Nerd count still two. That makes three solitary viewers.

The pace of this movie is incredibly slow

DUNE PART ONE: The Exposition


As if creating a sequel to one of the biggest cult sci-fi films of the 80s wasn't enough of a challenge, Denis Villenueve has followed BLADE RUNNER 2049 with the sort of 'Don Quixote' of science fiction - Frank Herbert's Dune. Going all the way back to the early 70s, filmmakers as varied as David Lean, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Ridley Scott and Peter Berg have tried to tackle it. David Lynch's famously disliked version came out in 1984, and has slowly gained a cult following. There was also a TV mini-series.

The title on screen (if not in the advertising) includes the words, "Part One". Take heed those who are unfamiliar with the material - it really feels like half a movie. It's all extremely well made with gargantuan sets, superbly rendered costumes, good make-up and hair design and fine special effects (even if they are more sparse than may be expected considering the settings).

Villeneuve and his co-writers Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth may have a grand take on Herbert's story in mind, but, it never truly takes off in this initial entry. Even considering that it only covers half the book, it feels constrained. Big sweeping landscapes, yet they somehow feel cramped and 'small'. The biggest issue is that the screenplay is extremely episodic. You can almost read the chapter headings (and visualize the gaps at the end of each chapter). Say what you will about Lynch's film, it felt mostly complete (and Herbert praised it for that). Here, even the various episodes, even those that are labored and drawn out, never truly play as complete. Everything seems like a set-up for Part II (even if some of the characters and situations won't be addressed there). It's exposition without clarity.

The large cast is mostly good, with Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Atreides taking the acting honors. Oscar Isaac is his reliable self as Duke Atreides and Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa provide sturdy support. Poor Stellen Skarsgard is asked to do a version of Brando's Kurtz as Baron Harkonnen and Stephen McKinley Henderson has the tall order of trying to match Freddie Jones' eccentric Thufir Hawat from the 1984 film. Sharon Duncan-Brewster makes an impact as Dr. Kynes. Zendaya hasn't much to do in Part One as Chani. But, it is Timothee Chalamet's take on central character Paul Atreides that is the most problematic. Chalamet overdoes the callow youth depiction in the early sections of the movie, and never quite reaches the maturity the character requires even by the midpoint where this film ends. Even worse, by tossing some of his lines off nonchalantly, the modern colloquialisms are even more out of place than they surely were on the page.

Part One almost by definition requires an "Incomplete" for its grade. There are some reasons to be hopefully for the concluding half, even if they are outweighed by the doubts.