Why Dune is not the masterpiece everbody thinks it is

2 years of waiting are finally over. Since the very first time I've heard about Villeneuve's Dune, I've been extremely excited. I've read the book, I waited throughout the lockdowns. My anticipation has only grown after reading all these raving reviews. Now that I've finally seen it, I'd love to be able to say that I loved it too. But unfortunately, I didn't.
Of course, this is an amazing film. Its size is insane, the actors breathtaking, the images overwhelming. But still, I realized after about an hour into the film that I was disappointed. Even after half of the film had passed, I still felt untouched by what Dilleneuve was showing us on his huge screen. Maybe it was just my expectations which were too high from the very beginning, I thought. But very quickly, I realized that it wasn't only my fault – the film has some flaws that many didn't mind, but I did very much so.
So first, the size of the film is without a doubt astonishing. But at the same time, it's too big. The characters kinda get lost in these huge, lifeless sets. All interiors, all cities feel fake. As if nobody actually lives there. The city on Arrakis is just empty rectangular concrete piece with no life in it. You wouldn't even believe it's a real city. The buildings in which Paul and his family live are simply overdimensional and make it difficult to believe that they are anything else than just a set without any details. The size of the space ships is so huge that it's almost kind of ridiculous. Not one single second would you believe that there are actually people in these huge donuts. Although Villeneuve mixes the images of his huge sets with frequent close-ups of his actors faces, it still feels a bit off the whole time. The film is simply to big to be fully grasped. If you compare it with Blade Runner 2049: there too, the sets were insanely huge. But there, the sets were filled with millions of small details, the city was actually inhabited by people. There were ads, other flying cars, ruins, dirt. In Villeneuve's previous film, there was an actual existing world, which he made us believe is real.
Furthermore, I wasn't satisfied by Dune's storyline. In my opinion, the film took too much time to say what it had to say. I love slow-paced films, and I loved the epic slow-mo shots, the stills, the images of the desert. But after all, the film was way too repetitive. After the 50th vision, it got tiresome. After the third sand worm, I understood that Villeneuve fell in love with their size. The whole film gave me the feeling that its only purpose is to prepare the audience for the second part. Throughout the whole film, Hans Zimmer's music – which is good, although the drums could have been used way more – was hinting towards a big showdown. Throughout the whole film, Paul's visions made me wish for a mindblowing third act. Both – neither a big showdown nor a mindblowing third act – ever came. Instead, we have to wait for the second Dune. Which is fine, only that even a first part in a series has to have some kind of arc of tension and dramatic composition. If you compare it to the first installment of the LOTR series, you immediately notice the huge difference: where The Fellowship of the Ring completely works as a standalone film and has a dramatic peak, Dune hasn't. And the story it tells within its 2 hours and 40 minutes is simply not compelling enough. You could summarize everything that happens in five sentences. And this is a major issue.
Now I can definitely see why so many people love this film. And honestly, I'm super glad so many like it and that it's going to be so successful, because we desperately need more of those films in theaters. Slow-paced, a bit more artistic. Especially nowadays, where everything is fast, everyone is constantly scrolling through Instagram and TikTok, where nobody reads anymore, where so few can actually sit down for 2.5 hours and concentrate on such a film.
Just for me, Dune was underwhelming. Although I can already say that I will like the second part much, much more. Let alone the last half hour of this first Dune was lots of fun. But when I came out of the theatre, I've been extremely confused – how is it possible that I was the only one who didn't love it (except for the two girls who came with me, they didn't say either it was a masterpiece) ? I've read many reviews, all saying basically the same stuff, until I read the one and only David Ehrlich's review on IndieWire. I do think that he's a bit too harsh on the film, but nonetheless, I think it's a review everyone should have read. Everyone who was disappointed by the film – to find out why -, but especially everyone who loves it so much at the moment. Find the review here. "Hype it the mind-killer.".