Don’t underestimate Dune. Do not consider it just any toy, business tool and yardstick of the technological level reached by the cinema. The bar is raised: Denis Villeneuve, who plays the credit of Arrival (2016), crosses the finish line of premonition, disturbing, metaphorical post-pandemic science fiction. Dune the first part of a diptych based on the sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert from which David Lynch drew an unsuccessful but not negligible blockbuster in 1984 which also passed into Alejandro Jodorowski’s head. It speaks of a divided universe without tolerance, of a holy war to be fought between traps and betrayals, of cutthroats, infamous and hooded, masters of arms, Shakespearean witches and sorrowful kings crushed with guilt. Of a fiery desert that becomes a sea without water and an invincible monster, of sands inhabited by murderous worms. Of a young prince who becomes an adult, of the drug of power, of soldiers without glory and rebels with blue eyes in search of a reason to believe.
Dreams are beautiful, but things happen when we are awake. Distances are canceled out, evil takes over. The worlds are close to a drastic Change, and a painful change. The disputed land Arrakis, third planet of the star Canopus: any reference to Middle Eastern chaos is legitimate. Says Chai, the young Fremen warrior (Zendaya): Arrakis so beautiful when the sun low. He swirls over the sand, you see the spice in the air. The spice is a red-colored hallucinogen that cancels the pain: Arrakis for this wealth has become a land of conquest. The disgusting Arkonnens drool over that treasure.
The emperor of the universe asks for help from the wise Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac). He then moves with his concubine Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), educated by the witch-seers of Bene Gesserit, and her son Paul Atreides (Timothe Chalamet). The young man prepares for succession in a virtual ring with knight Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa) and commander Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin). He has good qualities but finds it hard to express them and every night he has very black visions. In fact, that meeting was an ambush. Everything is set up for all hell to break loose: everyone against everyone towards the final battle and the second episode of the show.
The fantasy holds up the long duration with ease, despite the majority of situations skimming the predictable. With a magnificent cast for silhouettes and profiles (with Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgard) and a luxurious, hectic, geometric setting entrusted to the photography by Greig Fraser, the scenography by Patrice Vermette, the music by Hans Zimmer, the special effects by Gerd Nefzer, Dune a champion of modern fantasy. The energies are released and Villeneuve conveys them with epic balance. Timothe Chalamet the best of interpreters: a prince-chick who feels the weight of a world in ruins on his shoulders.
DUNE by Denis Villeneuve
(Usa, 2021, duration 155 ‘)
con Timothe Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Charlotte Rampling, Stellan Skarsgard
Rating: *** ++ out of 5
In the halls
18 September 2021 | 07:38
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