Director Denis Villeneuve's new cinematic rendering of Frank Herbert's class 1965 novel' Dune' does a whole lot right. First off, it doesn't try to tell the whole story, the plan is for one more film to finish up the first book then maybe subsequent ones for the later novels. So it is structured very well, the writing is top notch. The movie boosts a well known cast that is actually well cast, everyone seems up to their roles. Visually it's sumptuous, David Lean in Space.
The movie does space politics and space religion better then anything I've seen in a long while (Babylon 5), and is first rate space Shakespeare. It is what Star Wars has aspired to, and largely failed to be post 'Return of the Jedi'.
The only complaints I have from my viewing experience is that the showing I attended turned out to be subtitled, which I wasn't expecting and found a little distracting towards the visuals that I wanted to concentrate on. The movie also evoked little in the way of emotional reaction, the two principle characters are pretty closed off emotionally, so I don't 'love' these people yet, but think that could be coming with the sequel.
Now as a sort of mild spoiler I will tell you what the single greatest thing about this movie is. This is $165 million dollar sci-fi epic that DOSEN'T end with another big battle scene. So refreshing. ***1/2
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