it have been, based on the film's success, am I right?).
Suffice to say though, I was going into this blind.
See, I've never read the original novel by Frank Herbert. Oh I'd seen it, there was always one of those covers with either a big ass worm on the front of just sand dunes all over the place, but for some reason it never caught my attention enough to warrant me picking it up.
Suffice to say I will do so NOW, of course, for that and probably the rest depending on just how the story ends up unfolding.
But until such a time as that, the only thing left is to get on a ship and travel to the desert planet ourselves in this blog post. And, seriously, does EVERY epic saga ever begin on a desert planet in the middle of the universe? Dune is the new-age Tatooine!
As much as I'd maybe love to smack Star Wars down at the bottom of this page for the links session, I think I'm going to let this sci-fi stand on its own two legs, and go from there for the time being.
So, Dune. Previously always entirely unsuccessful when it came to adaptations, 2021 finally sees it released in all its glory with a stellar cast to boot. It's almost an ensemble one, come to think of it, like the way Marvel's doing things and collecting everybody into their menagerie.
But I digress; Dune is basically the story of how the Emperor of this galactic empire takes Arrakis, the desert planet in question and apparently one of the only (if not THE only) sources of spice that's the most coveted thing in said galaxy, and decides to switch its overlord. It USED to be in the fiefdom of House Harkonnen, but with this move goes straight to House Atreides.
House Atreides is the ruling house from Caladan, an ocean planet, which is the polar opposite of where they're now supposed to go, but, as you do. It's ruled by Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), a charismatic, compassionate and pragmatic leader who tends to try and work WITH people as opposed to AGAINST them.
By his side is Jessica, his concubine (took me FOREVER to figure out they weren't married; she's played by Rebecca Ferguson), and his son Paul (Timothée Chalamet), who's kind of excited by the news they're headed for Arrakis, and kinda nervous at the same time since he's not sure this whole leadership thing is for him.
The Atreides, however, have no choice in the matter, because the Emperor has told them to go, and they are loyal - they're also the finest military force in the imperium, trained by Gurney (Josh Brolin) and Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa), and apparently even the Emperor fears what might happen should the Atreides decide they want to rule the galaxy instead.
Ergo, this is why he's switched the rulers of Arrakis, but has secretly made a deal with Baron Harkonnen to get rid of the Atreides, and them he can have Arrakis back.
It's rather a simplification of the plot, I know, but the intricacy is something you need to actually visualize and see for yourself in more detail. In any event, the Atreides KNOW it's a trap, which is probably the best part of the whole thing: Leto knows, but he's going anyway, because the desert power is something that he thinks can work to their advantage. Maybe.
Paul has his own problems in the middle of all of this, though. His mother Jessica happens to be a member of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusive, reclusive sisterhood that seem to have had a breeding program in place for hundreds, thousands of years, pairing their disciples (who seem to have evolved their minds to the point they have powers akin to magic, like the Voice) with members of great houses in the hopes that the Messiah might be born, someone who will lead them all out into an enlightened age.
Now, Jessica had been COMMANDED to give Leto daughters, but she'd deliberately conceived a son, and upon arrival on Arrakis it becomes clear that the people believe HE is the Messiah (and truth be told given some of the things he does naturally as opposed to what he's learned, it's probably true anyway, though it could be a self-fulfilling prophecy).
But they have other issues at hand.
See, they have barely any equipment left, and spice production NEEDS to be put back on track, or else the consequences will be dire, though probably not as dire as when someone takes a shot at assassinating Paul, alerting both Leto and Jessica to the fact that their enemies aren't letting them get acclimated at all. It's do or die, people!
And with acclimate, I mean giving us Javier Bardem spitting on a table in greeting, among other things, but this is probably when things start picking up in terms of action as, while the Duke, his son, and the others are flying to inspect the spice harvest, the harvester alerts one of the sand worms that are the biggest menace on the planet, and can't be airlifted out of there so the Duke makes the call to have his choppers go down and save the crew.
However, the ecologist who's here on behalf of the Emperor is commanded to see nothing and say nothing, which means the Atreides are on their own - this becomes even more glaringly obvious when one of their own betrays them and lowers the shields of the city so the combined troops of the Harkonnens and the Emperor's elite (because the Atreides are actually THAT feared, you need to outnumber them to even have a shot at victory) can take over.
It turns out the family doctor is the pawn in play, with his wife in the hands of the Baron, so he delivers an immobilized and drugged Leto over to the other man (Stellan Skarsgard, mind you), while Jessica and Paul are to be taken into the desert and left to die. However, Paul manages to get his mother free enough to use her Voice, and they do escape into said desert, where they realize that Leto is dead (if his signet ring is with Paul, then yeah, he dead-dead).
In actuality, Leto doesn't die immediately but, in a plot with the doctor (who by the way, needs to learn how to make better deals, because even I could see from a mile away he and his wife weren't making it) has a tooth with poison gas in his mouth, which he cracks open, killing himself and everyone in the Baron's retinue at once.
But not the Baron, oh no, the thing that is some sort of robotic hybrid survives and takes back Arrakis, convinced the Atreides are dead.
Sadly for him, Paul and Jessica are found by Duncan and the ecologist, though it's the last we see of both of them as Duncan sacrifices himself to keep the Emperor's elite at bay, and the ecologist finishes the job by exposing herself as Fremen (one of the natives of Arrakis who live by the code of the desert) and calls a worm to them to eat them all.
Now on their own, Paul and his mother (who is also pregnant, to top it off) make it across worm territory only to run into Javier Bardem once more, and a discussion ensues about what they'll do with the pair. Paul, it's agreed, can tag along, for the honour and dignity his father showed in his dealings with the Fremen (see, it PAYS to be good and noble sometimes), but Jessica is deemed too old to learn their ways.
Naturally, Jessica proves them all wrong when she holds their leader at knife-point, since she's a badass like that, and while Paul is reeling from meeting the girl he's been dreaming about all movie long (played by Zendaya), they're challenged to a duel, which he accepts on behalf of his mother.
He kills the Fremen challenging him, even though he WANTS to let the man live, and is thus accepted as one of them, and both are taken along their hidden paths further into Fremen territory, effectively dead to the imperium as Paul has made the decision to stay and harness this desert power like his father wanted to, to take revenge for the atrocities committed upon his house.
And I mean, it's some power lemme tell you, given that right at the end we see one of the Fremen actually RIDING THE FREAKING DESERT WORM, a tiny little detail that nobody ever explained right up until that point, and which ups the stakes considerably, especially for the Holy War that Paul foresees will spread across the galaxy in his name.
... but we'll have to wait for Dune 2 to see how this continues, because that's where the first movie cuts off.
DUN DUN DUN!
Powerful, evocative, emotional and incredibly thought-provoking, Dune delivers something that probably hasn't been seen on the big screens since The Lord of the Rings, in that it sets up the stage for a galactic pow-wow that's going to have repercussions for eons to come, especially as Paul has the idea to marry one of the Emperor's daughters at some point in the movie.
We can also see how self-fulfilling prophecies work: the Emperor, in his hatred and fear of the Atreides (and probably whispered to by others who are equally worried about the powerful house), decides to get rid of people he sees as his enemies. Meanwhile, the Atreides have been loyal subjects, and would have continued being loyal, up until the point the Emperor comes after them, which is when all loyalty dies, and what he was worried about happens.
House Atreides is now his enemy. Cause and effect, people!
The visuals of the movie are absolutely stunning, as are the complexities of the plot which has, I believe, been as simplified as it could possibly be for the big screen, and why I plan on reading the book ASAP. But I will say that Arrakis is heavily, heavily influenced by Middle Eastern culture, right down to the names and the Holy War, and I kept trying to figure out where I've heard a lot of the words before.
However, it somehow makes sense, and fits, and while Chalamet didn't really do much for me (I personally found him the saddest person dragging himself across the screen), I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since younger actors nowadays take some time to grow on me. I didn't like Dom Sherwood to begin with either, but loved him in Shadowhunters afterwards, so we'll see.
The rest of the cast delivers a strong, rounded performance though, and at this point I can safely say I can't WAIT for part 2, to see just what Paul ends up doing and how he takes the fight right back to the Emperor.
And, randomly, a shout-out to whoever decided to cast Oscar Isaac in this galactic role, because at one point in the movie he explains he wanted to be a pilot - which I'm not sure whether it's an original thing from the book, or if it's a joke about his Star Wars character, Poe Dameron, the best pilot the Resistance has!
I could go on and on with this, but I think you just have to see for yourself, and make your own decision.
But I genuinely believe Dune could be the successor of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars both, if only the studios play this right, like they've started.
So, until part 2, I'll see you all somewhere on the dunes!
xx
*images and video not mine
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