Carrying on this 2021 catchup, here’s one I was definitely looking forward to. Over 35 years since David Lynch’s shall we say mixed attempt, Denis Villeneuve decided to have another crack at adapting the infinitely influential Frank Herbert scifi classic. With all the advances in filmmaking technology since ’84, and with feudal-themed epics certainly more than palatable these days, it certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea—question is, does it pay off?
For the most part…yes, in my opinion. Let’s get the first thing out of the way—when it comes to presentation, this blows a lot of contemporary effects extravaganzas out of the water. Watching it on an Imax-level screen especially really made me appreciate the sense of scale that Villeneuve has proven a master of, from mile-long sandworms to leviathan-like interstellar carriers. Brutalist landing craft contrasting with beaten lakeside landscapes, warrior elites silently descending through shadow-shrouded palatial hallways…there’s little comparison that comes to mind in recent times. There’s no shortage of memorable shots and sequences—even a throat-chanting priest we see for about three seconds instantly struck a chord across the internet. A sequence of Jason Momoa piloting an aircraft through tight city channels as they’re carved apart by laser beams gripped me more than most of the dogfights in certain films that offered scale but very anemic actual presentation of it.
Hans Zimmer delivers some of his best score work too--it’s a soundtrack that includes everything from bagpipes to electric guitars to his signature thrumming orchestral sensibility. A scene where Rebecca Ferguson’s Lady Jessica meets in a fogbank with a sinister Bene Gesserit mother superior (Charlotte Rampling) gave me shivers when its augmented with the discordant chanting he threw into the mix. Zimmer tends to either lean to hitting things out the park or deliver generic bass notes—and, well, safe to say this leans to the former.
So with that gushing out of the way, how does the story itself hold up? Well, as is apparent by now, this only adapts the first half of the book or so—even while having to ditch out of necessity a lot of the concepts that weren’t necessarily integral to the plot. It’s miles tighter than Lynch’s version, and does its best to properly tackle a lot of the novel’s themes of imperialism, religion, and, well, commercialized drug use essentially. Some of the more dated attitudes in Herbert’s original are toned down, and that which proves unavoidable gets tackled in different ways—but as a consequence of having to split this adaptation, the payoff is delayed somewhat. While it’s definitely a sincere effort and it’s evident where they’re going with it, those less familiar with the source material don’t have as much to ideally go on.
The cast is for the most part solid—Oscar Isaac gives a more fatherly take on Duke Leto than prior versions, while the aforementioned Momoa and Ferguson do their best to make their each scene count. Stellan Skarsgard ditches the hamminess of literary and Lynch Baron Harkonnen for a sinister growling take that works fairly ideally for this type of adaptation, contrasting the yelling attack dog Rabban as played by Dave Bautista. Once again, even with a duology the film can only afford so much to each face--desert chieftain's daughter Chani as played by Zendaya only truly shows up at the very end-- but even with that I certainly commend the effort to do so.
That brings us to lead Timothee Chalamet as Paul—who is fine, and certainly a better take on the character than Kyle MacLahan, even if for most of this one his presence is pretty passive, stumbling forward with a procession of visions building what's to come. It’s another side-effect of the split—while there’s nothing wrong with it and follows Paul’s trajectory close enough, it’s one that delays the payoff still. That’s why the weakest point is probably the very end, where the film just sort of halts—there was room I think for a minute more to leave on something with the scale of the end of Fellowship of the Ring.
And yet despite that, I rewatched this one several times—it helps that despite its length, I really appreciated the pacing, never feeling like its two and a half hour length unlike other latter-day elongated blockbusters. It’s something I think will definitely be better served when paired with its next instalment—one that I learned hadn’t actually been filmed on its release as I first assumed it would, which is more than a bit of a gamble these days. Yet it’s one that seems to have paid off with audiences—for its flaws, there’s a sense of genuine grandeur and gravitas that feels earned. Imperfect as it may be, it’s probably about a good an adaptation of a long considered unfilmable classic as we can get, and I certainly look forward to seeing it all come together with the next one.
Comments
Post a Comment