This much-hyped film, while not wholly living up to the hype, was nevertheless a very soundly enjoyable experience.
One of the most impressive aspects was the way the story - reputedly almost ridiculously complicated - was so clearly and cleanly told. Even the elaborate names, locations and ideas were clearly conveyed so that I was not left think, as can often happen ‘‘…and who was that again and just how do they fit in the overall story arc?’ This was just one reason why I was able to get emotionally involved in the story and not just sit back and marvel at the visuals and the other worlds created - these two elements effectively went hand in hand, each enhancing the other.
But the visuals were -are - spectacular. There is a real sense of the originality of these environments - and the fact that sand and sandstorms are so central to them means that clarity of vision and awareness of the environment is not always a clear as one would expect which makes the effectiveness even greater - if that makes sense. The familiar elements - sand dunes - are made other-worldly and strange, largely I think by the cinematography - wonder if it is the same person as on Villeneuve’s Blade Runner - or perhaps its just part of his cinematic vision. It can be tricky nowadays to make spaceships and futuristic methods of travel new and exciting - the opening sequence of Star Wars still looms VERY large in that respect - but here it was, with the beautiful dragonfly-style helicopters with their multitude of wings. Not sure to what extent they make sense aerodynamically (will have to ask Google!) but visually they were wonderful.
The characters were all well delineated by all aspects -their appearance, manner of speaking, the weirdly intriguing names, their motivations…There was a great deal to include in all these areas but it was, masterfully done I felt as all the elements played an equally important part but allowed clear differentiation and one aspect of their depiction was not at the expense of the others. Chalamet made an effective, somewhat other-worldly Paul Atreides and only occasionally was there a little too much of the soulful looking at the camera with the hair falling perfectly over the finely-featured face. I must admit though, I am getting VERY tired of the droolingly fawning coverage of his looks in the press. OK, he’s a cute-looking twink with great hair, but come on…
So, a great start - and the final line of the movie was a perfect one - particularly now we know there will be Part 2