Dune (2021), directed by Denis Villeneuve

The Emperor has granted House Atreides sovereignty over the desert planet Arrakis and its lucrative natural resource, Spice. But this seeming generosity sews discord with the dispossessed and brutal House Harkonnen. The complex political, social and cultural machinations of this classic sci-fi tale have made it notoriously difficult to film, with many previous attempts falling short. Villeneuve does a great job of transmitting enormous slabs of background information, vital to understanding the story, using a variety of narrative devices to largely avoid extensive dull exposition. But it is hard to pack so much book into one film and at 2 hours 40 minutes it is way too long; it has a slow start and drags in several places. Although the visuals are beautiful there are too many long lingering shots of desert, brooding and militaristic displays. Judicious editing could have shaved at least 10 minutes without losing anything important to the story. Timothee Chalomet is just right as the Atreides heir and portended saviour; Rebecca Ferguson grows into the role of witch and mother after a shaky start. The star-studded supporting cast includes Zendaya, Stellan Skarsgard, Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling and Jason Momoa. The look is great, with some interesting choices in the colour palette; it’s a pity about the sound. The score is portentous and overbearing and at times obscures the dialogue. The film explicitly states that this is part one and just the start, so it will be interesting to see if the box office justifies the cleverly foreshadowed sequels that will hopefully give Zendaya more to do.