Time Contributor | Sunburn
Movies should be more similar to music than novels.
The imagination that a person is aroused in childhood may be decisive for his future, at least in the case of director Dennis Villeneuve.
Otherwise, at the age of 54, he would not have decided to fulfill his boyhood dream and chose to face the difficulties and bring the sci-fi masterpiece "Dune" to the screen.
This meant a lot to Villeneuve himself.
He said, "I barely know Superman because that's not my world; as for 'Dune,' that's my world, I know what to do." ”
As a child, Dune was almost the grandest sci-fi adventure he could come into contact with—spices, sandworms, star guilds, giant celestial bodies, and unknown dangers.
Just today, the sci-fi epic film "Dune", directed by Dennis Villeneuve, is finally going to meet chinese audiences on the big screen (there are benefits at the end of the article).
Time Jun has seen the full film in the IMAX hall in advance, and what can be guaranteed to everyone is that when one of the most far-reaching science fiction novels in Europe and the United States, with the top hollywood film industry standards, cast this science fiction movie for the big screen.
When Legendary Pictures won the film rights to "Dune" in 2016, I am afraid that not many people are optimistic about the prospects of this project.
As we all know, even a film master like David Lynch has been lost in the yellow sand of the planet Erracus. (For details, you can poke at the previous popular science of the time jun)
And after watching the film, we have to thank Villeneuve and Legendary Pictures.
Without their persistence and bravery, it may be difficult for us to see such a spectacle and so nostalgic space opera staged on the big screen in this era.
A big game of chess for the director
Villeneuve's interest in Dunes has a long history, and as early as a teenager, he constructed scenes of the dune world in his mind.
But Dune is widely regarded as one of the hardest science fiction novels to bring to the screen.
There are a lot of details and psychological monologues in the original novel, and the story involves the alliances and confrontations of several major families and generations that have lasted for hundreds of years, and it is difficult to present them on the screen in a audiovisual form in a limited time.
As a die-hard fan of Dune, Villeneuve made very detailed preparations.
Villeneuve himself said that the two science fiction films "Arrival" and "Blade Runner 2049" are the works he practiced for "Dune".
Blade Runner 2049
After shooting a sequel to the classic science fiction at a medium cost, he had the confidence to hold the guide to "Dune".
In terms of screenplay, Herbert's original novels consisted of six (later his son published a seventh).
The Villeneuve edition brought the first half of the first novel to the screen and invited Eric Rose, who had written Forrest Gump and The Wonders of Benjamin Barton, and Joe Spice of Prometheus to adapt the screen.
The story line presented by the new version of "Dune" is very concise and complete, and the characters are more in line with the tone of the times.
Even if you have zero knowledge of the background of Dune before entering the cinema, as the film begins, you can devote yourself to the grand space story and be curious about the next development.
Villeneuve focuses the amount of information in the narrative on the protagonist Paul, played by "Sweet Tea" Timothy Chalmed.
He gradually grew from the heir of the Erridi family who did not do much to the leader who took the initiative to shoulder the burden.
The intricate relationship between the other characters constitutes the background board of the space "palace fight", and Villeneuve's handling is relatively simplified, but the careful audience can find the hidden story layout through the titles of the characters and different fates.
The audience can feel that the director is playing a big game, and the good play is still to come.
In addition, the most noteworthy thing about this version of Dune is that women are given more powerful energy and more critical roles.
Mrs. Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) is a member of the Cosmic Religious Organization Bigister Sisterhood, and she not only manipulates the course of cosmic politics in the shadows, but also has a more agile hand to help herself and others navigate the danger.
Dr. Keynes, the ecologist of the Dune Planet, has been adapted as a woman, and her relationship with Chini (Zendaya) has changed from father and daughter in the original book to mother and daughter, and her family plays a crucial role in Paul's fate.
The young Paul, who also has similarities with the characters in Villeneuve's previous works, also has similarities.
Just like the situation of the protagonists in Blade Runner 2049 and Border Killer, Paul, the son of the Duke, is in a complicated environment of struggle, watching his father die without any way to turn the situation around.
Paul, like Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, must grasp something in the passive struggle to become the master of his own destiny.
But obviously, Paul's "chosen son" attribute is more suitable for success, which objectively makes the film's story more in line with the aesthetic taste of the public.
The best sci-fi presentation of this generation
As a science fiction epic film, Villeneuve integrates the style of past works into the audiovisual presentation of "Dune", creating a highly recognizable science fiction style.
In short, the visual part of "Dune" inherits Blade Runner 2049, and the texture of the hearing has a bit of "Arrival".
In Blade Runner 2049, Villeneuve creates a melancholy but aesthetically pleasing environment through contrasting color saturation and backlit scenes, while hiding the sinister environment of killing machines.
On the desert-covered planet of Erax in Dunes, the overall color representation is not very conflicting, and the future architectural style responds to the natural environment.
Oppressive geometric shapes and rough textures hint at a variety of hidden dangers, and the decorations on the details show the influence of desert civilizations.
The large number of panoramic shots in the film fully shows the visual style that the director wants to present.
He likes to place characters in grand and dangerous environments, and then use close-ups to show their inner conflicts or ambitions, in an epic way, writing classical heroic growth stories.
It's also worth mentioning the design of the flying machine, if you are a BDO enthusiast (huge silent object), watching Dune on the big screen will double the visual pleasure you get.
The shape of the transport landing ship in Dune is similar to the style of the shell-like spaceship erected in Arrival, with a smooth and dotted surface, and the long line shape echoes the huge physical volume and grand narrative structure.
The unstoppable sense of power they bring when they move also elevates the grandeur of the film.
The Dragonfly flying machine on the planet Erracus fully demonstrates the impact of the cruel natural environment on bionic technology, which is the echo of human technology to the environment and the crystallization of human survival wisdom.
The soundtrack of "Dune" is Hans Zimmer, who is very familiar to everyone.
As always, the atmosphere is needless to say, this time he uses a large number of industrial electronic style soundtracks, giving the audience a strong sense of oppression at the auditory level.
This not only allows the audience to feel the sonic shaping of the cruel natural environment, but also hints at the irreparable fate of the Grand Erridi family.
Sound is also an important weapon in the original Dune.
If you've seen Lynch's version of Dune, you're sure to laugh at that hilarious sound weapon, and in Villeneuve's version, the sound as a weapon is obviously more imaginative and destructive.
All in all, in today's Hollywood more and more stingy with big-budget science fiction movies, the emergence of "Dune" is definitely a shot in the arm for science fiction movies, and the double food of sight and sound.
Villeneuve is definitely a director who is "wayward" enough.
His nearly 156-minute film has only just unveiled part of the dune world.
But this "super long trailer" is good enough to make us curious about the disputes of the next few hundred years.
In the post-pandemic era, the global film market is still suffering from all sides, and such a $165 million sci-fi epic is destined to be a brave adventure.
Villeneuve and Legendary Pictures also have a longer-term plan for Dune, and the second half of the first novel, the more ambitious counter-offensive war, will be reflected in the sequel.
The second novel, The Dune Savior, is also in Villeneuve's plans, and it is clear that the trilogy is a more complete way of presenting the Dune worldview.
As Chini says at the end of the film, this is just the beginning of the whole story, and I hope that the journey of the sea of stars will not end there.
【 Shiguang Fuli 】
Dune 2D/3D Movie Pass
A total of 20 sheets, come and draw!
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- END-
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