I have always been one to say the book is always better than the movie. In almost every movie adaptation I’ve ever watched, I’d always end the movie feeling disappointed, whether it be colossally disappointed or very slightly. It’s a difficult thing to be able to transfer everything in a book — the emotions, the thoughts of each individual character, the complexity of different settings–into the small time frame the run time of a movie allows, so I understand the difficulty producers and directors face.
I also have done a review of Dune–the original novel by Frank Herbert–already. For those of you who have read it, you could probably tell it’s one of my favorite books of all time. I fell in love with science fiction because of it, and it holds a very special place in my heart. The movie adaptation that came out recently has been all over the internet, and I decided to watch it this weekend.
I was not expecting it to be as incredible as it was.
Firstly, the producers and the director did what I thought was impossible. Dune, the book, is such an incredibly complex story, not only because of the story itself, but mostly because of the world it takes place in. Arrakis, the world created by Frank Herbert, Caladan, the origin world of House Atreides, and the empire both of these worlds are part of are some of the most politically, culturally, economically, and environmentally complex worlds I’ve ever personally read about, and the fact that the movie was able to accurately portray them as they were depicted in the book is a feat in itself.
There had already been an attempt to adapt Dune to screenplay twice before, and in none of them had the directors been able to display the wondrous universe that is so amazing in the book, highlighted by the reviews of the movie at the time. The big difference between those two previous adaptations and this one is that the people who made it seemed to have cared about the story they were creating and, along with staying faithful to the original story, seemed to be passionate about it as well, which is something that is unfortunately so rare in book-to-movie adaptations.
Another rare thing is loyalty to the book. The recent Dune movie, fortunately, stays true to the story. The ever prominent feud between House Atreides and House Harkonnen is well represented, and the importance of the spice is even more pronounced in the movie than the novel itself, used as a sign of wealth because it is the most valuable substance in the universe. Kynes, a scientist on Arrakis, was a man in the book and a woman in the movie; however, it didn’t make any sort of negative impact on the story itself and even helped the character’s story and relationship with Jessica, Paul’s mother who accompanies him for most of the story’s developments.
The cast was also magnificently chosen. Every character in the book was accurately shown in the movie; there were no major casting mistakes or inconsistencies that did not align with the descriptions in the book. Timothée Chalamet did an incredible job portraying Paul, so did Zendaya as Chani–despite her limited screen time–and all other actors as their respective characters. The Harkonnens, so off-putting and revolting in the original story, were depicted as such during adaptation.
The only criticism I have, however, is that for someone to truly enjoy this movie in the way it was meant to be enjoyed, it is necessary for them to have read the book beforehand. As someone who read the book multiple times, I was ecstatic during so many parts, because I understood everything that was happening; however, that was only because I knew the story beforehand. If I had not been previously familiar with the terminology used in the book, I doubt I would’ve enjoyed the movie as much as I did. In many reviews on the internet, people found themselves disoriented by the confusing story, and their criticisms are completely justified. The Bene Gesserit, a group I’d had trouble understanding even when reading the book, were not explained in the slightest to the audience; neither were the Major Houses and their divisions or all the Fremen culture.
Although, in defense of the producers, it would’ve been an almost impossible task to explain every single thing in Dune and keep the runtime under control. Even when the movie covered half of the book’s plot and many big scenes were left out (e.g. the dinner scene, in which Duke Leto would’ve become a much more developed character), the run time was already 2 hours and a half. If they had taken the time to explain everything and do the entire book, the time would have easily been extended to well over 6 hours, and that simply wouldn’t be accepted by the grand majority of audiences. Granted, I still would’ve watched it entirely if that had been the case.
I could go on for hours about every single thing I loved about Dune: the sound mixing (for which it has been nominated an Oscar), the acting, the cinematography, the use of color to portray Arrakis, and how effectively they created its atmosphere, but I feel like this review has been stretched long enough.
The movie itself is incredible, especially if you’ve read the book. Even though I would never say the movie is better than the novel it was based on, it certainly does it justice.
I definitely recommend it, and I’ll be anxiously waiting for the next parts that are to come.
If you liked Dune, here are some other good book-to-movie adaptations:
– Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, adaptation by Greta Gerwig.
– Blade Runner by Ridley Scott, an adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
– The Color Purple by Alice Walker, adaptation by Steven Spielberg.
EAC PRESS 