A few months ago I started listening to ”Dune” as an audiobook. I found it interesting but once I stopped listening for a while I found it hard to press play again, either later the same day or some other day. It is probably one of those books that I would have loved if I had gotten into it in my teenage years. Maybe the problem is me and my attention span, broken by the modern world. Or maybe the novel is just to bloated. Or maybe both.

Either way, I sort of left it behind and instead gave the Denis Villeneuve movie a go. I’ve not watched a lot of Villeneuve movies, but it think Arrival is one of the greatest movies ever made. I’m less thrilled about Dune.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad movie in any way, shape or form. On the contrary, it’s probably a great movie in most ways. It’s stunningly beautiful and the music is Hans Zimmer being his most Hans Zimmer. But I feel detached from it when I watch it.

My main problem with it is probably that it is so ”serious” all the time. Maybe I’m broken by Marvel movies, and at least in theory I believe that there are too many quips and gags in way too many movies, but maybe the opposite with zero percent levity is sort of an over-correction. Everybody is so serious in the movie, all the time. Everything is grim. Macho men speaking in orcish sounding languages being macho.

As I’m writing this I realize that it sounds like I hated it, but I really didn’t. It is a good movie and I would absolutely recommend it. But either it lacked something, or I currently lack something to appreciate it the way it deserves.