From someone who has neither read Dune nor seen the Lynch film (but has read around the film a bit by necessity of the job), the short answer is: yes. “Dreams are messages from the deep” reads a title card at the very start of the movie. It’s a quick bit of shorthand, directly from the book, that helps you understand that the visions Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is having while he sleeps aren’t memories or flights of fancy, but something more significant. Unlike in the book, narration comes from Zendaya’s Fremen woman Chani, who explains that her planet, Arrakis, produces ‘spice’ which has magical properties and is worth a fortune, but that Arrakis is also an inhospitable environment for those that don’t understand it. It’s been ruled over by the Harkonnens, but they have been instructed to hand over power to House Atreides (all sorts of political machinations follow—if you can keep up with Succession you’ll be fine). We’re later given further guidance via Jason Momoa’s Duncan Idaho who’s been on an Arrakis reconnaissance and managed to gain the acceptance of the Fremen. Duncan shows Paul and his father Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) various bits of Fremen tech which becomes vital later in the movie. Paul undergoes combat training with Josh Brolin’s Gurney Halleck. We learn from this how personal shields work as a sort of individual forcefield. They offer protection but they are not impenetrable. This becomes important further down the line when the Harkonnen forces attack. Dune is a huge, planet-hopping epic, and Villeneuve is careful to introduce various rules before the action kicks in. Much is, of course, done with the visuals and Hans Zimmer’s incredible score. The Harkonnens, led by Stellan Skarsgard’s revolting Baron, have a different colour palette to House Atreides. The Fremen have a different look, different traditions and skill sets again. Paul’s visions are used to establish the importance of characters who otherwise wouldn’t have much screentime and to help the uninitiated have a sense where the story might lead. The idea that Paul may or may not be a future messiah is teased. You can see echoes of this storyline in Star Wars and The Matrix, but of course Dune came first. Villeneuve told Den of Geek, “I want people who love the book to feel like we put a camera in their minds” but also that he “had to condense some ideas to tell the story in the most eloquent way possible so that it will be understood by everybody.” It should have universal appeal, then, but here’s hoping they hurry up and make the next one. Dune is in Cinemas and on HBO Max on October 21.
