"The Space Opera Deprived of Life" or "Hamlet from the World of Fantasy": how foreign critics greeted Villeneuve's "Dune"

On Friday, September 3, the fantastic drama Dune premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

The film by Canadian director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049) is a screen version of the novel of the same name by American writer Frank Herbert.

The action takes place in the distant future.

The artistic world of "Dune" has a truly cosmic scale - a galactic empire, which includes many planets.

One of them, a desert planet called Arrakis, is the center for the extraction of an extremely valuable substance.

The Emperor transfers control of Arrakis to House Atreides, prompting protests from the previous owners, the Harkonnen.

The young heir to the Atreides, Paul, travels to Arrakis, where he meets the rebellious locals, the Fremen, and begins to prepare for the galactic battle.

Critics point out that the scale of the story is comparable to the cult franchises "The Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars".

Villeneuve warned that he had developed the film specifically for showing in cinemas.

Experts assess the implementation of this idea in different ways.

Entertainment Weekley writer Leah Greenblatt says Villeneuve has a "juicy, majestic picture literally made for big screens."

According to The Guardian's Zana Brooks, "Dune" serves as a reminder of what Hollywood blockbusters can be.

“Denis Villeneuve’s fantastic epic shows us that high-budget blockbusters do not have to be dumb or full of constant action, that in the midst of explosions, you can find a place for quiet moments.

An adaptation of a novel written by Frank Herbert in the 1960s, Dune is massive, melancholy and quite often flawless - the missing link between entertainment cinema and arthouse, ”the critic said.

• Shot from the film "Dune"

• © Still from the film "Dune"

But his colleague David Ehrlich of IndieWire considers such a scale comical, although he agrees that Villeneuve's work is not suitable for home viewing.

“This lifeless space opera is narrated on such a laughable scale that it will hardly fit on a screen of any size,” he writes.

According to the expert, the amount of meaning that Villeneuve put into the film adaptation does not correspond to the colossal form, and the reason for this is the unsuccessful script.

“The script ... is boring by Herbert's novel with the roar and weight of a harvester extracting a spice, but he manages to extract negligible content from the depths,” the author explains.

Ehrlich believes that too much screen time is devoted to describing the planet and technology, while Paul's inner conflict or his father's political views that are important for the development of the plot are omitted.

The Hollywood Reporter's author David Rooney is also not happy with the original source.

The critic argues that the filmmakers failed to show Herbert's intricate world in a form accessible to the viewer.

“Such inalienable elements of the author of the book as history and complex social structure were compressed and blurred beyond recognition, limiting mythology,” Rooney emphasized in his review of the painting.

Owen Gleiberman of Variety believes that Villeneuve took only those scenes from the novel that are easiest to transfer to the screen.

“Dune” is worthy of five stars for the created world and two and a half for the plot ... It's not even that the narrative is out of rhythm, but that any emotional connection of the viewer with what is happening is lost ”- this is his verdict.

• Shot from the film "Dune"

• © Still from the film "Dune"

Leah Greenblatt, on the other hand, is confident that the script is not inferior to the form of the narrative, and the authors John Spates, Eric Roth and Denis Villeneuve himself were able to make it complete in mood, even taking into account some flaws.

Dune is so aesthetically rich and monolithic that a few brief, unsuccessful attempts at a Marvel-style joke at the beginning of the film seem almost sacrilege.

The scriptwriters seemed to have guessed this, and pretty quickly the picture turns into a kind of gloomy magnificent spectacle, where each plot twist serves as a brick for neither a single shot nor a story about the cosmic fate of the free world, ”she writes.

Not all critics assume that the feed will appeal to an audience unfamiliar with the original source.

"Partly the hero's journey, partly a survival story, the film continues to sprinkle obscure details from the screen that may delight ardent admirers of Herbert's work, but will make most of the other viewers bored," writes David Rooney.

Leah Greenblatt also noted that connoisseurs of the mythology of the world of Frank Herbert will be able to appreciate every word that sounds from the screen - the rest will need more effort.

However, this state of affairs may also play into the hands of those who find in the film the same as Zan Brooks: “This is a film inviting you to discover this world and get lost in it,” the critic describes the tape.

• Shot from the film "Dune"

• © Still from the film "Dune"

The reviewers agreed that the artists - and such stars of American cinema as Stellan Skarsgard, Oscar Isaac, Zendea, Jason Momoa and others - have done a decent job on the set of Dune. 

"The drama is relished by the cast ... and Villeneuve is confident enough in the outcome to allow the temperature to heat up gradually before it comes to high-profile scenes," - said Zan Brooks.

David Rooney specifically noted the performance of the lead actor Timothy Chalamet, "whose addictive melancholy gives the element of growing up some depth."

Leah Greenblatt compared his hero to a Shakespearean character: “Chalamet skillfully paints the image of intangible beauty and reflects the reluctant psychology of a savior torn apart by contradictions.

His long-suffering and sensitive Paul resembles a kind of Hamlet from the fantasy world, whom fate and circumstances force to bear on his shoulders the burden of history, ”the critic believes.

Not too supportive of the film in general, David Ehrlich also admitted that the artist in this role was in his place - and in general, the tape has no problems with the cast.

"Dune" only misfires in finding a use for the actors involved, "he said.

As conceived by Denis Villeneuve, "Dune", presented at the Venice Festival, covers only part of the novel.

A total of two films are planned, but the shooting of the second depends on the success of the first.

Experts are in no hurry to make forecasts on this score.

"It's difficult to build an open ending on quicksand," notes Owen Gleiberman, but does not rule out the possibility of a continuation.

David Ehrlich believes that Villeneuve interrupted the story on an unfortunate note for no apparent reason.

Zan Brooks, although giving the film five out of five stars, also notes that it is too early for Villeneuve to celebrate a victory until the film has shown itself at the box office. 

Critics remind that the film adaptation of David Lynch came out weak, and Alejandro Jodorowski had to abandon the project altogether. Villeneuve, according to David Rooney, still achieved better results compared to his predecessors - albeit too early to say whether he will be able to change the opinion that the book is not amenable to film adaptation.