<div dir="ltr"><span class="gmail-jsx-3852935145 gmail-content" style="font-family:Montserrat,serif,"Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,sans-serif;display:block;padding:0.5rem 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:16px"><p style="line-height:1.75rem;margin:0px">"If the <em>Part One</em> approach means <em>Dune</em> tells essentially half of a story, it allows that half all the breathing room it requires. After a dreamy opening reel in which Chani establishes the story’s anti-colonialist themes in voiceover (“Who will our next oppressors be?” she wonders as the Harkonnen armies depart Arrakis), we spend a comfortable amount of time on Caladan, establishing Duke Leto’s sense of duty and suspicions of imminent betrayal; Paul’s anxiety over his doom-laden dreams, his skill as a fighter under the tutelage of the grizzled Gurney Halleck (<a href="https://www.empireonline.com/people/josh-brolin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line:none">Josh Brolin</a>), and his camaraderie with sword-swinging warrior Duncan Idaho (<a href="https://www.empireonline.com/people/jason-momoa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line:none">Jason Momoa</a>); and Lady Jessica’s potentially conflicting responsibilities as Paul’s mother and a member of the Bene Gesserit order. The pacing is perfect — Villeneuve makes you wait <em>just</em> long enough, so when the action moves to Arrakis you’re just as eager to venture into the desert as Paul.<br></p></span><div class="gmail-jsx-2537653489 gmail-inline-04-wrapper" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Montserrat,serif,"Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div class="gmail-jsx-2601023975 gmail-ad-container gmail-ad-container--filled gmail-ad-container--inline" style="display:flex;padding:1rem 0px;background-color:rgb(244,244,244)"><div class="gmail-jsx-584588131"><div id="gmail-inline-04" class="gmail-jsx-584588131 gmail-advert" style="top: 0px; transform: translateY(-50%);"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/24156345/LMENS/LMENS_Empire/movies/reviews/dune-2021_10__container__" style="border:0pt none;width:728px;height:0px"></div></div></div></div></div><span class="gmail-jsx-3852935145 gmail-content" style="font-family:Montserrat,serif,"Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,sans-serif;display:block;padding:0.5rem 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:16px"><p style="line-height:1.75rem;margin:0px">When you finally get there, the overriding emotion <em>Dune</em> evokes really kicks in: a near-constant jaw-on-the-floor awe. The sense of scale conjured up is, from moment to moment, frequently astonishing. Cinematographer Greig Fraser — who previously delivered the mind-blowing planet-explosion shots in <em><a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/rogue-one-star-wars-story-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line:none">Rogue One: A Star Wars Story</a></em> — keeps the camerawork largely static and stately, with lingering wide shots that let you drink in all the detail of the gorgeous sets, and bask in the vistas of Villeneuve’s galactic visions. In one shot, the transport ships bound for Arrakis are of ant-like insignificance against the deep expanse of space. At ground-level, they’re colossal. The visual vastness is matched by a <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/people/hans-zimmer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line:none">Hans Zimmer</a> score that is, to use a technical term, full-Zimmer —with howling human voices, clattering drums sure to make any cinema seat rattle like a 4DX chair, and inexplicable space-bagpipes.</p></span><div class="gmail-jsx-3215338118 gmail-inline-image-container gmail-block-item" style="clear:both;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Montserrat,serif,"Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div class="gmail-jsx-3228564577 gmail-image-container" style="line-height:0"><div class="gmail-lazyLoad"><span class="gmail-jsx-4015086601"><div class="gmail-st-placement gmail-standard_4 gmail-inImageRestricted" id="gmail-standard_4" style="direction:ltr"><div class="gmail-st-adunit gmail-st-reset gmail-st-show" style="color:initial;font:initial;font-feature-settings:initial;font-kerning:initial;text-orientation:initial;writing-mode:initial;zoom:initial;background:initial;background-blend-mode:initial;border:initial;border-radius:initial;border-collapse:initial;box-sizing:initial;break-after:initial;break-before:initial;break-inside:initial;caption-side:initial;clear:initial;columns:initial;column-fill:initial;column-rule:initial;column-span:initial;display:initial;empty-cells:initial;float:initial;height:0px;image-orientation:initial;isolation:initial;letter-spacing:initial;line-break:initial;list-style:initial;margin:initial;min-height:initial;min-width:initial;mix-blend-mode:initial;object-fit:initial;object-position:initial;opacity:initial;outline:initial;overflow:initial;padding:initial;quotes:initial;speak:initial;table-layout:initial;text-align:initial;text-align-last:initial;text-combine-upright:initial;text-decoration-line:initial;text-indent:initial;text-overflow:initial;text-transform:initial;text-underline-position:initial;vertical-align:initial;border-spacing:initial;white-space:initial;width:0px;word-break:initial;word-spacing:initial;max-height:unset;max-width:unset"></div></div><img src="https://cdn.onebauer.media/one/media/6132/1b69/3392/3079/1957/aa1a/dune-3.jpg?format=jpg&quality=80&width=440&ratio=1-1&resize=aspectfit" alt="Dune" class="gmail-jsx-4015086601" style="width: 696.5px; transition: opacity 0.4s ease 0s; opacity: 1;"></span></div></div></div><span class="gmail-jsx-3852935145 gmail-content" style="font-family:Montserrat,serif,"Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,sans-serif;display:block;padding:0.5rem 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:16px"><p style="line-height:1.75rem;margin:0px">This is blockbuster filmmaking in the <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/people/christopher-nolan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line:none">Christopher Nolan</a> mould — smart, propulsive, and <em>really</em> big. But more than any one Nolan film in particular, Dune feels most reminiscent of <em><a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/lord-rings-fellowship-ring-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line:none">The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring</a></em>. Like <em>Fellowship</em>, it’s merely the opening part of a story, but manages to feel like a masterwork in its own right. Like <em>Fellowship</em>, it establishes a sprawling and complex world that feels both familiar and utterly new with the lightest of touches. And like <em>Fellowship</em>, its biggest set-piece comes just after the midway point — after 90 minutes of setting up dominos, Villeneuve finally lets them clatter into one another in spectacular style, scattering the characters to the winds as the final hour becomes an all-out survival movie.</p></span><span class="gmail-jsx-3852935145 gmail-content" style="font-family:Montserrat,serif,"Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,sans-serif;display:block;padding:0.5rem 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:16px"><p style="line-height:1.75rem;margin:0px">Among the uniformly excellent performances, Timothée Chalamet holds his own in his first blockbuster leading role. In a film this size, there’s every chance he’d get swallowed up by the sandworm-like enormity of everything around him — but even against the colossal spectacle, the magnetic charisma he displayed in smaller indie fare shines through."</p><p style="line-height:1.75rem;margin:0px"><br></p><p style="line-height:1.75rem;margin:0px">I can't wait to see it! </p><p style="line-height:1.75rem;margin:0px"><br></p><p style="line-height:1.75rem;margin:0px"><a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dune-2021/">https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dune-2021/</a><br></p><p style="line-height:1.75rem;margin:0px"><br></p></span></div>