Dune (2021) [Blu-Ray]

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac

Release Date: January 11, 2022

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

Synopsis:

“Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Dune’ follows a brilliant and talented young man named Paul Atreides (Chalamet) born into more than one destiny that he has yet to fully understand. But when he must venture to an unfamiliar desert world with his people in order to take control of a crucial resource and help secure their place in the current world, various forces on different sides of the conflict soon collide leading to chaos. As things go wrong on various fronts and Paul begins to see the other benefits of this substance on the planet, it sends him on a quest across unknown terrain looking for answers to his true purpose and the call of destiny, while also allowing him time to hone the skills he will need to survive the journey.

Directed by talented filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Sicario) from a screenplay that he additionally co-wrote with Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) and Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), and based upon the novel of the same name by Frank Herbert respectively; Villeneuve does a fantastic job at the helm of ‘Dune’ guiding along the story with care and beauty. The film also owes plenty of credit to the noteworthy cast which includes Timothée Chalamet (The French Dispatch), Rebecca Ferguson (Reminiscence), Oscar Isaac (The Card Counter), Josh Brolin (Sicario), Stellan Skarsgård (TV’s Chernobyl), Dave Bautista (Army of the Dead), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Fences), Zendaya (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Chang Chen (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Charlotte Rampling (Melancholia), Jason Momoa (Aquaman) and Javier Bardem (Skyfall) along with more, nearly all offering notable, if not at least solid and fitting performances in each of their respective roles.

Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s new ‘Dune’ film (or technically the first part of it; the opening title of the film even listing it as ‘Dune Part One’ with the second installment recently greenlit by Warner and Legendary) is a moving, visually stunning science fiction adventure brimming with heart and emotion every step of the way. Based on the beloved novel of the same name by Frank Herbert and far from the first adaptation of the material over the years, but by far the most expansive take thanks to all of the technology available today and a dedication not to rush the material while still paying careful detail to everything from the way the sand blends with the spice, down to the costume choices which each help significantly to make this one work so beautifully. Add to that Villeneuve’s careful guidance and a powerhouse cast led by Timothée Chalamet and this film quickly evolves into something quite spectacular and with a great deal more heart and care at its core than many big blockbuster films of this type; never forsaking the story for unnecessary action while at the same time still serving up plenty of breathtaking sequences that are a wonder to behold. I would strongly encourage everyone to try and find the time to give ‘Dune’ a chance whenever possible if you haven’t already had the pleasure. It’s a magnificent film and those who have been following Villeneuve’s career such as I have and appreciate his work definitely won’t want to miss out on this unforgettable and quite epic gem.

Overall, Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ (or ‘Dune Part One’ if you’d prefer) is a thrilling, heartfelt and visually breathtaking epic that promptly grabs your attention and keeps you enthralled throughout. It’s a carefully constructed adaptation that wisely takes its time to build the characters and world(s) they inhabit. Never ignoring character development for tedious action, but still providing some truly spectacular fight sequences throughout along with visually stunning surroundings at every turn. Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ is definitely highly recommended, especially for fans of the material, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s work in general and any sci-fi fans out there who should all find a great deal to love about this beautiful new adaptation of the legendary novel. If you’re already even the slightest bit interested in this one to begin with it should easily prove well worth your time and cost of a rental at the absolute least.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Dune’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty great as a whole and delivers a sharp, clean and nicely detailed presentation from start to finish. It holds up quite capably even during the numerous darkly lit, heavily populated and fast moving sequences throughout and aside from a few noticeable moments of video noise present on the some of the darker backgrounds it looks pretty wonderful, never allowing anything occurring onscreen to become noticeably problematic, let alone rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a pretty solid high definition video presentation that should largely please the fans and first time viewers alike.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack is magnificent and serves up a crisp, clean and frequently hard hitting audio presentation throughout. It constantly takes full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send the score, along with action and ship-related effects, plus bits of dialogue, nature content and more whipping throughout the various speakers quite regularly and never resulting in any dialogue or other audio elements that may be occurring simultaneously becoming distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a spectacular Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that more than delivers across the board and should easily thrill viewers.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Dune’ includes a solid collection of bonus content in the way of various Behind the Scenes Featurettes that explore different aspects of bringing the film to life, including behind the scenes footage, interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus concept art and more. The included Featurettes are ‘The Royal Houses’ (running approximately 8 minutes in length), ‘Filmbooks: House Atreides’ (running approximately 2 minutes), ‘Filmbooks: House Harkonnen’ (approximately 2 minutes), ‘Filmbooks: The Bene Gesserit’ (2 minutes), ‘Filmbooks: The Fremen’ (2 minutes), ‘Filmbooks: The Spice Melange’ (2 minutes), ‘Inside Dune: The Training Room’ (5 minutes), ‘Inside Dune: The Spice Harvester’ (3 minutes), ‘Inside Dune: The Sardaukar Battle’ (4 minutes), ‘Building the Ancient Future’ (6 minutes), ‘My Desert, My Dune’ (5 minutes), ‘Constructing the Ornithopters’ (5 minutes), ‘Designing the Sandworm’ (6 minutes), ‘Beware the Baron’ (5 minutes), ‘Wardrobe from Another World’ (3 minutes) and ‘A New Soundscape’ (11 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

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Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ Arrives Home on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D & DVD on January 11, 2022 & is Now Available on Digital from Legendary & Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

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