‘Dune’ movie review: Denis Villeneuve serves up awe-inspiring, yet morose epic
The Hindu
A spectacular imagining no doubt, but if the movie had not been so much in love with its own portentousness, it would have been unbridled fun
It is finally here, after seeing the trailers forever, it is glorious fun to watch Denis Villeneuve’s spectacular imagining of the iconic Frank Herbert science-fiction novel Dune (1965). Herbert combined his interests in the environmental cost of progress, the concentration of messianic religions in deserts and T.E. Lawrence’s story into Dune.
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The novel follows the fortunes of a young nobleman Paul, in a world riven by rivalry between feuding houses. The desert planet of Arrakis is wild and inhospitable, but of great value to the empire as it is the only place to produce melange or the spice which is necessary for interplanetary travel, apart from keeping a person young. The native population of Arrakis, the Fremen, survive the harsh conditions and are waiting for a messiah.