Dune: Part One
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: October 22, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 68 Critic Reviews
Positive:
54
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 28, 2021
There is simply not enough dramatic development to fill the film as a whole. Read full review
60
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 22, 2021
From a purely pictorial standpoint, this new Dune is indeed often overwhelming. The sheer monumentality of it all is impressive. Alas, the film’s emotional power underwhelms. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesTara BradyOct 22, 2021
Has Denis Villeneuve succeeded where others – most notably Alejandro Jodorowsky – have floundered? Given the extensive runtime, it’s impossible not to think of Chinese premier Zhou Enlai’s alleged assessment of the French revolution: “Too early to say.” Read full review
58
ConsequenceJesse HassengerOct 7, 2021
The movie is too vividly realized to be boring, but it spends a lot of time scrambling out of the gap between pulpy fun and serious allegory. It’s also hobbled by the fact that it’s very much, as the opening credits say, Part 1; no real resolution is offered by the end of its 155 minutes. It’s just half a movie. Read full review
58
The Film StageDavid KatzSep 3, 2021
A director comparison I hoped wouldn’t hover in my mind was Zack Snyder. This is relevant in two important senses. It’s kindred spirits with his 2009 Watchmen in its utter fealty to the text, an impressive piece of mimicry unbothered by its source’s troubling ideas, the sense of subversion bubbling below. (The Dune novel is profoundly politically incorrect by today’s necessary standards––but it makes us nostalgic for risks.) It also undoes some fine initial storytelling work and artfully gnarled production design by collapsing into a relentless barrage of explosions and violent carnage as the clock ticks towards the end of its runtime. Read full review
50
The New YorkerRichard BrodyOct 25, 2021
Because the pieces of the movie are calculated to fit together in unambiguous arrangements, the performances are reduced to ciphers. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneOct 25, 2021
One’s eye is at first dazzled, then sated, and eventually tired by this pitiless inflation of scale. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensOct 21, 2021
This film is a curiously paradoxical achievement: a visual and aural marvel that is also a crashing bore. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyOct 21, 2021
Everything is leaden, solemn, portentous. When the writing’s not wooden, it’s clumsily demotic. Read full review
50
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiOct 21, 2021
Ambitious, occasionally thrilling, and visually striking, Dune is mostly set up, building out a heartless world that never truly feels complete. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 3, 2021
The storytelling lacks the clean lines to make it consistently propulsive. Paradoxically, given its lofty position in the sci-fi canon, much of the narrative’s novelty has also been diluted, rendered stale by decades of imitation. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 3, 2021
In the end, Denis Villeneuve was all too right: Your television isn’t big enough for the scope of his Dune, but that’s only because this lifeless spice opera is told on such a comically massive scale that a screen of any size would struggle to contain it. Read full review
40
Vanity FairRichard LawsonSep 3, 2021
With Dune, Villeneuve has the chance to right the wrongs of David Lynch’s 1984 misfire (a misfire according to some, anyway) and truly honor Herbert’s text. But Villenueve can’t help but lacquer it all up into something hyper polished and hard to the touch. Read full review
More From This Movie

74 Critic Reviews

7.9 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL