Sitting atop a list of the “30 Most Popular Movies Right Now” on Rotten Tomatoes, Dune (2021) has been a hit so far in the box office, already bringing in a gross total of $84,116,356 since October 22. This new sci-fi flick is directed by Dennis Villenueve and is starring Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, and Emmy Award-Winning actress Zendaya.
The movie begins with Zendaya as narrator, telling us about a desert planet named Arrakis, which has been run by the Harkonnen family for more than 80 years. Arrakis is no ordinary planet though, as it is home to the most valuable resource in the world, spice.
Spice has many uses, the most important one being space travel. Without spice, space travel is impossible. Not only can it be used to find space between stars, but it is also a sacred hallucinogen for the people who call Arrakis home, a tribe of people known as the Fremen. Spice has allowed the Fremen to adapt to the harsh conditions of their planet. Dangerous and unreliable, the Fremen have developed blue eyes through prolonged use of spice. Although the Fremen are very dangerous, they are not even the biggest threat there. That would be the Shai-Hulud, enormous worms that slither underneath the sand, following any vibrations they detect.
After the Emperor orders the Harkonnen family to retreat from Arrakis, he names the Atriedies family the new leader of Arrakis in an attempt to bring peace to the planet. Duke Leto Atriedies and his son, Paul, travel to Arrakis to take over the spice mining. They successfully begin mining spice with the equipment left by the Harkonnens, but things run smoothly for only so long. Watch Dune if you would like to find out what goes terribly wrong for the Atriedies family as they attempt to govern this new planet.
Although the concept behind the movie is intriguing, I personally recommend that you refrain from wasting two and a half hours of your life watching this movie. Throughout
the entire filmI was waiting for something huge to happen, but it never came. When the movie ended, I was very disappointed with the way the director wrapped it up. The movie was extremely boring with not a lot going on, just unnecessary dramatic camera shots that took away from the plot.
It was recently released that Dune: Part 2 is going to hit theaters in 2023. It seemed as if the director focused a little too much on setting up the second movie without making the first movie intriguing enough. I found myself losing interest very early on. Director David Villeneuve could have put more content in the second half. From the beginning to the end, the movie referred to Chani through Paul’s dreams, even though she was not introduced until the final 15 minutes.
Overall, this movie was not worth watching. I kept waiting for this large climax, but I was let down. Dune had a lot of potential but, sad to say, it never reached it.