REVIEW: DUNE

4/5

Spice World: The Movie. 

155 Mins. Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Babs Olusanmokun, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Mamoa & Javier Bardem. Director: Denis Villeneuve. 

Roaring finally on-screen in Japan. One week before its US release. One of the biggest blockbusters quarantined and locked down in a projectionists loft for so long like 'No Time To Die' is finally here. All under the monster of a skyscraper life-sized Godzilla above Tokyo's iconic Shinjuku cinema, big in Japan like a kaiju. Through corridors of framed autographs of Schwarzenegger's, Spielberg's and Spider-Men that you could just Cruise past and take off the walls (and it wouldn't be a mission impossible either). All the way to an IMAX cinema with a Laser like the giant lizards breath. All for the big screen it deserves...no HBO Max (especially after the postponed like Tokyo 2020 until this year 'Godzilla vs Kong' wasn't the Olympic main event we waited all these years for in anticipation) for Warner Bros new Christopher Nolan like director now the 'Tenet' one has seen the future. Denis Villeneuve's 'Dune'...and you thought it was coming out this summer, a month before July. Sorry I couldn't resist like my pun, Dad joke loving friend Dave, or the tag-line. Spice up your cinematic life with this endless epic that may not have Sting with ginger hair or Patrick Stewart cackling with a cat as machine gunners gun (make it so for the sequel Denis), but for cult science fiction fans is akin to a religious experience with Shakespeare poetic resonance. Bringing David Lynch's weird and wonderful dated 'Dune' of 1984 starring the damn fine coffee to his 'Twin Peaks', Kyle MacLachlan to the modern day Gen Z with a perfect cast Timothée Chalamet doing his best 'Edward Scissorhands' impression (what more could you expect from the kid with the DEPPth to also play 'Wonka' too? No need for the Gene meme) and Zendaya doing her best Luke Skywalker in 'The Force Awakens' one. Taking the tomes of Frank Herbert's legendary 1965 book and all the volumes that came after to a whole new stage as we all mask up like the desert people in this movie. It's like they knew they were going to get postponed at a social distance until things got safer again through the sands of time. But now the hour-glass has passed. 

Title screen. As this movie opens we are given our first reveal we won't spoil like that reporter on Twitter who got to see a screening months ago, but forgot the rules of an embargo. All to truly give us the sense of scale of this sprawling epic that will engross you with all its compelling cinematography that disappears within the dunes like quicksand or the simmering and shimmering Hans Zimmer score (we told you Denis was the new Nolan, no wannabe (I tell you what's with all the Spice Girl references?)). Villeneuve has always had ambition. Just check his pre 'Prisoners' 'Enemy', doppleganging with Jake Gyllenhaal again. But the 'Sicario' breakout director truly arrived with 'Arrival' and the out of the world nature of not only his fiction, but the 'Interstellar' like science behind his mesmerizing movies and their beautiful biblical proportions. No wonder he was tasked with bringing Harrison Ford and 'Blade Runner' back in '2049'. And he succeeded too. Giving us one of the greatest, sci-fi's and sequel success stories-especially after all those years-of our time. Even turning Ana de Armas into a star and Bond woman with the knives and guns akimbo out. And now he does to the dunes what he did to the cyberpunk, neon soaked streets of androids that dream of digital fleeces. This world hasn't sung this much since Sting was driving round in a Jaguar S-Type playing 'Desert Rose' (absolute banger). Updating another legend with undeniable conviction when we thought it all couldn't be done. Warping and worming his way through sticking to the cult classics nature like a sacred text, all whilst making it all so bloody believable even in this against the clock time and tide of cynicism. Making him one of the greatest auteurs of our time. I could definitely sit through another one of his two and a half hour plus ponderings of what it means to be human in an alien world we've been told has been coming for decades, that now feels closer than another epic encounter. 

Every epic deserves an ensemble as such. Call them by their name. Chalamet's about to play Dylan. If he's not been the world's biggest star before now, he will be then. If he isn't already after today. The times are a-changin' to his world. The answers to this profound and breaking new spilling ground plot, my friend, are blowing in the sand. And this actor with a wind whisper, speaks to it perfectly. This 'Beautiful Boy' is 'The King'. The one like Neo in the revolutions of this matrix. And heading a cast of Hollywood heavyweights the skinny on this kid is this is the movie that can take the 'Lady Bird' and 'Little Women' star to the stratosphere he's always been ready for launch for. Similar to the rest of the power precipice stars he shares the limelight with here, as just like in Hollywood, no one is really bigger than the movie, or at least it's leading man. But if anyone came close it would be the 'Euphoria' of the first-name terms like Beyoncé and Rihanna, Zendaya. Even in the midst of the pandemic on another year of her career with Netflix's relationship black and white 'Malcolm and Marie' with a 'Tenet' time John David Washington, this and another Spider-Verse with 'No Way Home' as MJ. Speaking of MJ, she even played the iconic and redefined Lola Bunny in the King James 'Space Jam' sequel this summer. In this new legacy she's right there, on the edge. Just like her 'Greatest Showman' co-star Rebecca Ferguson, stealing everything she's been in and the soul of this story. Married to Oscar Isaac (lucky, hey ladies) like the 'Most Violent Year' (and emotional household) reunion of Jessica Chastain chastising him on the HBO remake of the Swedish series, 'Scenes From A Marriage'. A salt and pepper bearded and weary, but wise as still one of the leading actors of our time, flanked by a brawn brutal Josh Brolin who is the blunt knife heart of this film, once you get past the Thanos thing that comes now with his voice. Whilst 'Aquaman' Jason Mamoa as an action anchor loses more of his beard, but gains more of your trust and love as the movie wears and then roars on. But it's Bond villain and 'No (desert) Country For Old Men' icon Javier Bardem who holds more in store for this legend. Denis reunites with two blade running David's again too. Galaxy guardian and the man who could have really wrestled with the themes of H.G. Wells 'Invisible Man', fresh off Zack Snyder's 'Army Of The Dead', Dave Bautista. And the 'Prisoner' arresting, 'Suicide Squad' and summer stealing, "I'M A" superhero, David Dastmalchian. All straight razor to the scalp made to look like me in two years and Stellan Skarsgård's sickening villain, flouncing around on the fat of his land like Jabba. Add 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's' Chang Chen in a critical role and a veiled Charlotte Rampling having us convinced for a minute that she was Cate Blanchet and you've got quite a cast who are all actually bested at times by Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Babs Olusanmokun and Stephen McKinley Henderson. But when 'Dune' is all said and done, who will be left in the pit? As we all know who the biggest star is snaking through the sand. But how about those dragonfly like helicopters buzzing? The best use of futuristic transportation since the land of 'Black Panther's' Wakanda with all the vibranium toys. They say here that "fear is a mind killer", but don't be scared. This brainy blockbuster will expand yours as it's set to make a killing, correcting the balance. A new beginning to this delicate time. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'Dune (1984)', 'Arrival', 'Blade Runner 2049'.