Watched it yesterday here in Germany.
It's the first one I've watched at the theatre since the pandemic began, and I guess I couldn't have asked for a better experience in terms of visual grandeur. In a way it's really a shame that it's coming on HBOmax at the same time as theatres in the US, as a lot of people are likely to miss out on the experience.
I saw it in a pretty good cinema, so the sound an image were quite spectacular. I don't think it's one of Zimmer's best works, but it certainly is impressive and distinctive. The sound design itself is great and completely agree on how they went about "the voice". The visuals are stunning, and I loved how instead of going with the usual yellow/orange saturation to denote heat, they went with blinding whiteness. You can really feel the dryness of Arrakis, quite impressive. The planet and the heat are actual characters in the movie, and you feel how the conditions on Arrakis permeate everything.
What initially seemed very drab and simplistic in terms of production design isn't really so: there's a lot of intricate detail and interesting design choices. It works really well within the context of the story and the setting(s). The Navigator Guild ships are only briefly seen, but the sense of massive scale you get is fantastic. You also get a small glimpse of the the pomp and splendour of the Padishah Emperor's court at the beginning of the movie, so I'm really looking forward to that in the second part (which I'm sure will be coming), but the very different looks/aesthetics of Atreides, Harkonnens, Sardaukar and Fremen is achieved very well. There are similarities, but that is to expected in militaristic societies that share common ancestries.
Another thing I loved is how Villeneuve just lets the story itself explain things. There's very little exposition, and where it is used, it fits well within the dialogues and doesn't seem, well, exposition. You understand relationships and objects as the story unfolds, and it's quite rewarding that the director expects you to pay attention and be minimally intelligent to be able to follow along and pick up on things.
All the actors are good in their roles, but I especially liked Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica. Her moment of anguish (great editing by the way!) during Paul's testing by the Reverend Mother is amazing.
Now to the not so good.
I agree with some critics who have said that Villeneuve spends too much time with the desert and not enough with the characters, in that I didn't really connect with them. I know the story, know the stakes, know the anguish of each, but it didn't quite reach me in the movie. Not that I didn't "care" about them, but there seemed to be that little bit of connection missing, except for a few moments here and there (like the aforementioned Lady Jessica moment, or Paul's duel, or Duncan's moment).
Also, I understand why they approached Yueh's story and actions the way they did, but in doing so they robbed his actions and motivations of the proper emotional weight they should have had.
Who knows, maybe there's a 4 hour edit of Dune Part 1 that will be released some time in the future, and it will address these things, but for now, I think it's a brilliant achievement. Just the fact that Villeneuve and the writers managed to make the whole thing understandable without lengthy voice-overs or exposition is pretty much a triumph.
If you have the chance to see this in theatres, don't think twice about it. This movie deserves to be seen on the big (huge if possible) screen.
Fun fact: I went to an English-speaking screening (most movies in Germany are dubbed -I know, uncivilised *******s), and most of the crowd were young kids (16-20). Also, from what I've read, the movie is doing great everywhere, with very low drop-offs in the second week. So, there seems to be hope for movie-going tastes across the globe.
