Denis Villeneuve brings the first half of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel to life with an epic adaptation and an incredible all-star cast. Starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and Jason Momoa.
Dune follows Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), born into a powerful family that is entrusted to govern a dangerous planet called Arrakis. Mostly devoid of life, the highly contested planet holds a precious resource called spice that is essential to interstellar travel and guarantees the family controlling it incredible wealth, power, and influence. House Atreides intends to govern fairly by sharing profits with the indigenous people, the Fremen. However, open conflict erupts between House Atredies and House Harkonnen, the previous stewards of Arrakis, putting the Paul and the future of House Atreides in peril.
What follows are excerpts from The Final Take podcast, where Nelson and Tim provide their review and final thoughts on the film:
Nelson: So, Watch, Stream, or Skip? For me it’s a watch. For everything mentioned before: epic scale, incredible visuals. All the world building, storytelling, the political maneuvering. All of it. I say watch, but then also if you’ve got HBO Max, go ahead and stream it.
Tim: Absolutely, that’s how we had to do it. Obviously, having small kids it’s harder to get to the movie theaters. As much as it would have been epic to watch this on the 70mm IMAX down the street, I would have to say watch. We watched it [by] whatever means we could. And I concur with you on that one. As epic as it was to really set it up and then tear it down and then to lead into something that’s going to be even more epic, I cannot wait.
N: Yes, they primed the audience. You got a 2.5-hour nibble, maybe [for the sequel] they go 3 hours.
T: I know everyone expressed their disappointment for not just going exclusively to theaters and doing a streaming online. I even had a friend of mine that said “I started to watch it and I shut it off and I literally just got in my car and went straight to the movie theater and watched it.” It was phenomenal. And to take a gamble on just telling half of the book […] I’m just excited for what’s next in the world of Dune.
N: If they do a 3-hour director’s cut, sign me up. And then if Dune: part 2 is over 3-hours, sign me up as well.
T: It’s possible, I think they can do that now. We’ve really hit an era where if movies really prove themselves, sequels and subsequent films that are related can actually be 3-hours in the movie theater which is amazing.
The Final Take: Watch for both Nelson and Tim.
Listen to the entire episode below:
The Final Take 