Don’t hate me internet, but an hour in, I looked at my watch and groaned that I still had an hour and a half left. I couldn’t put my finger on why. I love Dennis Villeneuve. Sicarios and Arrival are in my top 10 films. Arrival night even be in top 5.

But during dune a similar feeling was bubbling away, it was the same feelings as watching Blade Runner 2049. I also came away disappointed with that film.

Now let me caveat this with the following: no-one makes films as beautiful as Dennis Villeneuve. He is a master of creating artistically driven films. As an architect with a love for visuals, I totally understand how incredible the composition of each, and every shot of his films are, if you show me a single frame of either Blade Runner or Dune, it makes me want to watch them on the biggest screen possible with the loudest sound system in total darkness.

There is an awe to it.

But for some reason, for me, it becomes disorientating sparse. Not bad in a movie poster way, but some scenes are so pared back that it’s distractingly, perfectly composed, which creates a slowness to dune where I was constantly expecting a change in gear that didn’t happen.

I can’t quite put my finger on why, I get a similar feeling with some of Christopher Nolan’s films. (Interstellar, I’m looking at you). Interestingly both Nolan and Villeneuve have created masterpiece films in a real world setting, (dark night / sicario) and then when pushed into a totally new world with no boundaries I seem to get lost with their story telling.

I should point out, that from every conceivable, objective metric, this is a home run.

The cinematography is faultless, the sense of scale, the Hans Zimmer score the actors, and acting all outstanding.

But for me, and I’m sure this is a minority view, I just didn’t connect. I need to give it a second viewing, as sometimes I find with films this spectacular with a such subtle and intelligent exposition that my brain just can’t absorb such a dizzying array of both, visual and intellectual stimulation.

I really wanted to love this film.

There is no reason I shouldn’t.

I love sci fi.

I love intelligent moody epic visuals.

But I was just a bit bored.

I Can’t lie.

Let me watch it again before I give a final score. This may be because I’m totally unfamiliar with the source material, I haven’t read dune, and when a story is presented with such seriousness that maybe when I watch it a second time I will be able to appreciate the film more when I feel more comfortable when I understand what’s actual going on along with enjoying the mind blowing visuals.