Dune Part 1

Let me clear this up right from the start: I haven't read the books. I didn't watch the 80s David Lynch adaptation either. So, I went into this movie completely blind. All I knew was that it was gonna be a trilogy and that it's a "chosen one" story. By the way, it’s been a minute since I actually watched it; I did a quick rewatch recently because I was finally gonna sit down and watch Part 2.

Before I start talking trash, there’s one thing I want to bring up. It’s something that’s been messing with my head lately: How the hell are we supposed to judge adaptations? I mean, as someone who hasn't consumed the source material, is it even right for me to criticize the story? At the end of the day, it's an adaptation, so all my complaints about the script technically trace back to the original book. Are we supposed to judge it based on how well it was adapted? Or what about the characters? Is it fair to say "this character is poorly written"? What if they were written exactly like that in the source material? Or say I think a character is well-written, but they changed it from the book and the hardcore fans absolutely hated it. QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS... Anyway, thank god I’m not a critic and I don't give a single shit about any of this. Book adaptation or whatever, I couldn't care less. I came here to watch a movie, so I’m gonna judge it as a standalone film. If I end up loving it, maybe I’ll go back and read the book later. Then the tables might turn, who knows.

Now, let's get to the movie itself. First off, the art direction is insane. The costumes, the cinematography, the use of colors... it’s all incredibly good. I could literally enjoy this movie just by looking at it. It fits the world design perfectly. Even though the movie doesn't drag you into endless lore dumps, it does an amazing job with the "show, don't tell" technique.

Take the body shields, for example. In the training scene, Paul strikes fast and gets blocked, then pushes the blade in slowly, showing the audience exactly how this tech works without treating us like idiots. (Though I think they explicitly explain it in the very next scene anyway, but I don't remember clearly.) Plus, as viewers, we can connect the dots and see how this tech shapes their martial arts. For instance, I didn't do any research on this, but I can easily understand that the whole reason they use short swords is because of this shield technology. Since breaking through the shield with fast, heavy blows is impossible, they use short swords. That way, grabbing the opponent and landing a slow, finishing blow becomes the baseline of their fighting style. So, as you can see, the lore and world-building aren't just good—they are delivered to the audience perfectly.

As for the plot... honestly, it didn't blow my mind. I mean, it’s a story written around World War II, so it’s only natural that the plot feels a bit cliché by today's standards. Still, even for its time, the themes it tackles are respectable.

Critiquing the real world through fiction is a powerful storytelling tool when used right. But modern writers—or rather, the corporate bosses and the audiences feeding into them—only ever critique two damn topics: either the Holocaust or black racism. Yes, these are serious social issues that need to be addressed, but you address it once, maybe twice. There are like 300 movies coming out every year beating the same dead horse. Independent media obviously touches upon much different concepts, but I’m talking about the high-grossing mainstream stuff that gets shoved in our faces right now.

On the other hand, *Dune* is a pretty decent Middle East critique, which is a breath of fresh air. It’s a bit too on-the-nose, and I’m guessing the movie version actually toned it down. I heard the critiques were way more blatant in the book and they dialed it back for the screen. The planet Dune is the Middle East, the Fremen are Arabs, spice is oil, and the ones exploiting that oil are America. Then you have Israel controlling America from the shadows, and so on and so forth. Don't even get me started on using religion as a tool to manipulate the masses. Like I said, I'm down for a critique of a topic that doesn't get shoved down our throats 24/7, but when it gets *this* on the nose, it gets a bit annoying. After all, I read or watch fiction partly to escape the real world. I’m okay with subtle messages, but too much of it just ruins the vibe.

Fuck, I’m talking too much again, I was supposed to keep this short. Let me wrap up the rest real quick. The acting is good, Rebecca Ferguson especially put on a hell of a performance. The choreography is solid; I actually enjoyed the fight scenes. But in my opinion, the movie has a serious scale problem. For a hard sci-fi, everything that happens feels way too small scale. Especially the way these 10,000 year old Noble Houses just get wiped out like a wet fart. Now some book reader is gonna come at me like, "No dude, it’s actually like this and that in the lore..." I don't know, that's just how it felt to me while watching the movie.

Also, while the movie does a great job introducing the universe as a Part 1, it fails to deliver a proper beginning, middle, and end within itself. It works well as the first entry of a trilogy, but as a standalone film, it’s honestly not that great. I think it already took a lot of heat for this anyway. LONG STORY SHORT, IT IS WHAT IT IS. The movie is good, no need to overcomplicate it.