I'm honestly surprised that all three of the reviews so far have been negative, considering that it has an 83% Fresh critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 90% Fresh audience score and I haven't heard about any significant portion of viewers who dislike the film.
Speaking as one of the three or four reviewers on this site who had many problems with Thor Ragnarok was that movie was getting undiluted critical praise, it happens.
Frankly, I think it\'s more of a hype effect. After so many cinematic disasters in the latest years, Dune more or less actually delivered some of what it promised instead of being a complete wreck. After some years I expect the hype to wane and people to look back into this movie and not see it with such amazing praise.
this might be an uncharitable read, but, in my perusal of positive reviews, i haven\'t found one that explores the thematic underpinning of the film itself, especially as it stands on its own. i don\'t really know what dune is trying to communicate to its audience beyond the fact that it is dune: the movie. based on the conversations i\'ve had with people who enjoy the film, that\'s mostly what they got out of it: just enough of the shapes and signifiers that make dune, well, dune that they can more fully explore their own conceptualization of the setting and story. there was a lot of talk of them \"filling in blanks\" around the movie\'s dune-like skeleton, at any rate. and for the people who aren\'t really familiar with dune, it\'s probably at least an intriguing experience.
While I actually agree with you all, I\'d like to reiterate that I thoroughly enjoyed the film, or at least the experience of watching it in a theater post-Covid. If my review looks so negative, it\'s more becase my complaints as a Dune adaptation outnumber its virtues as a film, even if they don\'t necessarily outweigh them.
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A brainless spectacle for the senses
Can you call yourself surprised if you were surprised right there where you knew you would be surprised? While you think on that Zensunni koan, I will say the film's visuals, soundtrack and aesthetic choices, while not perfect, were enough to make me enjoy it immensely, just as I had predicted back when I found out Villeneuve was going to helm it. However, I cannot deny that, just as I had also predicted, the film's script is all over the place. I found the same exact situation in Blade Runner 2049, which makes me think Villeneuve is starting to be exposed as a style-over-substance kind of director, only with very good publicity.
Moreover, the film seems awfully indecisive about whether pandering to the old Dune fans or the newbies to the franchise. On one hand, it explains so little that the latter group will be utterly confused about the overarching story other than the typical house war a la Game of Thrones. On the other hand, there are so many changes done to the setting and characters that the former group (where I stand) could easily find it a lost chance. And on a third hand, it's undeniable that this film at times looks more like a remake to the 1984 film than an adaptation of the novel. If you want me to guess, I'd say Villeneuve likely saw the old film and then read the novel's Wikipedia articles before making this film, rather than actually reading the novel.
The sets, costumes and effects are absolutely great, but what they cover is not always nice. While I did like the portrayal of the Sardaukar, the Duke, Paul himself and the people of Arrakis, many of the other changes are just plain boring. The Baron is now a depressed ogre, Chani is now a cookie-cutter aloof rebel heroine, Gurney is a meathead with anger issues, Mohiam is forgettable, Stilgar looks completely uninspired... And the story doesn't get much better, as after the Harkonnen attack happens, there is... simply not much more in the film, as odd as it might sound in a product that tries to adapt the book into two parts.
It hurts me as a Dune fan to say this, but the right way to enjoy this film, regardless of whether you read the novel or not, is unplugging the brain and enjoying exclusively with your eyes and ears. It's excellent that way, I promise, but don't try to dig deeper.