DUNE & Denis Villeneuve's Sense of Scale
- Glendon Frank
- Oct 25, 2021
- 6 min read
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Denis Villeneuve is the most exciting director working today.
Sure, Christopher Nolan is still out there doing whatever wild thing he decides to do next. You all know my undying love for Rian Johnson’s work. I’ll go out and watch Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, I guess, just because she’ll knock it out of the park. And while Wes Anderson has an insanely consistent filmography, Villeneuve just might beat him out.
I can’t think of a single movie Villeneuve has made that hasn’t wowed me in some way. I watched Arrival in a cramped side-room of my campus on a makeshift theatre set-up with a few friends, and it embedded itself into my brain in a way no other movie has. The long, solemn shots of Amy Adams in her house, the uniquely alien way he depicted his aliens. The mechanics and the unique way the narrative unfolded screwed with me on such an exciting psychological level. That was my first Denis movie, and nothing has been the same since. Before then, with Sicario, Denis teamed up with legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins and created a movie that was almost distractingly pretty. The beautiful landscapes were sharply juxtaposed against the harshness of the content, and the violence of America’s war on crime. Then, Villeneuve did the impossible with Blade Runner 2049 and made a sequel to a movie that came out 35 years earlier, and quite possibly surpassed the original. And that’s without mentioning the two movies he put out in 2013 with Jake Gyllenhaal, both of which are intense, cerebral thrillers in very different ways. Every movie the man puts out is his best movie.
When it was announced that my boy Denis was tackling Dune, I was ecstatic. Although I hadn’t (and still haven’t!) read the original Frank Miller novel, I knew about its huge reputation and that any movie adaption would need to be big enough to match. Villeneuve’s previous success, especially with Blade Runner 2049, made him an ideal candidate. Hans Zimmer was turning down Tenet in order to fulfill a dream opportunity to score a Dune movie, stepping into the shoes sadly left when Villeneuve’s usual collaborator Johann Johannsson passed away in 2018. Dune quickly assembled an insane cast, featuring hot up-and-coming names like Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya, as well modern legends like Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, and Josh Brolin. And, of course, David Dastmalchian, my favourite character actor working right now. That isn’t an exhaustive list, by the way. They really assembled a crew of some of the best people working today. Dune was going to be legendary, one way or another.
Then, came the scares. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the film almost a year back into an increasingly uncertain theatre market. Villeneuve had insisted that a film adaption of Dune needed to be two parts, but confirmation of the second parts’ production relied on a healthy release of part one. If Villeneuve’s Dune was going to be finished, it would need to be a success, and COVID seemed a direct threat. Releases during the summer of 2021 had half-hearted turnouts, with many moviegoers still trepidatious and uncertain about theatre safety. The situation was further complicated by Warner Bros’ statement that any future releases would be launched first on HBO streaming, a move that would certainly kill any theatre revenue and dramatically knee cap the income for a movie like Dune. Not to mention that people were hesitant that general audiences would flock to a high-concept science-fiction epic in the first place – while Blade Runner 2049 was a gorgeous critical darling, audience turn-out was negligible, leading to it mostly being a flop in theatres. Dune already had a bit of a sour reputation, with David Lynch’s 1984 adaption largely being a source of scorn. Was Villeneuve’s space opera destined to be left half-finished?
Well, after years of anxious waiting, it seems like we have an answer. The movie’s release on HBO has been properly synced with the theatre release, which in itself has vastly exceeded expectations. People are coming out in droves for this movie, and audience scores are shockingly high. I was pleasantly surprised to see the opening title card read “DUNE: Part One.” Villeneuve has unshakable confidence, a confidence that’s been well-earned if his past work is any proof. But what about Dune? Is it good? Does it live up to the hype?
How do I even talk about this movie, other than to say that it is huge. I watched Dune in IMAX and it feels like the biggest damn movie I’ve ever seen. I genuinely feel obligated to write its name in uppercase because of his big this movie is. It’s not Dune, it’s DUNE. The score feels gigantic. The characters loom larger than life. The scale is insane. The sandworms are too big even for the IMAX cameras. If nothing else, this is an obligated watch for the sheer size of it alone.
See, if there’s any one thing that Villeneuve does, it’s command an audience’s sensory experience. Sometimes it’s feeling the depth and brevity of loss, as in Prisoners. Sicario consistently conveys a clear sensation of dread; one shot has always stood out to me, where the FBI drives into El Juarez on a practically empty highway while the highway heading out of the city beside them is crammed full, telling you everything you need to know about the situation. The precise control of information in movies like Arrival and Enemy, and the way that tight control impacts the audience, is downright mesmerizing. In Dune, Villeneuve’s talents are put to work creating a sheer experiential journey. Sure, a lot of information is thrown at the audience as Villeneuve’s cast works effortlessly through the dense worldbuilding of the novel. But most of watching this movie is about the ride. The feeling of every absurdly massive ship touching down. The sight of the wide expanse of dunes(!). The borderline religious sense of awe inspired by every worm scene. You don’t simply watch this movie, you feel it.
I think it’s telling that despite Dune’s 150+ minute runtime, I would have freely sat down for a full five-hour movie. Something about the way Villeneuve depicts this world is so enticing. I want to keep spending time in the constantly shifting political drama, in the open-ended skies of Arrakis, with the careful development of Paul Atreides. It honestly didn’t feel very long at all, every scene draws you in so thoroughly that the runtime fades into the aether. There’s a scene about halfway through (I think??) where a character is really just guiding Chalamet and Oscar Isaac through the world and I was like, yes. Make this the whole movie. Who needs a plot, let’s just explore this beautiful dangerous environment. Give me big, swelling scores, and towering spaceships. Also Jason Mamoa as the coolest character named "Duncan Idaho." Let’s just do this forever.
On that note, this is very much half of a story. I think the ending is right, but it is not the end of Paul’s arc and it certainly feels like the story doesn’t yet thematic cohere. In a way, Dune feels like today’s Lord of the Rings. It’s huge and expansive, but also very much meant to eventually be viewed as a singular story. When all is said and done, hopefully both parts will be expansive well-made works in their own right, but you really ought to be watching the whole thing together. Which isn’t to disparage Part 1! This movie is definitely worth seeing on the biggest screen you can catch it on. It just means that I’m waiting with bated breath for Villeneuve’s sequel, and hopeful for the time that I can watch them back-to-back in a grand five-hour marathon. Until then, I’ll just have to watch this one about another five times in theatres.
So far, the gamble seems to be paying off. In its opening weekend, Dune has made over 40 million domestically and over 220 million worldwide. It’s legitimately wild to see critics and popular audiences all coming together to delight in this wild esoteric political space thriller. Is it just the sheer otherworldly scale? Are people just genuinely interested in subtle conversations about the way political in-fighting impacts other populations? Is the cast enough to draw people in? Or are we just all that excited for giant sandworms? Does it really matter, or are we happy enough to be here for the ride? Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan are both out here putting huge budgets into weird experiential “vibe” movies and I’m so incredibly here for it. This movie is going to go big and everyone ought to go see it; I think this is going to be the next big cultural touchstone. I first wrote this article like immediately after watching the movie because I needed to get all my thoughts out, and it didn't work because I'm still obsessively thinking about how cool Dune was. I don't know how many times I can say, you should be watching Dune.
As much as I enjoyed the fun comic book movies and the weirdness of The Green Knight, Dune feels like it’s the movie marking a huge return to cinemas. This is what going to the movies is all about. Villeneuve has crafted an experience like no other, and I really hope he’s able to meet its level for Part 2, whenever that comes out. Also, please release an extended edition, Denis.
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