9/3/21 – PG-13 – 2h 36m – Warner Bros

Alan: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Michelle: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Dune: Part One is the futuristic story about a young boy with mystical powers who moves to a desert planet and must overthrow the oppressive government that killed his family. Dune is based on the book by Frank Herbert published twelve years before Star Wars (desert planets and oppressive governments killing the protagonist’s family were popular science fiction plots in the 1960s and 1970s apparently).

The story in the book is tremendously complex and long. This movie only covers the first half of the first book. It covers the move of House Atreides to the desert planet Arrakis, the treacherous murder of the Atreides family by House Harkonnen, the boy Paul Atreides’ escape into the desert, and his joining with the Arrakis natives known as Fremen.

Alan: I read the Dune books as a teenager. This is an excellent adaptation. A few characters are changed or merged. I think that is to be expected when a story as complex as Dune is compressed into a few hours. I’m glad that they decided to tell the story of the first book in two movies.

Michelle: Yes, by the end of this movie, I wanted to see the rest of the story. If they had to cut anything from the first movie to make it into a single movie with the second part, it would hurt the story.

Alan: The beginning moves quickly and not much is explained. I suspect it isn’t very accessible to someone not familiar with the source material.

Michelle: The beginning of the movie does not explain as well as a book. Later the movie shows enough of the story to understand the plot. Although, it doesn’t give as much depth in understanding the politics as reading the book. 

Alan: I loved the design of the ornithopters. The book described their airplanes as having flapping wings. I always had trouble visualizing that. Making them look like dragonflies was absolute genius. Design like this permeates the entire movie. You can tell that a lot of love and care went into making it.

Michelle: The set design and costumes were beautiful and made watching the movie even more enjoyable. The colors are all subdued grays, blues and khakis. The costumes are beautifully detailed and not flashy. If MoPop ever has the Dune costumes on display, I’m definitely going to that show. The cinematography is gorgeous as well. So many scenes would make excellent still photographs. The music is subtle and elegant. The music goes along well with the themes in the movie and doesn’t try to stand out and distract from the action of the movie. 

Alan: It is a visually stunning movie. The story is very complex but I was able to follow everything even though it has been decades since I read the book. I think it does well on a second or even third watch. I give it five stars.

Michelle: Dune: Part One lived up to the hype. I’m looking forward to Part Two. Five stars.