Is Dune a Good Movie Adaptation?

After many years and many developments, a new Dune movie has arrived. For those who don’t know the original source material, Dune is about people on a distant desert planet gathering precious resources and fighting against each other and against giant monsters. The main character traverses his way through complex relationships and ever-changing commands to protect others and the planet.

Does the movie hold up to the original source material? Is it true that sand is coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere? Let’s find out in this spicy Cinema Listed dot com review!

PROS!

• The movie is faithful to the source material, but does take liberties for the big screen. Some characters are different, and some were removed entirely. There are even plot points that were changed for the movie’s pacing. I won’t spoil anything here, but fans of the source material will enjoy seeing this epic adaptation finally come to life.
• The main character portrays the hero’s journey by traveling through the world as a guy who does what’s right while all the chaos is happening around him. Little-by-little you see glimpses of his leadership come to light. It’s his destiny to fight well and lead the charge and annihilate the opposition, and by the end of the movie you’ll be rooting for him to win and survive at all costs.
• The supporting cast does a great job in their roles. The character relationships are complex, and you never quite know who is a good guy or a bad guy. Kept me on the edge of my seat to see how all these characters would end up.
• The environments and special effects do an exceptional job at conveying the hostile desert planet and the monsters lurking around. You really do feel like you could breathe in the sandy air and awe at the larger-than-life facilities. Shout out to the cinematographer and art department!

CONS!

• The movie does get tedious with lots of exposition. Honestly, with this movie’s runtime, I found myself bored during a few of the longer scenes. For example, there’s a lot of talking interspersed between the action and fighting. Which is normal for a movie of this size, but I found myself drifting off a few times until the music and action ramped up.
• There are a lot of characters and sometimes it’s hard to keep track of who and where everyone is. Again, this is an all-star cast, but I lost my place a few times and went “who is that again?” or “I thought that guy was dead?” or “wait, Rosamund Pike is in this movie?”
• Some scenes feel like they could’ve been cut to help the overall pacing of the movie. Again, some of the dialogue was drawn out, and the big example is the much-maligned first-person-shooter scene. Initially it looked fun but then it took way to long and I wanted a ‘Game Over’ screen to pop up.

Congratulations on reading another Cinema Listed dot com movie review! Now go flow some spice and watch Dune!