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DokBrowne [ 8.0 ]
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Oh my, yes. This is the ambitious, confident, thrilling science fiction cinema that I need. One that isn't a basic "Star Wars" playset, nor even lavish yet unnecessary remakes masquerading as meaningful sequels i.e. Villeneuve's "Blade Runner 2049" (it was a hell of a mood picture, but not much else imo). New, stirring stories told on a big scale by a masterful captain. If this movie had come out in '77 instead of what George Lucas made, I think it would have become our pop culture bible. Disney would be watering it down immeasurably with bad sequels and arbitrary spin-offs as we speak!
But seriously, it's that good, that elegantly crafted and visionary, iconic and steeped in greater mysteries of a grand alternate universe yet revealed. Both personal and political, rising to dramatic immensity in-between captivating passages of wondrous world-building detail. Villeneuve's brooding, nigh-ominous style suffuses all with a heart-stopping sense of importance, but I guess you could also say from a certain angle it drains the images and the narrative of color (literally and figuratively). Give or take a couple half-hearted stabs at quippy humor, this is a fairly one-note ride, almost like a super-long Christopher Nolan trailer with that blare-of-doom sound on perpetual repeat. But there is something intoxicating about that sensation. I mean it in a positive way to further suggest that the movie is something close to what would happen if Nolan was hired to direct an all-new "Star Wars" series and got George R.R. Martin to write the scripts.
I'm fine that it's a bifurcated two-parter (better this than being another drawn-out TV series). Knowing it would be , I couldn't help anticipate an abrupt The End in practically every scene during the final 45 minutes, so I was surprised that it kept going and going to cover ever more ground, until the protagonist makes an important breakthrough in agency that teases enticing developments to come. Too bad that not all cast members made it far enough to be seen again in Part Two, but they each left an impression, plus the stage is now set for some prominent stars who barely factored into this film to get their spotlight in the next half.
I bought Frank Herbert's "Dune" from a sci-fi book club I was in as a teen, but never got around to reading it cuz I'm a knob. Maybe it's not too late, though. If this movie under-performs and the executives cancel hopes for a Part Two (burying the prints of it, because it was definitely already made), that could be the ideal prompt for me to discover the rest of this story in literary form, which in most cases is better anyway, right? So it's win win for me. But I'd love to see the rest of it through Villeneuve's eyes too.
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| Weighted Rating | : 7.0 |
| No. Ratings | : 3 | |
| No. Reviews | : 1 | |
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