Dune 2021 Movie Discussion

[Herbert]

If you're a science fiction fan you need to run(not walk) to theaters and see this as soon as possible. If you're not into seeing the movie in theaters you can still see it at home on HBO Max.

In terms of pure cinematography this movie is a masterpiece. The only other sci-fi movies that come close to this type of grand scale is Star Wars. But to be honest I can't think of any other movie that gives you that wow feeling. There are some scenes in this movie that are just absolutely epic.

The acting all around was pretty good. In a movie like this, the fear is that the special effects, technology and set pieces render the acting almost insignificant. I'm happy to report that's not the case in Dune. Everybody did a pretty solid job with their character. My favorite of course was Oscar Issac. I wish he could have had a lot more scenes. I like him far more as Duke Atriedes than I did his role in star wars when he plays Poe Dameron.

Timothée Chalamet does his job as young Paul Atriedes but for all the scenes that he's in, he really doesn't get a true chance to shine. There are no  stirring speeches like in Netflix's 'the King'. 

I'll be honest, I'm bias when reviewing this movie so it was really hard for me to grade this fairly. But if I'm being absolutely honest as a movie watcher not a Dune fan, I found the pacing to be really really annoying. Movies and shows that break the flow and have a lot of dream sequences tend to have pacing issues. I felt like there were a lot of scenes that were cut out of the movie. I understand that Dune is more of a slow burn and is not necessarily a thriller but it felt like there were a lot of scenes that led to nowhere, like ideas and plot points introduced only to be literally killed off lol which was disappointing.

There is a lot of story to tell and you can't tell it all in one movie. However, for the most part Dune executes it pretty well. My only problem is that some of the background political machinations were not properly explained.

I'm sure most people will be extremely satisfied with the musical score. It sounds like an epic. The score perfectly matches the cinematography.

Science fiction fans are gonna like the technology, the prophecies, the creatures, the cool abilities etc. The way they've brought everything to life is incredible. 

Verdict
All in all I think Dune is great movie that just has a few pacing issues and that ultimately holds it back from being a masterpiece. Right now, with it still fresh in my mind, I give Dune a strong 8.