When approached as the first half of a typical three-act story, “Dune: Part One” makes a lot more sense. It really only brings the audience through the first act and a half of the tale. The majority of the film serves as Act One (the setup). There is a lot of worldbuilding, which is fun in Frank Herbert’s fictional world of Arrakis. A slew of characters are introduced, and some — like Oscar Isaac’s Duke Leto Atreides — are even bumped off early.
Things progress into Act Two (the midpoint or confrontation) when Harkonnen forces invade Arrakis. The heroes of House Atriedes are either killed or flee, including Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and Paul (Timothée Chalamet), who end up in the desert, captured by the local Fremen. After earning their respect, they are taken in and Paul begins to realize the latent potential of this wild group of native inhabitants of the arid planet … just in time for the story to abruptly end.
When “Part One” ends, the action is just beginning to build momentum, only for it to come to a screeching halt. In Villeneuve’s own words, “The first movie was more meditative and contemplative. We were following a young man discovering a new planet, a new culture.” Now that the stage is set, it’s time to ramp things up.
