Dune

Well, Denis Villeneuve is certainly ballsy. Already one of the most exciting Directors around before he somehow made a Blade Runner sequel that sits right up there with the original, he then set pulses racing and dissenters commenting all over again by daring to adapt one of the most daunting 'unfilmable' novels: Dune.

The great David Lynch couldn't even make a passable version of the famously dense text (although that wasn't solely his fault), a book so influential in the world of sci-fi that it's hard to see Star Wars existing in the same way without it, but featuring confusing terminology necessitating the need for a glossary that makes the Lord of the Rings seem simple and a lack of actual 'film-like' events which always made it seem like something not cut out for screen adaptation.

However, with the world needing a new franchise after the end of so many big hitters in recent years, and the ever improving technology available for filmmakers, not to mention audiences' appetites for this sort of material being satiated by the likes of Game of Thrones, this feels like the perfect time for this film to arrive. It also feels like the perfect match in terms of project, Director and cast.

This is filmmaking on an absolutely gigantic, epic scale putting near enough anything released recently in the shade in terms of cinema experience. It's ear-ringingly loud, eye-searingly beautiful and bum-achingly long, ticking the boxes for blockbuster sci-fi fantasy.

Villeneuve smartly (and bravely) opted to make this film 'Part 1', splitting the book in half to better initiate newcomers into the world, the lore and the characters but drops enough seismic events and set pieces to make this feel like its own beast.

It is important to note that the book is fairly low on conventional dialogue to push the story along and tells the story in a slightly strange way, feeling like there isn't many events that take place across its pages. That would suggest it's not set up for a traditional family blockbuster and you shouldn't expect conventional entertainment going in. You'll instead experience a slow, world-building exercise that at times feels like an extended trailer; full of breathtaking scenery and epic character hero shots of famous faces that you'll see more than hear.

It definitely will not be for all tastes, and at least a working knowledge of the text is highly advisable, but the script does very well to drip-feed the fantastical stuff and explain the complicated terminology. At its core, the story is extremely simple so it isn't too difficult to follow and it's just so damn beautiful that the visuals supersede the need for dialogue.

The cast is also so stacked with talent that everyone brings enough star quality and charisma to deliver in the time they get on screen. The film does cycle from character to character fairly quickly but everything is so picture perfect (and what you imagine from the text) that it's easy to remember and care about what you're seeing.

It's ably assisted by its incredible soundtrack, and musical themes for each planet and faction, and by the wonderful vision behind each world, its vehicles and costumes. Everything is so distinct, so classy and instantly iconic, it really is the ultimate version of the book.

It will surely get the sequel, and subsequent franchise, that it deserves but it remains to be seen what the wider public will make of its style. The more hardcore visual elements and slower pace put it in mind of Christopher Nolan's more cerebral recent work like Tenet and Interstellar, and it also has easy antecedents in Villeneuve's own Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival, but its marketing as the 'next big thing' could maybe elicit stronger reactions.

It's highbrow and intellectual science fantasy told at a 'best in class' level, up there with what might well be the best film of the last decade: Mad Max: Fury Road. It will bathe your eyes and ears in beauty for two and a half hours and you can have no doubt that you're witnessing a masterpiece.

The ultimate version of the book and one of the films of the year.

5 stars *****