In Dune, much is made of dreams. It’s the first word of Denis Villeneuve’s film, spoken in a booming, bone-rattling voiceover bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e a single production logo has even appeared. It’s prophetic dreams of a blue-eyed girl on the planet Arrakis that propel protagonist Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) towards his mysterious future. Villeneuve himself has often named Dune as his dream project. And in/with regard to’concerning’regarding science-fiction devotees, especially those who possess’own’nurse long-worshipped Frank Herbert’s dense tome and waited decades in/with regard to’concerning’regarding it to be brought to the screen in a more successful incarnation than previous filmmakers possess’own’nurse managed, make no mistake: Villeneuve’s Dune is the adaptation you always dreamed of.###A lot has been written of the complexity of Dune — a 1965 reserve whose near-impenetrability on the page is legendary, with a story so expansive and mythology so sprawling that even talented filmmakers like Alejandro Jodorowsky (whose version never came to fruition) and David Lynch (who disowned his own 1984 take) stumbled in their attempts to capture it. Notably, many of its images and ideas possess’own’nurse instead disseminated into eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullything from Star Wars to Studio Ghibli’s Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind. Villeneuve’s approach is to split the story in half — Dune is actually, by its own title card’s admission, Dune: Part One. It’s a bold gambit — especially since the implied ‘Part Two’ is yet to shoot, and its existence is seemingly predicated on the financial success of this first instalment — but going by eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullything achieved here, it’s a narratively vital decision. Across a two-and-a-half-hour runtime, Villeneuve luxuriates in establishing Herbert’s vision of a stark galactic empire in which simmering political tensions threaten to boil over, mystical theologies intersect with powerful institutions and industrial interests, and humanity is humbled by the vast power of nature.###Though there’s plenty to establish, Villeneuve — who also co-writes along with Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth — makes surprisingly light work of it all. Chiefly, the story concerns House Atreides — one of several dynastic factions co-existing under a grand empire known as the Imperium. Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) is tasked by the Emperor to take over the rule of desert planet Arrakis (aka Dune), home of the most valuable substance in the galaxy, Spice. But since the brutal House Harkonnen has successfully overseen the Arrakis operation in/with regard to’concerning’regarding 80 years, Duke Leto senses his house’s appointment there is likely a trap. Meanwhile his son Paul is having visions of Fremen girl Chani (Zendaya) — and there are token s he could be a prophesised Chosen One as in/with regard to’concerning’regarding etold by the Bene Gesserit, an order of mystic women (of which Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), is one).###It’s a lot, then — and that’s bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e you acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure into the fact that Arrakis also plays host to colossal burrowing sandworms that make crossing the sun-scorched desert a nigh-on impossible proposition. Perhaps it’s the way Villeneuve’s film introduces each faction and world with such precision, or that in a post-Game Of Thrones world mainstream audiences are more primed in/with regard to’concerning’regarding this kind of grand-sweep storytelling than ever bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e — but Dune is never as in/with regard to’concerning’regarding midable as it threatens to be. Much of it is in the astonishing production detoken , which eliminate’remove ly delineates eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully world and faction with its own visual identity — the cool palette of House Atreides’ oceanic planet Caladan is totally distinct from the gothic caverns of shadowy Harkonnen homeworld Giedi Prime, and a world away from the sizzling expanse of Arrakis. Villeneuve is a visionary filmmaker, and he lets his images do as much of the narrative heavy-lifting as the dialogue###When you eventually’ultimately acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure to Arrakis, the overriding emotion _Dune_ evokes really kicks in: a near-constant jaw-on-the-floor awe.###If the Part One approach means Dune tells essentially half of a story, it allows that half all the breathing room it requires. After a dreamy opening reel in which Chani establishes the story’s anti-colonialist themes in voiceover (“Who will our next oppressors be?” she wonders as the Harkonnen armies depart Arrakis), we spend a comin/with regard to’concerning’regarding table amount of time on Caladan, establishing Duke Leto’s sense of duty and suspicions of imminent betrayal; Paul’s anxiety over his doom-laden dreams, his skill as a fighter under the tutelage of the grizzled Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), and his camaraderie with sword-swinging warrior Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa); and Lady Jessica’s potentially conflicting responsibilities as Paul’s mother and a member of the Bene Gesserit order. The pacing is perfect — Villeneuve makes you wait just long abundant’ample’plentiful , so when the action moves to Arrakis you’re just as eager to venture into the desert as Paul.###When you eventually’ultimately acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure there, the overriding emotion Dune evokes really kicks in: a near-constant jaw-on-the-floor awe. The sense of scale conjured up is, from moment to moment, frequently astonishing. Cinematographer Greig Fraser — who previously delivered the mind-blowing planet-explosion shots in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — keeps the camerawork largely static and stately, with lingering wide shots that let you drink in all the detail of the gorgeous sets, and bask in the vistas of Villeneuve’s galactic visions. In one shot, the transport ships bound in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Arrakis are of ant-like intoken ificance against the deep expanse of space. At ground-level, they’re colossal. The visual vastness is matched by a Hans Zimmer score that is, to use a technical term, full-Zimmer —with howling human voices, clattering drums sure to make any cinema seat rattle like a 4DX chair, and inexplicable space-bagpipes.###This is blockbuster filmmaking in the Christopher Nolan mould — smart, propulsive, and really enormous’vast’massive’tremendous . But more than any one Nolan film in peculiar , Dune feels most reminiscent of The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring. Like Fellowship, it’s merely the opening part of a story, but manages to feel like a masterwork in its own right. Like Fellowship, it establishes a sprawling and complex world that feels both familiar and utterly new with the lightest of touches. And like Fellowship, its enormous’vast’massive’tremendous gest set-piece comes just after the midway point — after 90 minutes of setting up dominos, Villeneuve eventually’ultimately lets them clatter into one another in spectacular style, scattering the characters to the winds as the final hour becomes an all-out survival movie.###Among the uniin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mly excellent perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mances, Timothée Chalamet holds his own in his first blockbuster leading role. In a film this size, there’s e grossly chance he’d acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure swallowed up by the sandworm-like enormity of eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullything around him — but even against the colossal spectacle, the magnetic charisma he displayed in smaller indie fare shines through.###With Villeneuve’s focus primarily on the turning tides of revolution, the emotional strings don’t tug as intense’fierce’exquisite ly on a human level. But the film does spend plenty of time bedding in with the Atreides and their inner circle – Ferguson gives a wrenching perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mance as Paul faces a bone-crunching test in an early reel, and Momoa and Brolin in peculiar bring moments of life and lightness to the most typically expedition -story roles of the ensemble.###While Dune already feels like an astonishing achievement, there’s no acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting around the fact that it’s merely’barely half the story – and unlike Fellowship, there’s no guarantee of a Two Towers next year. For now, we possess’own’nurse more proof that Denis Villeneuve is a masterful filmmaker, peculiar ly in science-fiction — once again conjuring the hypnotic, glacial heft of Blade Runner 2049 and the truly alien visual qualities of Arrival. But to quote Cloud Atlas (another huge, ambitious sci-fi novel adaptation — one which failed to set the box office alight approximately a decade ago), “a half-finished reserve is, after all, a half-finished love affair”. To be left dangling without ‘Dune: Part Two’ would be a peculiar heartbreak. Here’s hoping we won’t merely’barely be seeing it in our dreams.