I meant to post this yesterday but I… forgot, so you’re getting my thoughts on the Dune trailer a day late!
My first impression of Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune is a mix between Lord of the Rings and Blade Runner. The scale and cast size of the former, the tone and introspective character work of the latter. This, in my book, is a good thing.
The cinematography by Greig Fraser is quite beautiful, particularly in wide shots. Would Villeneuve regular Roger Deakins have utilised a more varied and dynamic colour palate as opposed to Fraser’s muted ones? Possibly, but the look seems to suit the tone the movie is going for.
Which I guess leads me to a bit of a concern with the movie, not so much with the quality itself but with its value on the box office. As soon as Timothee Chalamet stuck his hand inside that box and started screaming, a thought struck me: this film doesn’t seem very mainstream. I don’t say that in a disparaging or pretentious way, but in that this is a $200+ million movie that’s been put in a big tentpole position in December, and it’s… not a Marvel movie, basically. It seems dark and introspective, with very little humour. I just don’t see it being very marketable to the general audience, especially in the current COVID-ravaged climate. It’s kind of like a Tenet situation, except that had the ‘director of The Dark Knight and Inception’ energy going into its marketing. What casual moviegoer is seeing Dune because it’s directed by the guy who did Enemy? To be clear: I’m happy that Warner Bros. puts so much money behind directors’ visions, I’m just talking from an objective viewpoint. Plus, it does have a very stacked cast behind it, so that’s something.
The real attraction is clearly the giant space worm, though.
Beyond the Popcorn 