Dune Review

Dune

Dir: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Jason Mamoa, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Charlotte Rampling, Stellan Skarsgård, and Zendeya

2 h 35 m

 

Author Frank Herbert wrote the seminal science fiction classic "Dune" in 1965, and it has influenced fantastic tales throughout cinema ever since. The introduction of Robert Zemeckis' 1997 film "Contact" is directly reconstructed from Herbert's novel. The concept work for the infamous Alejandro Jodoworsky cinematic version of "Dune" influenced "Alien" and "Blade Runner." And, perhaps, the most recognizable imitator of the Herbert novel is George Lucas' "Star Wars" saga. It's undeniable that the meticulous and intricate world Herbert weaved with themes of colonialism, ecology, religion, rebellions, all tied together in a fight over the fate of humanity between warriors, witches, and nobles, is an enormous undertaking. 

 

Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve and Frank Herbert's "Dune" is a beautiful, perfect arrangement of artist and artwork. Villeneuve does not disappoint in this epic and elegant demonstration of pure cinematic vision. The depth of detail in the richly composed scenes of "Dune" is beautiful to watch. Though, amidst the stunning scenery of Villeneuve's science fiction drama is a story that struggles to find the emotion between the characters and the circumstances they face, most glaringly with the composition of the teenage hero messiah Paul Atreides. Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" is epic, elegant, and at times emotionless. 

 

The year is 10191. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), a brilliant and gifted young man, has visions of a destiny he doesn't completely understand. Born into the noble House Atreides, Paul's parents, Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) and Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are reassigned to Planet Arrakis to take over operations. Arrakis is a harsh desert environment mined for a valuable resource called "spice" and patrolled by giant sandworms. It is inhabited by a group of native people known as the Fremen. They have fought colonizers their entire life. They believe that Paul is the prophesized "Muad' Dib," the messiah that will lead the Fremen to freedom. 

 

The adaptation from the literary descriptions to the cinematic vision of the world of "Dune" is a revelation. Denis Villeneuve, along with cinematographer Greig Fraser and production designer Patrice Vermette, has meticulously crafted an introduction to a science fiction epic that is beautifully composed and elegantly detailed. The costumes are visually dynamic, the environments are richly textured, and the special effects are equally subtle and bold in their crafting of floating grains of sand and massive sand creatures that cannot be contained even by an IMAX screen. It's a confident and clear vision of filmmaking from a true cinema auteur. 

 

The story is dense and convoluted with familial, political, and spiritual themes. It's not your average hero's journey, even if it might look like it from afar. Herbert's mistrust of authoritarian rule from the novels is present in Villeneuve's story but more contemplative for the central character Paul Atreides. Paul struggles with the ideas and insights about his destiny. Will he take over as ruling Duke of Atreides? Will he do the bidding of his mother's lineage of spiritual influencers known as the Bene Gesserit? Or, will he embrace the speculation that he is the "Chosen One?" These questions run deep within the narrative introduction of "Dune." 

 

However, the slight problem with Villeneuve's version of "Dune" exists in the composition of the character core to the questions needing answers. Timothée Chalamet, who has been consistently good at playing all types of characters, struggles to convey the traits of a teenage boy tasked with carrying more than a few heavy burdens. In moments, Chalamet displays the confidence necessary to show a young man transitioning quickly into adulthood. In other, more emotionally sensitive moments, the performance feels restrained to surface-level stares and glares. There is room for this character to grow; this is only part one of Villeneuve's "Dune" after all. 

 

"Dune" captures the visual grandeur and wonderment that Frank Herbert described in his science fiction myth. While the film struggles to balance its stunning visual charms and complex narrative deliberations, it is still an awe-inducing cinematic experience. Here's hoping that Denis Villeneuve has the opportunity to complete this fascinating, fantastical space saga. 

 

Monte's Rating

3.50 out of 5.00

Blade Runner 2049 Review

Blade Runner 2049

Dir: Denis Villaneuve

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Ana De Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Dave Bautista, and Jared Leto

In 1968 science fiction author, now legend, Phillip K. Dick released the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”. In 1982 Ridley Scott, just off the release of “Alien” in 1979, composed the adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s seminal work with the science fiction opus “Blade Runner”. The film was critically panned upon its release, however over time film fans have come to the consider Mr. Scott’s film a “masterpiece”.

Taking place in post-apocalyptic San Francisco, the film and novel focus on the perspective of a gumshoe named Rick Deckard; yet another memorable character of the early 1980’s portrayed by Harrison Ford. Deckard is known as a Blade Runner, a law enforcement officer tasked with tracking down bioengineered beings and “retiring” them. Ridley Scott’s film is a complex, visually stunning film that is influenced by the noir style of the 1940’s and 1950’s. It’s a film that movie enthusiasts should put on their “must watch” list.

 Director Denis Villaneuve, who is compiling quite an exquisite catalog of films, takes the task of continuing the Ridley Scott sci-fi saga with “Blade Runner 2049”. Mr. Villaneuve’s striking visual style and skillful narrative design is a perfect companion to the original film, taking the memorable aspects that play proper tribute to the 1982 film and adding exceptional elements to move out of the considerable shadow it casts. What Mr. Villaneuve and team have created with “Blade Runner 2049” is simply an exceptional sequel.

It’s 2049 and a young blade runner named K (Ryan Gosling) is working for the LAPD to “retire” bioengineered beings still operating in Los Angeles. During an investigation K uncovers a secret, long hidden, that has the potential to throw what’s left of the crumbling world into anarchy. Along K’s investigation, he is led on a journey to find retired blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) who has been missing for 30 years. 

Director of Photography Roger Deakins has crafted a stunningly gorgeous film; it’s one of the best looking films of the entire year. The composition of this destroyed world, which looks like it’s approaching the final days, is a mix of green, blue, and red. The separation of colors offers a distinct marker for the different places within the narrative. But it also evokes the design of the original film and the way it might look 30 years later. Technology is still advancing, with interactive holograms and floating space cruisers all around, yet nature is a barren wasteland of dust and mud. Science fiction narratives have always utilized technology as a way of turning the mirror on humanity; Mr. Deakins’ camera does the same in regards to the connection of the advanced future and the problems that exist in the current environmental landscape today. 

Ryan Gosling’s character K is interesting, a calm and complex character that operates with subtlety even when the moment peaks with intensity. Harrison Ford’s return to the character of Deckard is also well implemented. Deckard always seemed the closest to the persona most fitting to the actor in reality. Watching Mr. Ford operate the character against Mr. Gosling’s creates some ingenious emotional and motivational dynamics.  However, to reveal much more about their relationship would be to do the film a disservice. Add other talented actors like Robin Wright playing K’s LAPD Commander, Jared Leto as a mannered and restrained tech visionary, and Sylvia Hoeks as the deceptive and dangerous “problem solver” allows the film to add more  layers to the narrative. 

Hampton Fancher and Michael Green wrote the screenplay, Denis Villaneuve organizes a puzzle and forms a slow unraveling mystery that works to emulate the pacing and mood of the original film. For much of “Blade Runner 2049” this aspect works surprisingly well. Though as the film begins to build towards its ultimate culmination, the commanding nature that the film constructs through the finely tuned elements begins to dissipate. While it still continues to render beautiful images, superb sound, and fascinating performances, the narrative puzzle tries to do too much in the end. 

At a running length of close to 3 hours the film never seems long, it instead attracts you into the realm through the beautiful composition. Director Denis Villaneuve is an innovative filmmaker, even when he is dealing with material that is over 30 years old. “Blade Runner 2049” is a polished film throughout that still proposes interesting ideas and questions concerning the nature of humanity and the course that history will pave into the future. At the core, that’s what these films have always been trying to do...make you question what you think you know.

Monte’s Rating

4.25 out of 5.00

Arrival Review

Arrival

Dir: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Mark O’Brien

“E.T.”, “Independence Day”, “The War of the Worlds”, “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, “First Encounter of the Third Kind”; these are all films that have portrayed contact with alien beings from outer space in different ways. Some of these films display a curious, confused, friendly intergalactic organism while some portray a hostile, angry, vindictive space creature. No matter how one may examine these extraterrestrials it’s undeniable that the event of such an arrival on Earth would display some interesting characteristics from our divided, emotional population.

Talented director Denis Villeneuve, who directed the impressive “Sicario” last year, returns with another remarkable film called “Arrival”. The filmmaker utilizes the premise of a science fiction film, specifically the invasion angles associated with the genre, to craft a thoughtful and tender film about communication, love, and the human condition.  It’s an incredibly well thought out film that displays the power of genre film and how, in talented hands, a story about extraterrestrials unexpectedly arriving on Earth can also be an incredibly artistic endeavor.

Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguistics expert, is teaching at a college when the world is disrupted by the arrival of alien spacecrafts that position themselves all across the globe. Dr. Banks is called to assist the government in establishing communication with the alien visitors; assisting her is a theoretical physicist named Ian (Jeremy Renner) and an army Colonel (Forest Whitaker). Once on board the ship the team must decipher a language in order to figure out the purpose of the extraterrestrials while the world around them grows progressively more hostile towards the unexpected visitors.

This broad synopsis is all you need to know about the story going in. It may be the best way to approach this film experience. “Arrival” does a great job of creating a detailed and complex, yet completely accessible, narrative. However, its biggest triumph is the genuine and heartfelt emotional experience that is organized along the way. Communication and language play vital roles in the composition of the film, specifically how humans communicate with each another and how they communicate the emotions that motivate their every decision. There is a strong aspect concerning language and how it is used to provide structure in the way we examine history and comprehend the future. The characters composed in the film beautifully explore these aspects, specifically the sensitive construction of Dr. Banks played by Amy Adams.

Ms. Adams conveys a character restrained by emotion yet motivated towards the process of connection. How can you have a genuine connection without emotion? It’s a compelling contrast that is expertly crafted by the actor. Jeremy Renner’s character also brings an important component to the film; the actor’s character is looking for an explanation grounded by some sense of logic, it’s a great character to utilize in the science fiction genre.

Influencing all these narrative and character aspects is the astute direction of Denis Villeneuve. The director continues to grow with every film that he orchestrates, here again displaying the themes of the film through every aspect of the filmmaking process. Mr. Villeneuve connects with director of photography Bradford Young in composing a world filled with images that build an atmosphere of disconnection that is reproduced in the characters. This is utilized in a variety of ways, either with tight close-ups that blur the world around the character or with singular shots that correlate to the loneliness experienced by the barriers imposed with humanity and with the aliens trying to communicate.

“Arrival” is an impressive experience; a film that is more about the human connection and less about the aliens and the ominous spacecrafts. It’s a film that subverts the science fiction genre in ingenious fashion, avoiding formulaic conventions while utilizing genre characteristics in intelligent ways. It’s a film that boldly goes beyond the contemporary expectations that usually defines the genre.

Monte’s Rating

4.50 out of 5.00

Sicario Review

Sicario

Dir: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Jon Bernthal, Maximiliano Hernández, and Jeffrey Donovan

The analogy of a pack of wolves is utilized in Denis Villeneuve’s drug cartel film “Sicario”. It’s a good analogy for the characters in the film that are a mix of operatives working against and with one another for some sense of control amidst chaos and violence. Villeneuve makes films about violence and the people that are administering and receiving the abuse. The film focuses on the American drug problem and the cartels that operate along the border of Mexico. “Sicario” is a tense and foreboding film, one that drops the viewer in the middle of everything that is happening and moves them along for the journey. Villeneuve is an exceptional director and “Sicario” is a wonderfully constructed film that composes an atmosphere of consistent dread with characters forced into a struggle of morals.

Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is an idealistic FBI agent vigilantly working a deadly case against the war on drugs. After raiding a house filled with corpses an explosion kills members of her team. She is enlisted by an elite government task force lead by a secretive official named Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), who is followed closely by a mysterious liaison named Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro). Kate volunteers for the task force and is immediately taken to the El Paso/Juárez border for a secret mission.

“Sicario” is structured with a heavy dose of suspense and an atmosphere that lingers with fear. It’s quite an effective composition that is accomplished by impressive design elements and a narrative that places the viewer at the center of a scenario that is already in motion. Written by Taylor Sheridan, the script operates from mainly one perspective, following Kate into the fog of this secretive operation with ambiguous operatives. In one scene Kate is swiftly taken into a tactical meeting, told to blindly follow orders from a mysterious man who doesn’t fit the mold of the group, hastily transported into Mexico to extract an informant she never gets to look at, and forced into a gunfight at the border. It’s paced almost frantically, switching views from inside the crammed vehicles to high above the crowded city. Behind the camera is Roger Deakins, an master of photography who composes “Sicario” as a visual descent into darkness, a reflection of the characters in the film whose only obsessive focus is the mission and nothing else. The finale takes a turn towards pure vengeance, an exploitive measure that offers a moment of forceful justification played solely for sensation, which upends the meticulous pacing and procedure established at the beginning of the film.

Emily Blunt does a great job portraying the morally torn agent, split between doing what is right by the law and what is right for the law. Josh Brolin plays vague with arrogant glee. Wearing sandals in the office and sleeping soundly on plane trips only to turn around in tactical gear and night vision goggles, Brolin pulls it all off with ease. Benicio Del Toro plays a more complicated role, a man with a tragic past doing terrible acts for whoever calls for him. Del Toro has played this version to greater and lesser degrees in films before; still he adds something unique and intriguing to the role.

The treatment of the war on drugs in this film is one of disenchantment, a no-win situation with a faceless monster. It’s one of the main reasons why “Sicario” feels so bleak. Even when action leads to resolution it’s never satisfying but instead is portrayed by ongoing gunfire blasts seen in the dark or heard in the distance, a war with no victors but rather a continuous carousel of chaos. To this point “Sicario” has completely succeeded.

Monte’s Rating

4.25 out of 5.00