Based on the 1965 sci-fi novel of the same name by American author Frank Herbert, the 2021 adaptation of ‘Dune’ by French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve is exciting with its fair share of action sequences. Previously, two more films were made based on the novel but they didn’t do any justice to the book.
The novel was considered to be the greatest science fiction books ever written with 20 million copies sold but the previous two adaptations proved to be a disaster. While the 1984 version of ’Dune’ by David Lynch was fatally flawed with a dull narrative and menial imagery, Frank Pavich’s ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’ was a documentary that failed badly as it documented pretty much all subsequent screen sci-fi.
‘Dune’ 2021 outshines all because Villeneuve refuses to squish the whole book into a single film. He sensibly tackles only one section of the story by emphasizing more on the futuristic aspects of the book. Opening the film with the words “Part One” and closing with a statement “This is just the beginning”, Villeneuve’s ‘Dune: Part 1’ promises a bona fide epic experience connoting that there’s more to the story.
Written by Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth with Villeneuve, the film is set in the distant future in the year 10191 and revolves around Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) who is the descendent of a noble family. Along with his father Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) and mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), Paul makes his way towards the desert planet of Arrakis to take control from the previous owners Harkonnens. The Emperor banished the Harkonnens for their abusive behaviour but their cruel leader Baron Vladimir (Stellan Skarsgård) does not intend to give up easily.
Arrakis, also known as Dune, is not an empty desert for it holds many dangers like the giant deadly sandworms and the fierce desert-dwelling inhabitants called Fremen who live underground in elaborate warrens, constructing advanced technology to sustain themselves in difficult conditions. Despite this, Arrakis is a valuable possession as it is the source of ‘spice’, the most valuable substance in the universe for its life-enhancing properties.
It is said that whoever controls Arrakis controls spice as it gives them immense power. Hence, they both face each other in the fight for control of Arrakis. While Harkonnens wants to kill Fremen, Paul and his people are eager to help them because Paul thinks he is a Messiah, the Kwisatz Haderach, whom a religious Atreides woman Bene Gesserit (Charlotte Rampling) is trying to breed from generations. He was also having visions of the future where he sees a Fremen woman named Chani (Zendaya) and so he believes his instincts and fights to save both his tribe and the Fremen and bring peace to Arrakis once and for all.
Timothée Chalamet as Paul shows his natural charisma as he balances his power and understands how to follow his destiny. Oscar Isaac is noble as the Duke while Rebecca Ferguson steals the show as Lady Jessica as she is both enigmatic and fierce. Since Charlotte Rampling plays a serious religious figure, she covers her admirably straight face behind sinister black lace. Other than the opening narration, Zendaya as Chani is a peripheral figure in the film that barely appears on screen. But since Paul and his prophetic glimpses are a major part of the film, we might see her more in the second film.
One can’t deny that the filmmaker has done a great job at making a film which has a unique idea, lot of hard work and impressive conceptualisation, all in one. While cinematographer Greig Fraser, production designer Patrice Vermette and visual effects supervisor Paul Lambert portray everything, from ornithopters to vast spaceships and sandworms splashing through deserts, in a terrific way, editor Joe Walker and Villeneuve’s own storytelling manages to keep the story as intact as it was in Herbert’s book.
The sci-fi is beautifully executed and rightly explains why Villeneuve was waiting for the big screen outing of the film as some of its elements might have been lost on the small screen. Since ‘this is just the beginning’, as the ending of the film claims, viewers might have to return for ‘Part Two’ to complete Villeneuve’s vision of the book. 
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