Review of Dune (2021) by Thoughtfulscore — 24 Oct 2021

Dune was a boring, unsatisfying experience. The characters just aren't likeable & while there is too little backstory, there also somehow manages to be too much uninteresting lore building and exposition, thanks to terrible pacing. It does nothing to hook you for the first hour, and the film never seems to properly establish the stakes. A giant worm eats a whole loader full of valuable space drugs/fuel, but who cares? Who does that effect? Why is everyone sword fighting when we have lasers and space ships? Are there actually any "good guys", or is everyone an a--hole?

The cast features many great actors, like Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, etc., but the film has so many disparate, esoteric elements it has to force in that none of these performers gets the screen time they deserve. There are no amazing moments like the disco dancing and tense dialog of Oscar Isaac from Ex Machina. Josh Brolin & Javier Bardem don't provide the intimate, deep, dark performances of No Country for Old Men. Dune is the opposite of those types of films: cold, distant & inhuman. It's technically sound, but it's got no heart, and no theme. It's empty.