#DUNE SANDWORM MOVIE#

Most of the film takes place during this transfer of power, as the Atreides move to Arrakis, a harsh environment where the war-like locals have learned to adapt both to water scarcity and to giant sandworms that can sense vibration and devour entire spice harvesters (think: offshore drilling platforms). вЂњDesert Power,вЂќ he calls this plan, about which his son, Paul (TimotheГ© Chalamet) and concubine Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) seem suitably skeptical, but cautiously hopeful that he can pull off. This remote, unintroduced Emperor has offered the fief instead to the rising Atreides clan, led by Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), who thinks he can be a kinder, gentler kind of extractive steward, not just profiting from the spice but adding the Fremen to his coalition in the process. The Harkonnen have ruled Arrakis for years, growing wealthy on spice and treating the local Fremen brutally in the process, but the Emperor has recently dispossessed them. Dune though, offers greater narrative justification for this: the planet Arrakis is a rich source of вЂњspice,вЂќ which for the locals is an ayahuasca-like sacred hallucinogen but for the rest of the empire is the driving energy force powering interstellar travel. Like Star Wars, the front line of imperial strife seems to be a desert planet. Like Star Wars, Dune is set in a dimension where technology has advanced to the point of intergalactic travel while politics have regressed to those of medieval Europe authoritarian empires, warring clans, hereditary dynasties, even sword fighting (explained through invisible shielding devices that bullets canвЂ™t breach but blades can). Fire up the thopters, we worm dance at dawn! But for this Dune virgin it was exactly what a Dune introduction needed to be: a compelling primer on the material that created a coherent universe, introduced intriguing characters, and left me wanting more. It might as well have a вЂњTO BE CONTINUEDвЂќ title card for an ending.

#DUNE SANDWORM MOVIE#

Yes, Dune, adapted by writers Jon Spaights, Eric Roth, and Villeneuve, is the first part of a planned serial and is essentially a movie without a third act. After years of never quite getting around to reading Dune, forgetting to watch Dune (1984) and JodorowskyвЂ™s Dune, and pretending to understand memes about sandworms and the necessity of spice flowing, I now feel ready to jump into the world of imperial fiefdoms, Fremen prophesy, and Bene Jesserit tricks with both feet.

Whatever the case, watching Dune, Denis VilleneuveвЂ™s new adaptation of Frank HerbertвЂ™s seminal 1965 novel, has been in many ways the experience I had once hoped Star Wars would be.

Or maybe I just shouldвЂ™ve started with The Empire Strikes Back instead of A New Hope. After a decade of buildup maybe it was inevitable that it couldnвЂ™t live up to the hype. When I finally did, I couldnвЂ™t quite grasp what it was that had blown all those Gen XersвЂ™ minds. without ever experiencing the source material. IвЂ™d been hearing about Star Wars basically as long as IвЂ™d been sentient, playing with my older cousinsвЂ™ toys and internalizing the concepts of droids, lightsabers, Darth Vader, вЂњthe force,вЂќ etc. At the time I was a little confused about what all the fuss had been about. When I was around 12 or 13, I finally saw Star Wars.

Dune sandworm