The most awaited film of this year from Denis Villeneuve is a hit and a miss. He opted to recreate the famous novel by the same name into a two part movie and the first part did not appeal to me much. The book was tauted as a unique and fascinating sci-fiction at that time (1960) and it did deserve a pat on the back for coming with such a story back then. Couple of directors already tried to depict that on big screen and both failed. So it was time for DV to create a mark and make no mistake, as usual the signature style craft of him is all over the place and its a breathtakingly illustrated and visually pleasing one for most of its run time. IMAX viewers will be stunned. But whats the point of that epic-ness when there are multitude of issues with the film.
The biggest issues with the film is the plot which is not particularly profound and it lacked the firepower and energy of star wars movies and even Mandalorian series. Its a very slow start trying to establish the character their various myths and religious aspects which was totally boring. Unlike blade runner this has mostly monotonus color palette and Zimmers sound track was unexciting and he can't be blamed as there are very less moments to cherish. The form and substance is missing. The stuffy dialogue is inserted into even complex world-building narrative lacked conviction. I strongly felt it suffers heavily from its casting and the fighting scenes looked kiddish in comparison to what we used to see in sci-fic movies. For me its a horribly outdated story now and its aged really badly.
Bit on the synopsis side, the setting is future - 10191 and the story is about emperor and two powerful houses trying to dominate a desert planet named Arrakis where a hidden treasure (Spice) is being mined which gave immortality and space travel power. But the dangers lurking in the desert are unimaginable. How one group navigates the desert is what this part one is all about. It missed the extraordinary beauty of Blade Runner and Arrival and i stand disappointed with part one. I am going with a generous 3 out of 5 for its visual stunning depiction. So go and watch if you are fan of DV.
Verdict - 3/5(A frustrating take)