"Dune," titled onscreen as "Dune: Part One," covers roughly the first half of Frank Herbert's
book, ending on something less than a cliffhanger.
Until Part Two arrives, let's talk about where "Dune" leaves off, and how we got there in
the first place.
In a far-flung future deep in space, the planet Arrakis is the center of an intergalactic
empire due to its natural resource "spice," a sought-after substance integral to interstellar
travel.
When the film begins, that planet and its spice mining industry is lorded over by House
Harkonnen and their sadistic head Baron Harkonnen.
But the Emperor gives this prestigious station to House Atreides, led by Duke Leto, leading
their entire family to move from their home planet Caladan.
But when they arrive on Arrakis, Leto discovers that the entire operation has been internally
sabotaged.
The Fremen, Arrakis' native inhabitants, still seek to overthrow the imperial power structure
that oppresses them.
The machinery necessary to mine spice effectively all lies in various states of disrepair.
And, of course, the Harkonnens left behind an assassin entrenched in the palace walls
to make an attempt on the life of Leto's son Paul.
The only promising element of Leto's plans for the new planet under his charge is in
his hopes to form an alliance with the Fremen.
But fate has other plans…
Baron Harkonnen, in collusion with the powerful religious and political sisterhood known as
Bene Gesserit and the Emperor himself, hires the Sardaukar, the Emperor's elite fighting
force, to attack House Atreides.
The Sardaukar attack under cover of night with the Harkonnens' forces, led by Glossu
Rabban, bottlenecking them from the other end.
The Baron also kidnaps the wife of Leto's doctor Wellington Yueh in an effort to blackmail
him into helping with this coup.
The Duke and Dr. Yueh are killed by the Baron, and Dr. Yueh's last-ditch attempt to kill
the Baron only leaves the latter wounded.
But before this, Dr. Yueh also helps Leto's son Paul and Paul's mother, Lady Jessica,
to escape the carnage, but they are captured by the Harkonnens anyway.
They are not, however, killed.
As a complication from the Baron's alliance with the Bene Gesserit, Jessica, part of the
sisterhood herself, and her son, who they have plans for, are to be spared.
But the Harkonnens hope to abandon them in the middle of the desert, knowing there's
no way for them to reasonably survive its harsh terrain.
Lady Jessica and Paul are able to escape their grasp, but still find themselves stranded
with only a pair of stillsuits to keep them alive in the heat of Arrakis.
As they struggle to find shelter for the night, Jessica and Paul have to reckon with the visions
he has been seeing throughout the film.
Paul has been secretly raised through his training to be a mythical chosen one, a powerful
being prophesied by the sisterhood's lore.
As director Denis Villeneuve said,
"Everything around Paul's future is being constructed by women."
He's basically, unwillingly, a years-long eugenics experiment with nascent superpowers
destined to rule the universe one day.
Meanwhile, in the present day, Paul and Jessica reunite with Duncan Idaho, Paul's mentor and
friend, who has miraculously survived the attacks.
He helps them get away in search of a Fremen sect to recoup and strategize with.
Once there, they meet up with Dr. Liet-Kynes the ecologist assigned by the Emperor to oversee
the regime change from Harkonnen to Atreides.
Dr. Kynes knows that something pernicious is afoot, but can't get more involved than
absolutely necessary, ultimately pledging fealty to the Fremen and neither imperial
external force.
Paul has to accept that he is the head of House Atreides now, and pledges to see through
his father's plans for the Fremen, thinking he can work with them under the promise of
freeing them from the empire.
But the Harkonnens have other plans…
The Harkonnens descend on this temporary hiding place ready to finish the job on the Fremen
and the remaining Atreides survivors, but Duncan Idaho locks Jessica, Paul and Dr. Kynes
behind a stronghold door, intending to fend off the wolves at the gate by himself to save
them.
Throughout the film, Duncan has been his one true friend.
Now Paul must run away yet again, with his mother and Dr. Kynes, as Duncan fights alone.
"Duncan, can I trust you with something?"
"Of course, you know that."
Duncan goes "one vs. many" on the invading hordes, taking out plenty of men before succumbing
to mortal wounds.
With no remaining friendlies on Arrakis and no other options, Paul and Jessica have to
soldier on in the desert hoping to find Fremen who may or may not be sympathetic to their
cause.
Jessica and Paul encounter Stilgar's sect of Fremen, who initially see them as little
more than bodies of moisture to covet.
Stilgar and Jamis are both in favor of just killing them and taking the water from their
bodies, but Stilgar, remembering his meeting with Leto, sees some merit in sparing Paul's
life.
He just doesn't see that same merit in saving Jessica's.
Tensions rise to a boil when moves are made to harm Jessica, who gets the upper hand on
Stilgar, leading to a standoff where Paul finally meets Chani.
She's the same woman he has been seeing in his visions this entire time.
But Jamis can't leave this infraction alone.
By besting their leader in combat, Jamis has to challenge Jessica to retain true control
over their sect, so he challenges her to fight, with Paul having to step in as her champion.
Paul's visions have seemingly been building to this moment.
Paul and Jamis fight, with Jamis clearly the more ruthless combatant.
At multiple points, Paul has Jamis dead to rights, just like in the fencing style sparring
sessions he has with Gurney Halleck in the film's first act, but this is no duel.
The only way to win is to kill, which Paul finally does.
This marks Paul crossing over into his destiny, finally abandoning his youth with all the
tragedies that have brought him to this moment.
Jessica wants Stilgar to help them get off world, but Paul sees that their future lies
here, with the Fremen.
As Paul, Jessica, and the Fremen traverse the desert on the way back to their stronghold,
he continues to be plagued by visions.
He sees his eyes glowing blue, like Chani, like the rest of the Fremen, and sees himself
leading a Fremen force in a war against the rest of the Empire.
"My road leads into the desert.
I can see it."
Whether we will actually see the other side of this epic tale, of Paul's arc from boyhood
prodigy to reluctant messiah, remains to be seen.
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