Henry Chang

Last night I hobbled out and saw "Dune" in IMAX with a couple of friends. First movie night since "Joker" well before the pandemic and let's just say it was well worth it. The trailers for Denis Villenueve's 2021 version of Dune looked promising (especially the one with the remixed version of Dark Side of the Moon) and the psychological scars of being tortured by the awful 1984 version had faded away so I was actually excited to give this new adaptation a try. From the very first scene it looked like what Frank Herbert had described in the book. The planet was desolate, yet beautiful, the Bene Gesserit were sufficiently extraordinary, yet cold-hearted and unworthy of sympathy and the Harkonnens were all they should have been: gluttonous, malevolent, Machiavellian and cruel. The first half hour of the movie was pretty slow, but for me, it was the best part because that was the "reveal" when this movie first evoked what Frank Herbert described in his books. I know it's subjective, but to me, everything looked "right". It brought tears to my eyes even though the movie was just setting the table. Probably the result of 37 years of never addressing the PTSD caused by the viewing of the terrible 1984 Dune. Denis Villeneuve, you've done justice to Frank Herbert. I cannot offer enough congratulations and I'll dare to say that you've liberated millions of frustrated Dune fanboys/fangirls. The only shame is some of them didn't live long enough to see this. I doubt the movie will have the same impact for people who aren't familiar with the Dune universe (by reading the books). There's a lot to digest in a short period of time and the end of the movie will leave first timers hanging because it ends in the middle of the book. There's no climax, there's no end to the story. But to anyone who read the book and despised the 1984 Dune the same way that I do - I'm going to say that Dune 2021 is for you. It looks right, it feels right. The sound is incredible (Hans Zimmer has outdone himself). The Fremen feel right. Duncan Idaho is definitely right. Even the sandworms look right. And the desert . . . . . it's just beautiful.