2 hours and 35 minutes of ultra-heavyweight video experience.
Although it was postponed due to the corona disaster, the sci-fi blockbuster movie "DUNE / Dune Sand Planet" will finally be released. Director Denis Villeneuve of "Message" and "Blade Runner 2049" made a truly outrageous movie by filming the legendary sci-fi series, which was said to be difficult to visualize!
Spoilers are kept to a minimum, but I will introduce the setting and story to some extent, so if you are interested, go to the theater first!
The Greatness of the Work Called "Dune"
To those who wonder what "Dune" is in the first place, "Dune" was created by the American science fiction writer Frank Herbert. A series released in 1965 by Taiga Sci-Fi with a total of six works.
Set in the far future, where society has turned into a medieval society after a war with AI, the world unfolds on Arrakis, a planet known as the "Dune" that produces the super-important resource "Spice". The story of the first work "Dune / Sand Planet" depicts the power struggle of the human empire, centering on Paul, a son of an imperial family who becomes the savior of the desert people "Fremen", and this movie is about that. The first half has been made into a movie.
The novel "Dune/Sand Planet" takes up ecology and the religious views of the Middle East and Asia as the theme, and is soft science fiction (not hard science such as physics and science, but soft science in the social sciences). The meaning of science fiction to put.The content is soft or not hard.In terms of that, Dune's story is super hard!)It has had a great influence on posterity.
The best example of this is Star Wars (1977). It's fine that the first work is set on a sandy planet, but the main character, who awakens to the power related to the spiritual energy of life, challenges the empire with the sword skills he trained as a savior.・Solo is a smuggler of "spices", and a giant caterpillar appears in a straight ball, and there are endless direct influences.
There are many other works that have influenced me, such as "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind", but on the other hand, it is said that it is difficult to visualize because it is too magnificent, and Alejandro Jodorowsky's attempt at film adaptation in the 1970s failed spectacularly. By the way, the story of how this led to the birth of the movies "Alien" and "Star Wars" was made into a documentary film in the form of "Jodorowsky's Dune" (2013). This is a book that I would like you to try together with this movie.
After that, in 1984, David Lynch, who was still a young director, turned it into a movie, but it didn't go as planned, and it ended up being a short and small movie, and it was a considerable failure in terms of evaluation and box office at the time. It's over. The writer touched on "Dune" in this movie, so I don't dislike it at all... but let's stop here because the story is long.
After that, it was produced as a TV movie in the United States, and in 2008 the plan to remake it into a movie began in earnest.・Villeneuve decided to shoot it, and it was finally completed and released to the public.
Overwhelmed by the visuals
And the finished movie is just amazing. Director Villeneuve responded to the heavy expectations due to the overly famous original work with more and more love and enthusiasm.
First of all, the video is amazing. Director Villeneuve is good at portraying humans small in huge spaces and structures, making the audience feel uneasy at the same time as the characters, swallowing them into a vortex of confusion, and this work emphasized that point in particular. . In particular, IMAX, which can be seen on a large screen, is the best experience, as you can fully enjoy what he is trying to draw. The pressure of the image is so great that I think I will die.
Instead of mainly compositing with green screen / blue screen, we took a large-scale location in the actual desert and shot with a huge set. It is said that it was a style of reinforcing with CG. This is a level of magnificence that cannot be explained in words, and it has already been established as a sci-fi sightseeing video that takes you to see deserts and gigantic structures.
The production design of the set, costumes, and props that support the impact of such a video is particularly amazing, and as a science fiction movie fan, it's amazing to see such a unique cool design being three-dimensionalized with such extravagant money. happy. It's not a series of things you've seen in science fiction movies so far, but a design that is unique and full of "Dune"-like charm.
It seems that such things can be filmed in real life, and most of the huge ornithopter (flying vehicle like a helicopter) was made, and the suit for moving in the desert is the same harsh desert as the setting in the movie. It is said that it was made to be able to withstand shooting at. There are many possibilities that the design of this work will influence future generations like the old novel "Dune".
By the way, if you like that kind of design, you'll probably want the art collection "Denis Villeneuve's World Art and Soul of DUNE / Dune Sand Planet". The Japanese version is limited to 3000 copies, so hurry up...!
And the cast is gorgeous, starring Timothée Chalamet, who fits perfectly with the anxious Paul character that the film is trying to portray. And Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, and Jason Momoa are outstanding as his father, mentor, and friend who help him grow. I want to see more of their story...!
Zendaya, who plays Chani, the mysterious woman who appears in Paul's dreams, doesn't have a very long appearance scene, but she has enough charm to convince her that she is the driving force behind the main character.
Also, director Villeneuve first encountered the original novel when he was a sensitive teenager, and later became a film director. It's a story about a young photographer, a story about cross-cultural exchange, and the theme of "spirit" and "memory". It has been published and can be viewed here.)
Since then, those themes have been repeated in his movies, and the wilderness and the desert have appeared repeatedly. The more I think it is. It's the culmination of his career, so to speak, and I think it's worthy of it.
In addition, I would like to personally evaluate director Denis Villeneuve, who is boldly challenging unreasonable science fiction works. Respect to Guts for taking on the failed adaptation of Dune after doing the sequel to Blade Runner, which was too legendary to be compared and underrated. I would like to express my gratitude.
And not only director Denis Villeneuve but also music composer Hans Zimmer is a big fan of the original work. I've prepared songs that I've created and that have unique sounds that you've never heard before.
This is also a good result that is a little different from the usual Hans Zimmer's signature sound. It's already possible to listen to it on CD or on music distribution services, but I definitely want you to hear it in theaters. I think it's enough to watch it in a theater that supports Dolby Atmos (stereophonic system) for better sound.
Great in all aspects, but still a masterpiece that people choose
It's a work that can't be praised enough for its visuals and sound, but on the other hand, it's not without its flaws, and it's quite a masterpiece. I think it has become a movie of choice.
First of all, this movie is quite a long movie of 2 hours and 35 minutes, and as a director and SF fan, I am irresistibly happy. If you say so, it will end around the middle of the first book.
To be honest, the tempo isn't very good because it's a development that takes time very carefully and progresses slowly through the vast desert like a spice mining machine. Also, since the slightly difficult setting and the mystery of the world end without being told much, I think that it is not suitable for those who want a clear answer in any movie and want it to end with a bang. think.
I think it's a movie made with the momentum to make a sequel, but I'm worried that some people will judge it as "a movie that didn't happen". I personally fell in love with the director's "Dune", so I want him to somehow create a sequel.
In addition, it continues to be quoted in later works, and if you say it, it's a worn-out story, so it's likely that some people will think, "It's amazing visually, but it feels like I've seen it somewhere before." In addition, by making the main character a white actor, the structure that looks like a white savior / white chief who stepped into the savage and helped the savage has been criticized. that's right.
If you think about the story development of the original, it should be the opposite, and it should be an antithesis to such a savior image, but it is a movie that ends in the middle, and it should be thought that it is a white savior movie. The director also explained that this is the opposite of a white savior movie, but it was difficult to convey that point. In order to show it properly, I definitely want you to make a sequel.
Anyway, even with those drawbacks, it was a movie that I could go to the theater and have the best experience with my eyes and ears. This is one of the largest theaters possible and you should experience it at least once! You don't get to see this kind of movie more than once a year!
The movie “DUNE / Dune Sand Planet” will be released on October 15, 2021 (Friday).
Director Denis Villeneuve of the movie "DUNE/Dune Sand Planet" ``The advantage of IMAX is that you can draw a closer relationship between the characters and the scenery.''
We recommend seeing it in IMAX! "Star Wars" and other super-popular novel series that have had a great influence on science fiction works of later generations have been made into a movie using modern imaging technology.
https://www.gizmodo.jp/2021/10/dune-denis-villeneuve-interview-jp.html
Source: "DUNE/Sand Planet" official website, YouTube, NFB Canada, Nerds of Color
