Denis Villeneuve has given us many memorable recent features such as Incendies, Prisoners and Sicario. But it is sci-fi that has seen him shine the most with the amazing Arrival and Blade Runner 2049. With his slow-burning style of story-telling with the huge backdrop to add some grandeur, I consider him the best director of right now. The perfect mix of an arthouse tone with a blockbuster budget has given us the best of Villeneuve and his next project has many people hyped.
While I have never seen the 1984 version by David Lynch, I have always been aware of this story. So much like Blade Runner 2049, when I heard Villeneuve was at the helm, I felt seeing his version would be the right route to take.
I felt I have done the right thing, as this film has a lot of aspects that I always love. Firstly, I must say that this film is big, really big. I could tell that there was a lot to explain and in great detail. But as someone who knows nothing of this story, I felt it was explained perfectly whilst never at all feeling like exposition.
I definitely got a Game Of Thrones vibe in terms of the level of depth and the themes covered. But with the added galactic background, it gave us such extraordinary imagery. Props to cinematographer and Greig Fraser for making this film an absolute feast for the eyes.
The action sequences have a wonderful scale to it and suspense that give us some great character moments. As for the final act, it may not have strong pay-off. But it certainly leaves everything at an interesting point that has me wanting more. Some may see this ending as just pure set-up and a franchise builder. But I see this more of a Lord Of The Rings ending, where this is a great stand-alone film that is part of a bigger story.
The performances were pretty good across the board with what quite a stacked ensemble cast. Timothee Chalament carries the film well as the lead. He doesn't quite have that charisma or presence to feel like a powerhouse star. But it was strong enough to carry this story.
Rebecca Ferguson was a standout. Her performance was impactful, her character was very interesting and I felt she fully utilised what her role could do. Another one that stayed with me after seeing it was Jason Mamoa. He really surprised me. A wonderful of great physical acting as well as his natural charisma that never felt out of place with the seriousness of the tone. Whenever he was on screen, I felt reassured and his character gave a great element of fun in a blockbuster sense.
Stellan Skarsgaard was hauntingly despicable, Oscar Isaac gave a strong presence with gave great believability in his character, Josh Brolin gave solid support when required, the unrecognisable Charlotte Rampling was wonderfully haunting and Dave Bautista continues to be a functional collaborator for Villeneuve.
As for Zendaya and Javier Bardem, they did all they could with their little screen time. But I feel we may see a lot more of them in the expected sequel.
From the production design, nothing that I will say will not be surprise as any recent Villeneuve feature is impressive, thorough and vast in its scale. You truly get transported to this time period that is tens of thousands of years ahead of us. With no knowledge of this world, it painted a perfect picture for outsiders like me to understand. Much like Avatar and Lord Of The Rings, it is world-building of the highest quality.
The landscapes look amazing, the costumes are heavily detailed and fit with each culture really well, the sets are perfectly crafted, the sound design is so good it hurts, I will be listening back to Hans Zimmer's score on hard rotation and the visual effects are flawless and felt as real as the physical locations used. This film will feature heavily in the technical awards at the Oscars.
All that being said, I'm not going completely nuts for it. What is stopping it, is the plot. It's not the film's fault as the source material paved the way for many other sci-fi's such as Star Wars. So at the time it was ground-breaking. But now, it is something we have seen before. Thankfully, the richness of the depth keeps it engaging as there is a lot of ground and lore to cover. Also, it executes its themes of betrayal, loyalty, redemption and politics really well.
Like with a lot of Villeneuve's previous works, this is an impressive piece of work. It has me excited for any future instalments and I hope this gets the love it deserves. I know not everyone will like it as Villeneuve's vintage slow-burning way of story-telling will test the patience of certain demographics, most notably Zendaya's followers. But it is definitely one of those films that needs to be experienced on the big screen. Whatever opinion you have on it, you will know that you have seen something that needed to have been seen on the big screen, as this is a pure cinematic spectacle.
Rating: 8/10
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