Review of Dune (2021) by Icivindur — 22 Oct 2021

Villeneuve's adaptation of Dune unexpectedly impressed me, at least much more than Jackson's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps because I didn't expect much from Villeneuve's film. The fact is that, firstly, Herbert's book is fundamentally impossible to film, since its "highlight" is focused on the thoughts and inner experiences of the characters, which often do not coincide at all with their behavior.

Secondly, the political climate in Hollywood and the United States in general is now not free from the influence of one of the ideologies, which openly imposes certain taboos and prescribes certain conventions for filmmaking.

The first could not but lead to a simplification of the plot by the director, inclined to visual narration. And the second factor inevitably destroys the balance built by the author between factions and sexes in the book, as well as the atmosphere in general and Herbert's religious and political hints.

Both of these factors are present in Villeneuve's film, but, surprisingly, Denis still managed to "loop between the drops", creating not quite an adaptation of Herbert's Dune, but quite a fascinating version of his own "Dune".

The audiovisual component, as always with Villeneuve, is luxurious, and even to some extent compensates for the simplification of the plot and the unrevealed thoughts and experiences of the characters.

Modern political taboos and conventions are also present, manifesting themselves in cut out "politically incorrect" dialogues, shifted accents, altered scenes, races and even the sexes of the characters, but they are skillfully smoothed out without disturbing the atmosphere or mocking the common sense of the viewer, thus not destroying the wall between viewer and narration.

Villeneuve has managed to make the viewer, at least me, to wait for the continuation of the narration, interrupted in mid-sentence. By the standards of modern Hollywood, Dune is a great movie.