History YMMV / Dune2021

** Likewise as per tradition, with the [[Franchise/StarWars Star Wars franchise]]. Given the sheer amount of inspiration Star Wars took from Dune combined with the general slump of the franchise of the Disney-era, it is not uncommon to see disgruntled and disillusioned Star Wars fans migrate to Dune. Most fans of Dune never viewed Star Wars as an equal anyways; viewing the franchise after the Disney buy-out as a hollow shell. Supporters of Dune view the series as a more mature and darker epic than the Star Wars formula which further adds to the general apathy of Dune fans towards Star Wars.

* FandomRivalry: With [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel's]] ''Film/{{Eternals}}''. Both movies are sci-fi fantasy {{Epic Movie}}s with complex worlds and long runtimes and released at similar times. Villeneuve also criticized superhero movies for "turning people into zombies" and former MCU actor Creator/JoshBrolin commented that he preferred the practical sets of ''Dune'' over the MCU's CGI. This combined with "Marvel fatigue" led to a FlameWar between ''Dune'' and ''Eternals'' fans. On the other hand, Creator/ChloeZhao praised ''Dune'' as she was shown the movie before the release personally by Villeneuve and even stated that the imagery of Villeneuve's work had been it was an inspiration for ''Eternals''. In return, Villeneuve also commended Zhao and her filmmaking style, expressing hope that it would bring something new to the MCU.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Many feared that various factors would potentially leave Creator/DenisVilleneuve's planned two-part adaptation of the original story [[StillbornFranchise doomed to be only half-finished]], given the fact that ''Dune'' is a slow-paced, complicated narrative, the AcclaimedFlop status of his previous sci-fi blockbuster ''Film/BladeRunner2049'', and the day-and-date streaming status provided by Creator/HBOMax (which opened the movie up to piracy due to HD copies of the film being easier to distribute) due to the issues with the ongoing UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic (which was still depressing box office turnout around the world). The fact that the US release date was boxed in the middle of other expected blockbusters like ''Film/VenomLetThereBeCarnage'', ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' and ''Film/{{Eternals}}'' also led to concerns about the movie being crowded out of the spotlight (a fate which befell ''Film/TheLastDuel'' just a week before ''Dune''). Yet the movie consistently overperformed to expectations around the world (with the exception of China, where it was crushed by local super-blockbuster ''The Battle at Lake Changjin''), thanks in part due to a staggered international release strategy that helped build up good word-of-mouth ahead of its arrival in several key markets, and it managed to defy expectations to become Warner Bros.'s most successful day-and-date movie since the likes of ''Film/GodzillaVSKong''. It then got a whopping ''ten'' Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, which rarely happens for sci-fi films, and won ''six'' of them, making it the most-decorated movie of the 2022 Oscars. As such, Legendary quickly greenlit the sequel mere days after it opened in the United States.

!!YMMV tropes with their own pages:

[[index]]
* [[Memes/Dune2021 Memetic Mutation]]
[[/index]]

* FightSceneFailure: The movie follows the original novel's rule that personal shields stop high-speed attacks while being easy to penetrate by slower hits, but the choreography gets quite inconsistent with this through the film. Paul, Gurney and occasionally Duncan are forced to grapple in order to slash slowly (there are even pellet bullets that slow down by themselves so they can pierce shields), yet Duncan and the Sardaukar are generally able to smash through shields with regular-speed strikes, to the point it's possible to forget how shields are supposed to work altogether by the point the Harkonnen attack happens. Most egregiously, the blow that mortally wounds [[spoiler:Duncan himself]] is a full run stab.[[labelnote:From the books...]]Paul mentions at one point that "shields did not count when a body's momentum could be used against it," but 1. This still doesn't justify the full-run stab, which is literally the opposite of "You can stab a body that's running at you"; 2. This rule is never actually stated in the film and therefore might not apply to it. We also can't turn to the fight in which the quote was used, because that fight -- against [[spoiler:Jamis]] -- once again does not involve getting your opponent to run into your knife.[[/labelnote]]

* BrokenBase: Unsurprisingly, regarding which is the better ''Dune'' adaptation between this one and the [[Film/Dune1984 1984 movie]] from Creator/DavidLynch, though with very few exceptions, even those who prefer Lynch's ''Dune'' think that Villeneuve's ''Dune'' is a superb adaptation. The 2021 ''Dune'' was better received by critics, was a commercial success and is much more faithful to the books (in no small part thanks to the larger running time). Nonetheless, there's some people who still prefer the 1984 ''Dune'' because of its aesthetics, its cast, even its large amount of {{Camp}}/ChewingTheScenery, arguing that it adds to the movie's appeal rather than hurting it. It's up to debate how much NostalgiaFilter plays a role.

* BrokenBase: Unsurprisingly, regarding which is the better ''Dune'' adaptation between this one and the [[Film/Dune1984 1984 movie]] from Creator/DavidLynch, though with very few exceptions, even those who prefer Lynch's ''Dune'' think that Villeneuve's ''Dune'' is a superb adaptation. The 2021 ''Dune'' was better received by critics, was a commercial success and takes advantage of the increased running time to omit much less stuff from the books. Nonetheless, there's some people who still prefer the 1984 ''Dune'' because of its aesthetics, its cast, even its large amount of {{Camp}}/ChewingTheScenery, arguing that it adds to the movie's appeal rather than hurting it. It's up to debate how much NostalgiaFilter plays a role.

* AwardSnub: Despite the movie gaining ten UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations including Best Picture, Creator/DenisVilleneuve wasn't nominated for Best Director which is strange given that he was nominated in many critics' association awards including the Director's Guild. As Creator/JoshBrolin puts it, "I don't know how you get 10 nominations and then the guy who has done the impossible with that book doesn't get nominated. It makes you realize that it's all amazing and then it's all fucking totally dumb!" It then lost both its non-technical awards to ''{{Film/CODA|2021}}'', which some considered to reflect the Academy's longtime SciFiGhetto. It did win plenty of technical awards elsewhere though.
** There's a theory that they're doing the ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' thing and ''Part 2'' will clean house.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** The Sardaukar. In [[Film/Dune1984 Lynch's adaptation]] and in the [[Series/FrankHerbertsDune 2000 miniseries]] they were barely acknowledged and for the most part [[WTHCostumingDepartment looked goofy]] (wearing black hazmat suits in 1984, then black armor offset by large puffy hats in 2000) disappointing many readers. In this adaptation however, they are depicted as a warrior cult who make human sacrifices, look like Vikings when unmasked, talk in BlackSpeech, and wear white bodysuits which make them like [[Franchise/StarWars Stormtroopers]] on steroids. Their introduction scene in Salusa Secundus with throat-singing and their weird rituals cemented them as fan-favorites and made them popular in the old and new fanbase.
** The Sardaukar muezzin especially has received a lot of memes and fan art for a character who is literally in the movie for less than 30 seconds.

** There's a theory that they're doing the Film/TheLordOfTheRings thing and ''Part 2'' will clean house.

** Creator/StellanSkarsgard portrays Baron Harkonnen in this film, a monstrous leader who conspires with the forces of an evil galactic empire to try to keep himself as powerful as possible. Skarsgard would later go on to play Luthen in ''Series/{{Andor}}'', a benevolent character who fights against [[Franchise/StarWars the most famous Galactic Empire in all of cinematic history]].

* HilariousInHindsight: The film opened the same day as ''Film/TheFrenchDispatch'', in which Creator/TimotheeChalamet’s character keeps referring to his alleged “new muscles.” Which just makes Duncan Idaho’s crack about Paul’s lack of new muscles in ''Dune'' even funnier.

* SignatureScene: The scene with the Sardaukar in Salusa Secundus is probably the most talked about in the entire movie, due to both its creepily badass overtone singing and the not any less imposing scenery. A fine cinematic display of EvilIsCool.

* BrokenBase: Some fans didn't like the overall direction of the movie, the music being more generic when compared to Brian Eno's score for the 1984 version, Zendaya being incredibly stilted as Chani... the list goes on. There have even been Villeneuve fans who didn't like the film.

** Overall the movie was a very faithful adaptation to the spirit of the book, but unfortunately it did not include Idaho's OffscreenMomentOfAwesome wheó} n he fooled the Harkonnens into shooting a shield with a lasgun, resulting in a small nuclear explosion that wiped out much of their forces. Notably due to the fact that the "never shoot shields with a laser" rule is never mentioned in the film. Instead, Duncan steals a thopter and uses it to lay waste to the Harkonnen forces at the spaceport.

* TheScrappy: Nobody, not even the most die-hard fans of the movie, like this version of Liet-Kynes, as the character is seen as: 1) a case of forced diversity in a book already heavily inspired by foreign cultures, and with proper strong female characters to boot 2) as absolutely ''pointless'' because most of Liet's story arc got AdaptedOut of the story of the movies, which is seen as a very big plothole

** Overall the movie was a very faithful adaptation to the spirit of the book, but unfortunately it did not include Idaho's OffscreenMomentOfAwesome when he fooled the Harkonnens into shooting a shield with a lasgun, resulting in a small nuclear explosion that wiped out much of their forces. Notably due to the fact that the "never shoot shields with a laser" rule is never mentioned in the film. Instead, Duncan steals a thopter and uses it to lay waste to the Harkonnen forces at the spaceport.

* UncannyValley: We never get a good look of the creature in the Baron's throne room, but its spider-like appearance does not make it particularly creepy. The fact that each limb looks far too human however, does. The servants in the Harkonnen court, who all have glossy, hairless and stark white skin and solid black eyes, also look like mannequins come to life.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: In one of the subtlest occurrences of this, this film '''finally''' gets the Eyes of Ibad right, after the David Lynch version had to use a post-production effect that made the eyes appear to glow blue, the first installment of the miniseries embraced the glowing blue (so the glow was drowned out in direct light), and the second installment of the miniseries just use blue iris contact lenses. Here, the eyes do look just fully and entirely blue.

* BrokenBase: Some fans didn't like the overall direction of the movie, the dubious decision to genderswap Liet Kynes purely for the sake of diversity in an adaptation of a novel that was already very diverse and with a strong female charater in Lady Jessica, the music being more generic when compared to Brian Eno's score for the 1984 version, Zendaya being incredibly stilted as Chani... the list goes on. There have even been Villeneuve fans who didn't like the film.

* CommonKnowledge: Many early impressions made mention of the movie "missing" various elements that were never in the original book and were, in fact, complete fabrications by Creator/DavidLynch for the 1984 version. Ironically, the opposite is also true, as the film incorporates a lot of elements and aesthetic choices that hail from the 1984 film and aren't in the book either.

* NarmCharm: Let's not kid ourselves, the sandworm design looks like an anus. Jokes about it are everywhere, even between fans, and that's not even going into the phallic imageries the sandworms would always have. ''But'' lots of animals and especially worms ''do'' look like that, so the circular mouth brings to mind a real insect. Between this and the "fangs", the design looks like a leech's mouth, while also having the symbolism of an eye, combining the alien and the believably biological. Jokes or not, many do believe the sandworms look majestic and intimidating.

** Leto's, and later Paul's, emphasis on harnessing the power of Arrakis's resources and people to make House Atreides stronger than ever before makes complete sense, but calling it "desert power" is an awkward way of phrasing it (after the initial comparison to sea and air power). The movie emphasizes that phrase a couple of times during otherwise serious scenes, which leads to a bit of unintentional hilarity. (It is straight from the book though.)

* AwardSnub: Despite the movie gaining ten UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations including Best Picture, Creator/DenisVilleneuve wasn't nominated for Best Director which is strange given that he was nominated in many critics' association awards including the Director's Guild. As Creator/JoshBrolin puts it, "I don't know how you get 10 nominations and then the guy who has done the impossible with that book doesn't get nominated. It makes you realize that it's all amazing and then it's all fucking totally dumb!" It then lost both its non-technical awards to ''{{Film/CODA|2021}}'', which some considered to reflect the Academy's longtime SciFiGhetto.

** The Sardaukar priest is onscreen for approximately 5 seconds, but makes such an impression with his loud, intimidating chanting that he pretty much immediately became this film's equivalent of [[Film/MadMaxFuryRoad the Doof Warrior]]. Part of his chant is also heard at the very start of the movie even before the company {{Vanity Plate}}s, booming out from an all-black screen and subtitled "Dreams are messages from the deep", basically jolting the audience into paying attention.

* AwardSnub: Despite the movie gaining ten UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations including Best Picture, Creator/DenisVilleneuve wasn't nominated for Best Director which is strange given that he was nominated in many critics' association awards including the Director's Guild. As Creator/JoshBrolin puts it, "I don't know how you get 10 nominations and then the guy who has done the impossible with that book doesn't get nominated. It makes you realize that it's all amazing and then it's all fucking totally dumb!" It then lost both its non-technical awards to ''{{Film/Coda}}'', which some considered to reflect the Academy's longtime SciFiGhetto.

** Despite [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter his lack of screen time]], the Baron has quite a few fans thanks to his genuinely unsettling appearance, as well as Creator/StellanSkarsgaard's performance perfectly portraying the ruthless and cunning schemer that he was in the novel. Skarsgård also achieved the not small feat of making fans accept a stark AdaptationPersonalityChange, as his portrayal of the Baron gives the character a gravitas and dignity than his novel version lacked.