a review of 沙丘

After having witnessed a gigantic lizard emerging from the sea in Godzilla Minus One yesterday, today it was time to witness a gigantic worm emerge from the desert. I'm in an epic movie mood, bring it on. Dune delivered very impressive visuals and a great atmosphere, as I've come to expect from Villeneuve. The performances were also solid. What keeps me from giving this higher than four stars though is a certain sense of detachment. The film feels like watching an impressive desert dream from a distance. Characters are either almost robotically cool and skilled, or psychopathically evil and skilled, but there's a lack of subtlety and emotional depth, of identifiable human warmth, of imperfections, insecurities, and of humor, which are all important properties for characters to become likeable and relatable. I haven't read the book, and the films are probably a faithful adaptation of the book, but nonetheless, the film could have improved the character depth, in my humble opinion.