Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show I'm your host Paul aka 'PAUL' (play the clip of Zendaya
saying Paul think it starts the trailer)
Dune is now here and throughout this video we're gonna be breaking down the movie, talking
about what happens next and also giving our thoughts on it as a whole.
Probably gonna get some heat for my review but we'll get into it and obviously there
will be heavy Spoiler here. If you enjoy the breakdown then please hit the thumbs up button
and don't forget to subscribe for videos like this each and every day.
With that out the way, thank you for clicking this, now let's get into DUNE.
Ok so something that was kept from most of the marketing is that Dune is actually part
one. The movie isn't a self contained story and Denis Villenueve has stated in interviews
that he's taken the first book and broke it up into two parts.
Because of this the movie very much ends at the mid point of the initial story but due
to it's closeness to the source material, we can pretty much guess what's gonna happen
next. I kinda wanna go through the plot and explain it with bits from the book in as I
know a lot of people are lost on the inner workings of it but if you wanna skip ahead
to what happens next then timecodes will be linked below.
Now even before the Studio logos come in, the movie starts with a caption saying that
Dreams are messages from the deep. This is a paramount thing throughout the movie and
we slowly watch as the prophecy foretold in dreams starts to unfold in the movie.
We pick up on the desert planet Arrakis and learn of spice, the Freman and evil House
Harkannon from a local there named Chani. Played by Zendaya, she narrates how the planet
was been harvested for it's rare and valuable minerals by the house and her people were
oppressed because of it. This was decreed by an overseer known as The Emporer who eventually
withdrew the Harkannons from the planet and in their place he put the House Of Atreides
which is pretty much the family that we follow in the movie. The Emperor very much sees the
Atreides as a future threat and thus he sends them to the planet to make sure that they're
snuffed out before they can rise up against him.
Initially many members of the Harkonnen see this as an act against them but as their leader
Baron Vladimir explains, it's not an act of love. The Emporer conspires with the Harkonnen
to bring ruin to the House and the Baron becomes the main antagonist in this first film.
Now Chani asks in the opening who the next oppressors will be but the Atreides, or what's
left of them, end up joining with the Freman at the end of the movie which somewhat makes
the Emperor's fear become a self fulfilling prophecy.
Now I wanna talk about Spice and why it's so valuable. It's the most priceless and elusive
substance in the universe and not only does it provide interstellar travel for the Imperium
but it also prolongs people's lifespan. Spice is difficult to get because giant Sandworms
patrol the planet and they attack anything that makes too much of a noise, including
the production vehicles.
Because of this Arrakis is highly contested and it's not long after the Atreides settle
in that they're attacked by the Harkonnen on several fronts. Now it's through all this
that we're introduced to our Protagonist Paul who is very much prophecised to be the next
space messiah. Paul dreams of Chani and several things from the future that eventually end
up coming to fruition and this is because he was trained by his mother in the ways of
the Bene Gesserit. They're basically a group of all female Jedis that have the ability
to mind control people and Paul has been trained in their ways since he was a child. His mother
Jessica was instructed by the religion to only bear a daughter due to their super selective
breeding programme but she went against this and trained Anaki...sorry Paul in the ways
of the Force.
Now straight up if you're watching this without really knowing the history of the book then
you might think that it's ripped a lot of things from Star Wars. There's of course a
desert planet, a chosen one, an Emporer, mystical magic and spice...which also in Star Wars
is called Spice.
However the DUNE book was released way before C3PO ever said he had a bad feeling about
this copyright claim and this was very much the blue print for what Lucas would go on
to do.
George Lucas admitted that Star Wars was heavily inspired by the novel and they're both sort
of like Poetry...they're pretty similar sounding.
Now early on in the movie we see Paul partaking in the Gomb Jabbar which is something that
basically tests person's humanity. The idea behind this is that the box puts someone through
sheer agony and if they were animalistic they'd yank their hand away on instinct. A human
however will have the ability to think beyond it and hold their hand in place to continue
to the test. What you might miss is that Paul is subjected to more pain than anyone ever
has been before and she is testing whether he is the chosen one.
Throughout the book we learn that Paul was actually part of a secretive eugenics program
that the Bene have carried out for millennia in the hopes of creating a superhuman known
as the Kwisatz Haderach. This is someone who's mind can bridge the past and future and bring
everyone into a higher form of living which is of course hinted at in Paul's dreams.
Also Gonna be honest, my pronunciation in this video is absolutely terrible and I've
heard this stuff so many times but I will still mess it up. Same way that I've heard
Scarlett Johanssen about 2000 times and I'm still like is it Johannseen or Jo-Hanssen.
father Leto in the hopes of having her freed.
Is it Jared Leto...or Jared Leeto...nevermind.
Now during this the Harkonnens attack the base and they completely destroy the fortitude
and wipe out most of the soldiers there. During this Paul and Jessica are captured and they're
flown out into the desert where they will be left to die. In this film the Mother Gaius
goes to the Baron and instructs him not to harm the pair and in doing this he is somewhat
keeping his deal.
Paul and Jessica only manage to escape because they Jedi Mind Trick the soldiers that capture
them into killing each other and they very much face the harshness of the desert on their
own. Back at the base Yueh gives Leto a fake tooth that releases a poisonous gas when someone
bites down on it and he tells him that he can kill the Baron as his final act if he
times it right.
The Baron arrives, tells Yueh he'll reunite him with his wife and kills him which is the
old, the old baddie trick.
Now during this scene Leto lures the Baron in close and he ends up biting down on the
tooth which releases the gas that kills everyone in the room except for the Baron.
Using his levitation technology, The Baron is able to narrowly survive the gas and he
hands over control of the planet to his Nephew Rabban played by Dave Bautista.
Spice production starts again once more and we see as Paul and Jessica reunite with one
of their houses most trusted fighters, Duncan Idaho.
Alongside him is Dr Liet Kynes who is a person with allegiances to both the Freman and the
Imperium.
After reaching an old research station they're attacked by the Sardaukar who were hired by
the Baron to help out in the coup. As prophecised Duncan ends up dying and Liet-Kynes sacrifices
herself by luring a Sandworm to their location.
This leaves just Paul and Jessica who come face to face with the Freman and Paul realises
he's finally met the woman of his dreams. Now the Freman are of course the natives of
the planet and due to living in the desert they value Moisture very highly. This is why
upon greeting the Atredies earlier in the movie, their leader Stilgar spits. Seen as
weak amongst his people, a fighter named Jamis wants to challenge Paul and Jessica in order
to impress his peers.
This leads to a final fight between he and Paul in which the latter easily wins. Paul
doesn't want to kill him but according to Freman law it must be a fight to the death
and thus Paul ends up killing the character.
He and his mother stay on Arrakis and they end up joining with the Freman in order to
tear down the oppressors of the planet and free the people. We see that they have truly
mastered the planet and all it's creatures as we catch a Freman member riding on the
back of a Sandworm. We're told this is only the beginning and realise that they now have
an army in which to fight the Harkonnen and whoever else should arrive.
Now Paul does end up coming the Muad'Dib which is a name that the Freman call Desert Mouse.
Throughout the film the character comes across at several points and it further hints towards
his abilities.
Going beyond the movie, part 2 will very much follow him becoming integrated with the Freman
and we will learn more about the selective breeding that created him. Paul slowly starts
to build his powers amongst their community and we also learn that Jessica is actually
the Baron's daughter. This was kept from her and it's quite a big gut punch that Lucas
definitely didn't take. (show darth vader I am your father)
We're just playing.
Now Jessica ends up undergoing a ritual in order to become a reverand mother that involves
drinking the poisonous water of life. Due to her pregnancy the baby is also given powers
in the womb and speaking of babies, Paul has a son with Chani called Leto the second.
Jessica's child is called Alia and she becomes quite important later on.
Gurney also reunites with them and we learn that he's become a smuggler on the planet.
In the desert Paul's powers grow and grow and he's eventually classed as the Messiah.
This news of a leader in the desert reaches the Baron and he starts to instruct his house
to oppress the people even further.
This is sort of a strategic play as well as he wants Rabban to be so bad that when he
appoints the next person to take over that they don't seem as bad even though they suck
as well.
As mentioned in the movie, The Emporer is very jealous and he sends spies to Arrakis
to monitor it which puts strain on the relationship he has with the house.
Now Gurney believes that Jessica is a traitor and he almost kills Jessica but Paul stops
this. Knowing that he didn't forsee this attack he too decides to drink the water of life
as it will increase his powers. However, being a man trying to tap into the power source
of an all female religion doesn't prove to be the smartest choice and he ends up passing
out after it.
Paul is conked out for a while but when he awakens he finally has the ability to see
across time and space and he's finally become the Kwisatz Haderach.
Using his new abilities he learns of the Emperor and Baron's plans and he uses this knowledge
to launch a Freman rebellion against the Harkonnen.
The Emporer arrives on the planet and he launches an attack which leads to the death of Leto
2.
During this Alia is captured and Paul and The Freman launch an attack on his stronghold
in which they ride on the back of sandworms.
destroy the spice mining facilities on the planet. Paul beats the Emperor's champion
and The Emp promises him his daughter's hand in marriage which is a plot point that's hinted
at in the movie.
Paul takes the throne but it's bittersweet as he realises that the Freman are now too
powerful to stop.
Now that's pretty much the story that I think will be covered in the sequel. I'm still a
bit unsure whether we will actually get one and that's because I have no idea how this
movie is gonna perform at the box office. Not only is it dropping on HBO Max alongside
its theatrical release but the movie was actually leaked earlier in the week. Add to that the
pandemic and I think it's gonna have a bit of an uphill battle in terms of turning a
profit.
Now I did hint before about not really geling with the movie that much but before discussing
my criticisms I wanna talk about the positives of the film first. I'm not someone who really
likes to come in and just slam movies and there is a lot of things that the film does
well.
Firstly the cinematography is absolutely incredible and Denis does a great job of bringing the
book to life. There's a lot of world building going on here and some amazing shots that
look like they were ripped right out of a painting. All of the performances are incredible
too and there's not an actor here that doesn't feel like they're not doing the best with
the material that they have.
The movie has an atmosphere to it and the attack scenes and environment all feels very
authentic leading to a great looking film.
I also absolutely loved the first hour and it completely hooked me in and left me thinking
that this was gonna be the masterpiece that I'd been told it was.
However after that first hour I think the pacing really really suffered. We kinda build
up to the part in which the Harkonnens attack and then from there the film gets a lot smaller
in scale, has a lot of wandering about and it doesn't really recapture the pace or energy
that it had earlier on. Even the last person that Paul fights feels like a major step down
in terms of action as it's someone he easily beats and it's not a character that feels
like they should be the final battle in a movie.
Looking at the way they've adapted the source material, I really think they've gone about
it the wrong way and the movie's structure makes it feel like it has a beginning, middle
and an end and then a beginning and a middle following on from that.
I'm gonna sat something super controversial here so hold onto your butts but I actually
think that A New Hope did a better job of adapting Dune than Dune did. Now what I mean
by that is that A New Hope introduces it's characters, the threat, we spend some time
on planet, face peril on the death star and then have a big blow out against the seemingly
unbeatable enemy which wraps up the movie.
Juxtaposing this Dune introducest the characters, the threat, we spend some time on a planet,
move there, lots of people die, we stay there and then just kinda wind down, introduce new
characters in the last 15 minutes and then we end the movie.
It's a weird way to tell the story and I think that it does massively effect the pacing of
the film and in the end it feels a bit bloated. I was actually saying to my friends that I
think it would've worked better if they'd spent longer at the front part of the movie
and then ended after the attack on the planet with Leto's death being what closed things
out and Paul barely escaping. Books also don't have to be adapted completely to remain faithful
either and I think that the movie could've ended with Paul and Jessica meeting the Freman,
Rabban showing up to get revenge for his uncle and the final showdown of the movie between
The Freman, Paul and his forces.
This would allow a big bad who's been laced throughout the movie to make an impact and
it would also show the Freman that Paul wasn't messing around.
A New Hope kept the pace up by having us jump from location to location, from planet to
planet but here we're stuck on the sand and though I know that's what happens in the book,
it feels a bit stagnant. Honestly it's kinda bloated and there's no real pay off. Knowing
that we are getting a sequel means that we can kinda push these criticisms to the side
and be like 'well we will get resolution' but if Warner Brother's pull the plug then
I dunno if this movie will feel like a smart move to lay the story out the way it did.
Now I'm not gonna score this film because ey, I'm a guy who will give something like
Halloween Kills a 10/10 because I had fun watching it. Objectively this is a better
movie than that but it's also just got a feeling that it's not finished and thus it's difficult
to really rate it. The sequel might release and it could make this movie much much better
on rewatches but on it's own two feet I don't think it's that strong.
That being said, it's expertly directed and I think the best term for it is that it's
an epic space opera. As a piece of art it works incredibly well but as a movie going
experience I'm really mixed on it.
I'm gonna rewatch it and obviously people will take different things from it. If you
loved it I'm glad that you enjoyed it and if you disliked it then your opinion is just
as valid.
Let me know your thoughts on it below and if you want something else to watch then make
sure you check out our Halloween Kills breakdown so you can see why it's the best movie of
all time.
If not then thanks for sitting until the end, I've been Paul and you've been the best and
I'll see you on the next one. Take care, Peace.