'Dune' is one of those special moments in cinema where a film’s appeal reaches beyond its polished (in this case two-and-a-half hour) final product – that is to say, there's more to love about 'Dune' than the story it’s telling audiences.
This is a film which stands as a shining example of the power of filmmaking and world-building, and the power of the experience of cinema. My review doubles as an urgent PSA – please see 'Dune' in cinemas if and while you can. It's clear as day that the team of people behind the cameras of this film had giant silver screens and effective sound systems in mind when they got to work.
The reason 'Dune''s impact is so heavily felt doesn't lie in its plot, or its writing. In fact, neither are as boundary-pushing and groundbreaking as they may seem. For any run-of-the-mill film, then, this would be where the review may go slightly south. Plot gets a B-, writing gets a C. The end. But 'Dune' is saved – and then some – by just how beautiful it looks, feels and sounds.
Of course, the cast lend a hand in all of this too – Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa and Zendaya all deliver memorable performances here. Again, though, nothing in this film is quite as good as its technical elements.
Sweeping, vast landscapes are explored in wide-angle shots, action sequences get the heart racing, quieter moments are treated with the utmost care, and tense confrontations make the air thick. Meanwhile, underneath it all, is a Hans Zimmer score that menacingly rumbles and hums for what feels like the film's entirety when it's not bursting at the seams with percussion, guitars, spine-tingling vocals and strings.
If not for its average storytelling and plot points, see 'Dune' in a cinema for all of its moving parts. The cogs, the bells, the whistles. All of which come together to craft something that will surely be shown in film schools in years to come as a blueprint of a filmic 'experience'.
'Dune' has the energy and momentum of a film with its feet planted firmly and confidently in the zeitgeist – it’s one of those cinematic moments time seems to stop for – and luckily, this momentum pays off, in a film so vast and immersive you’ll leave feeling a sense of phantom jet-lag from planetary traversal.
'Dune' is in cinemas now.
