Box office sales will tell you “Dune” was one of the top movies of 2021, but don’t let the box office scores fool you. The movie itself is confusing and will leave you scratching your head. 

“Dune” premiered on Oct. 22, 2021 and has been in the top box office sales for the past two weekends. The movie accumulated about 40 million dollars in sales during its opening weekend. 

“Dune” takes place in the distant future, specifically the year 10,191. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is son to Duke Leto (Oscar Issac) of House Atreides, ruler of the planet Caladan. Noble houses serve as the governing bodies among planets in the Galactic Padishah Empire, and House Atreides is one of the major houses within the empire.

When Paul’s father is assigned by the Emperor to be the new ruler of the desert planet Arrakis, Leto sees this as an opportunity to regain control over the harvesting of spice. 

Spice is the most valuable substance in the universe that extends human life and is crucial to interstellar space travel. However, spice harvesting has been disrupted due to the Fremen rebel alliance made of the native population of Arrakis. 

While on Arrakis, Paul continues to learn more about the supernatural abilities that he inherited from his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), who is part of the exclusive female order known as the Bene Gesserit. 

Paul begins to have dreams of a Fremen girl named Chani (Zendaya Coleman), foreshadowing a troubled future for him and his people. When House Harkonnen, the former ruler of Arrakis, launches an attack on House Atreides, Paul must exploit his supernatural abilities and become one with the Fermen people in order to survive the desert planet. 

“Dune” is one of those movies that you have to pay attention to or else you will be lost the entire time. Even then, everything is still confusing. 

The beginning of the movie feels like you are being dumped into the middle of something. Even when the movie explained the context behind everything going on, I still felt like there was more information I needed to know. 

“Dune” is also really strange- not weird, just bizarre and confusing. The interactions between members of the House of Harkonnen and Bene Gesserit feels very cultish. The movie becomes more strange every time you see their actions or hear their intentions. The interactions between the two groups make the film feel like it is just about cult followings. 

There are many scenes towards the end of the movie that have so much happening that I couldn’t even process what was going on. It was like I was watching a fever dream unfold before my eyes, and none of it made sense. 

Finally, “Dune” is long. Like, two and a half hours long. 

The movie begins to drag itself towards the end. I lost all interest and was completely bored by the end of the film because I couldn’t keep up with the plot. 

While there were a lot of things I did not like about “Dune,” there are also plenty of things I still admired in the film. 

From the scenery and the wardrobe to the world building and attention to detail, the movie excelled in these areas. 

The different planets in “Dune” remind me a lot of the different planets in “Star Wars: Episode VI- Return of the Jedi.” 

“Dune” is also futuristic in its own way. The movie takes place in the year 10,191, and everything in the movie makes it feel like you actually are in the year 10,191. From the technology, to the weapons, to the costumes and the new futuristic dialect, “Dune” definitely has the staples of a science fiction movie. 

“Dune” also has a phenomenal cast. Timothée Chalamet’s performance as Paul was never dry, and he filled every line of dialogue with strong emotion. Oscar Issac lived up to the character of Duke Leto by successfully displaying him as the courageous leader his people needed him to be. 

Rebecca Ferguson showed the audience the outspoken nature of Lady Jessica and the love she has for her son. Unfortunately, Zendaya’s character Chani did not get her moment in the spotlight because of her short screen time of just seven minutes. 

Even with the few aspects of the film I enjoyed, “Dune” is a movie I will probably never watch again. I would give this movie a three out of five.

If you are not interested in science-fiction movies or have a short attention span, then I would not recommend this movie. However, if you are a huge science-fiction fanatic, then I recommend you give this movie a try.