Dune (2021)

It's the Dune I wanted and the Dune I needed.

It's pretentious! Ponderous! A little bit silly at times! More sand than a movie set on Tatooine! Some great visuals around a plot that needs a lot of exposition!

It's....Dune.

Man, I did enjoy this translation of a weird and long novel (well, the first half) to the screen. I quite like the David Lynch version for all its faults, but this is a much tighter movie that hangs together better and is similarly almost perfectly cast (my one issue is maybe writing in that it makes Lady Jessica look kind of weepy in parts but she's terrified for her family in a way that she can't quite express to Leto and I'm a bit forgiving of that). But overall, this is a darn good start and here's hoping it does well enough that Villeneuve gets to make more of these.

Also, see this in the theater. It's worth it.

★★★★

2020 - Adapted by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth from the novel by Frank Herbert,  Directed by Denis Villeneuve.