THE DOG STARS : Tuesday 1st September 2026.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE DOG STARS' earlier this week, and this post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi film is Co-Produced and Directed by Ridley Scott, who I'm sure needs no introduction. Suffice to say some of his more acclaimed prior feature film making credits take in the likes of 'Alien' in 1979, 'Blade Runner' in 1982, 'Thelma & Louise' in 1992, 'Gladiator' in 2000, 'Black Hawk Down' in 2002, 'American Gangster' in 2007, 'Prometheus' in 2012, 'The Martian' in 2015, 'House of Gucci' in 2021, 'Napoleon' in 2023, and 'Gladiator II' in 2024. This film is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Peter Heller, was released last week too in the USA, has so far recovered US$21M at the Box Office from its US$70M production budget and has generated mixed or average critical reviews. 

Set in 2035 many years after a devastating flu pandemic almost wiped out all of the human race, Hig (Jacob Elordi), a former mechanic, lives in a self contained heavily fortified compound in Erie, Colorado, with his dog named Jasper, and Bangley (Josh Brolin), a hardened former Marine turned survivalist. Hig from time to time pilots a small single prop Cesna light aircraft into an abandoned and desolate Denver to gather supplies of fuel, food and medical stores. To Bangley's chagrin, Hig also supplies a nearby Mennonite community, led by Aaron (Benedict Wong) with food and occasional mechanical repairs.

When two opportunistic teenage strangers approach uninvited (referred to affectionately as 'roaches') Bangley shoots them dead in quick succession from his distance look-out point, creating a conflict with the more sympathetic Hig. They douse the bodies with petrol and burn them. 

While out flying his plane one day with Jasper, Hig picks up a distorted radio signal originating from Grand Junction, Colorado, that suggests human life there. Hig has picked up this signal on various occasions over recent years, but always quickly lost contact.

While sleeping outside one night under the stars Hig and Jasper are awakened by a larger group trying to ambush their home. The pair fight them off until Bangley appears and finishes them off. The next morning they douse the bodies with fuel and burn them. Jasper, however dies in the attack, spurring Hig to visit Denver to bury him next to his deceased wife Melissa (Sai Bennett) at their former home. 

Heartbroken and distraught, Hig decides he must find the source of the Grand Junction radio signal, believing there to be more to life out there than the confines of their compound. Bangley, who does not approve of the journey, stays behind in Erie, seemingly bringing an end to their five years partnership. After experiencing a mechanical failure, Hig lands his Cesna in a valley bringing the plane to an abrupt halt within inches of a stand of trees. Within a few minutes there is a stampede of wild buffalo that causes minor damage to the plane while Hig takes cover under the fuselage. Dusting himslef off he spies a donkey in the distance with a bell around its neck. He follows the donkey and comes to a remote farmstead where a father and daughter, Pops (Guy Pearce) and Cima (Margaret Qualley), live. The two form an uneasy alliance with Hig, as he repairs his plane and cuts down trees to make a runway, using the donkey to pull out the tree stumps. Hig starts a romantic relationship with Cima, who asks him to stay with them.

After their farm is raided in an attack by a marauding group of roaches on horseback Hig, Cima, and Pops flee on Hig's plane. They make it to Grand Junction Regional Airport, where the radio operator hesitantly allows them to land and enter their community unarmed. Upon arrival, they feel a sense of unease. Darlene (Allison Janney), a former flight attendant who is the leader of the community, orders Cima to marry a soldier, due to her previous medical education, making her a most welcome catch. Hig, Cima and Pops escape, having discovered the community's cannibalism, as evidenced by the dismembered corpses hanging in plastic bags in a walk-in freezer through which they make their escape. As they fly away, they bomb Grand Junction with grenades from the air, which Bangley had handed to Hig when he left, as a precautionary measure in the event that he ran into any trouble.

The three fly back to Erie to check on Bangley, where they discover a major attack occurred at the compound and much of it had been wiped out. There is no sign of Bangley but there are plenty of dead roaches strewn around the place, which are already being picked on by carrion birds. Bangley is found injured but alive, and welcomes the group with fresh brewed coffee, after which nurse Cima stitches up his wounds. He then reluctantly joins them at the Mennonite (which he refers to as Mormons) community in the mountains to establish a new settlement there.

'The Dog Stars' is hardly going to go down as Ridley Scott's finest film in his fifty or so year long film making career, or his best entry into the Sci-Fi canon for that matter too, but there are some moments nonetheless when the Ridley Scott magic shines through. Such as the sweeping vistas of river valleys and looming mountain terrain, the snow capped peaks, the desolate cityscape that once was Denver, and the Grand Junction airport terminal that looks as though it was lifted straight out of 'Blade Runner'. That said there's nothing new here in the story that we haven't seen before in other post apocalyptic dystopian thrillers such as '28 Days Later', 'The Last of Us', 'I Am Legend' and countless others. The performances of Josh Brolin and Allison Janney (as brief as her screen time is) are on point, but I found Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley's undercooked and too sugar coated. And to cap it off there are a couple of glaring plot holes that I will not expand on here, but see if you can spot them for yourselves.

'The Dog Stars' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE RUNNING MAN : Tuesday 18th November 2025

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE RUNNING MAN' this week at my local multiplex cinema, and this American dystopian action thriller film is Co-Written for the screen, Co-Produced and Directed by Edgar Wright, and is based on the 1982 novel written by Stephen King under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. It is also the second big screen adaptation following the 1987 film of the same name that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Directed by Paul Michael Glaser. Edgar Wright's previous feature film output takes in his feature debut with 1995's 'A Fistful of Fingers' and then 'Shaun of the Dead' in 2004, 'Hot Fuzz' in 2007, 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' in 2010, 'The World's End' in 2013, 'Baby Driver' in 2017, and 'Last Night in Soho' in 2021. The film was released here in Australia, the UK and the US last week, cost US$110M to produce, has so far grossed US$31M and has garnered mixed critical acclaim.

In the near future, the USA is a dystopian authoritarian state ruled over by a major media Network, where the majority of the population live in poverty with little access to even basic healthcare. The Network appease people with their trashy, violent reality and game shows through their FreeVee TV's, which are literally everywhere. The Network's most popular show is 'The Running Man', where three 'Runners' are selected from literally hundreds of other wannabes, and can win US$1B if they survive for thirty days while the Network's 'Hunters', led by the mysterious Evan McCone (Lee Pace), and ordinary citizens try to hunt and kill them, by any means possible. Given US$1K and a twelve-hour headstart, Runners are required to film themselves for ten minutes every day and post in their recoded message which is then played on air the next day, or else they'll forfeit the contest. 

Ben Richards (Glen Powell), is a blue-collar worker living in the slums of Co-Op city, is unable to afford influenza medicine for his two year old daughter, Cathy, after being fired from several of his former jobs for insubordination and is blacklisted. Over his wife, Sheila's (Jayme Lawson), objections, Ben tries out for the Network and following exhaustive physical and mental testing is selected for 'The Running Man'. 

Ben agrees to participate when Executive Producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), who can be very persuasive, offers him an advance for Cathy's medication and a safe house for his family. As the show begins with great fanfare, Ben acquires fake IDs and two disguises - one as an Executive Manager and the other as a Priest, from his associate Molie (William H. Macy). Ben travels to New York, where he watches live coverage on his TV from his hotel room where is is holed up as Runner Tim Jansky (Martin Herlihy) is found seemingly flaunting the rules and is gunned down in the street and killed by the Hunters.

He then flees to Boston and hides out at a hostel, but is soon afterwards located by the Hunters. An intense firefight ensues, which leads to an explosion that takes out the entire hostel block and kills eight network soldiers. Ben escapes through a sewer and is found and sheltered by Bradley Throckmorton (Daniel Ezra) and his family. Bradley, an anti-network activist, teaches Ben about the network's propaganda and deceit, which Ben relays in his next recording. Instead, the Network replaces him with a foul-mouthed deepfake, resulting in Ben being kicked out of the house by Bradley's mother. Bradley then directs Ben to a fellow activist in Derry, Maine, where he says he'll be safe. 

During his journey, he learns that second runner Jenni Laughlin (Katy O'Brian) has been killed having narrowly escaped from a casino in a pink convertible car but then crashing it into a barn whereupon she was torched by two flamethrower wielding young kids. Ben is now the sole remaining runner, and he has earned the support of the poor and working-class who plaster the slogan 'Ben Lives' on walls and placards, almost everywhere. On the fourteenth day, Ben arrives at the home of Bradley's friend, Elton Parrakis (Michael Cera), who believes Ben's survival can help fuel a rebellion against the Network. Elton gives Ben a map to a bunker built by his late father, where he can survive the full thirty days, even though its designed to sustain a life for three years. 

As he tries to leave early one morning, Ben is alerted by Elton's aged mother Victoria (Sandra Dickinson) who recognises Ben from her ardent watching of his TV programme and wants to alert the Network. He successfully averts her from doing so, but Elton alerts them anyway and within under five minutes the property is swarming with Hunters. However, Elton has booby trapped the entire house and successfully dispatches many of them. Ben and Elton escape in a buggy filled with explosives, but McCone kills Elton with a single shot to the head from a helicopter above, and another Hunter confronts Ben on a bridge. Driving towards each other at speed, Ben crashes the buggy into the Hunter which erupts in a ball of flame, while he escapes by jumping into the river below.

Traveling north as per the map provided by Elton, Ben discovers that the location of the bunker has been covered over by a new housing development still under construction. Ben is later caught on surveillance but escapes using the car of upperclass woman Amelia Williams (Emilia Jones), taking her hostage. Amelia initially believes the propaganda about the Hunters being there to safeguard her kind from Ben's violent unruly kind, until she witnesses on her in-car TV screen how the show's content differs from reality. They travel to an airfield guarded by McCone and the Network, where Killian instructs McCone to let them pass. Ben commandeers a plane on the pretext that he is wearing a suicide vest of Black Irish high explosive that would incinerate everyone within a half mile radius. and he want's it to take him and Amelia across the border into Canada. On the flight, Killian calls Ben to offer him a contract for his own network show and to become Hunter 6. When Ben refuses, Killian shows footage of McCone and the Hunters murdering Sheila and Cathy, which is played on the show to give him the audience's sympathy.

Ben realises the flight crew are McCone's remaining Hunters and fights them in the cockpit eventually killing them. When he fights McCone, he learns that the latter is a former runner who survived 29 days during the show's first season, having taken Killian's deal. After a violent fight, Ben kills McCone and gives a parachute to Amelia so she can escape. Killian again offers Ben his own show and a chance to speak on live TV, but Ben refuses again and tries to convince viewers to turn off their FreeVee. The Network redirects the plane to their headquarters and runs a deepfake of Ben threatening to crash into the building. The plane is shot down by a missile before it hits the building. Ben survives the attack by escaping in the plane's auto-eject pod, and later reunites with Sheila and his daughter, whose deaths were faked by Killian.

Sometime later, Amelia recovers the plane's black box flight recorder and leaks the uncensored recordings to the public. This turns public opinion against the Network and ultimately leads to a rebellion. As the next season of The Running Man begins, host Bobby Thompson (Colman Domingo) senses the hostility in the audience and quits on the spot after leading the show for twenty years, leaving Killian to very reluctantly take over as host - to which he lasts less than a minute after the a riot breaks out among the audience. Running to get away, Killian looses his way during the audience frenzy and crashes through a screen backdrop onto the main stage. Lying flat on the ground watching the melee unfolding before him, Ben emerges from the crowd, and points McCoon's gun (inscribed with word 'Destiny' in block capitals) at him. Counting down 5-4-3-2-1 and Action, Ben shoots Killian, whom he had sworn at their very first meeting that he would fuck him over.

My two other movie buddies and I came away from 'The Running Man' having enjoyed Edgar Wright's apparently more faithful adaptation of the Stephen King novel, and praising Glen Powell's performance as the put-upon but nonetheless undefeated Ben Richards. This movie has something to say about out of control corporate capitalism, society's insatiable appetite for in your face and outlandish media offerings, and the great divide that exists between the wealthy and those living on or below the poverty line. Throw into the mix a good dose of well executed action sequences, a strong supporting cast, a fast paced thrill ride that will not leave you wanting, and the charm and charisma of the film's leading man, and you have a movie that is well worth the price of cinema entry, and is an improvement on the 1987 original. 

'The Running Man' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

WEAPONS : Tuesday 12th August 2025

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'WEAPONS' earlier this week, and this American mystery horror film is Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Scored by Zach Cregger, whose prior feature film making output are 'Miss March' in 2009, 'The Civil War on Drugs' in 2011 and the critically and commercially successful horror thriller 'Barbarian' in 2022. The film was released in the US and here in Australia last week, cost US$38M to produce, has so far grossed US$101M and has garnered universal critical acclaim.

The film opens with a young child narrating the story of how seventeen children from Justine Gandy's (Julia Garner) third grade elementary school class all run from their homes in Maybrook, Pennsylvania and disappear into the night at exactly 2:17 AM. Though only one child, Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher) from the class didn't vanish, Justine herself counts as one of two people from the classroom who didn't, and so a months long Police investigation begins, but to no avail. It is from this point on, that the story gets interesting as the narrator (Scarlett Sher) says. 

Approaching a month after the disappearance of the children, and following a very heated meeting with the school community with all relevant stakeholders including Justine, Principal Marcus Miller (Benedict Wong), and the local law enforcement, Marcus places Justine on compulsory leave, as the local townsfolk and parents of the missing children suspects her involvement in the children's disappearance. 

Depressed and anxious, she turns to vodka and seeks comfort from her ex-boyfriend, local Police Officer Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich). Meanwhile, Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), a local property developer and the father of one of the missing children Matthew (Luke Speakman), struggles with his sons disappearance and, frustrated by the Police's seemingly ineffective investigation and glacial progress, commences his own. 

Concerned about Alex's well-being, Justine seeks authority from Principal Marcus to visit Alex just to check up on him, as a friendly familiar face that he might confide in. Marcus flatly denies her request and tells her to keep well away. However, she follows him home and observes that all of the windows of the house are covered in newspaper. Banging on the door and making her presence known, she creeps around the back of the house, and through a small opening between the sheets of newspaper, sees Alex's parents sitting completely motionless on the couch. She tells Marcus and insists he perform a wellness check. 

Later that night Justine and Archer have separate dreams about the missing children and a strange woman with clown-like make-up. Justine revisits Alex's house to stake it out, but as night time comes falls asleep in her car. Alex’s mother (Callie Schuttera), walking in a stilted manner and carrying a large pair of scissors, exits the house and enters the car through an open back door and cuts off a lock of Justine's hair, and then disappears back inside the house.

James (Austin Abrams), a local homeless drug addict who supports himself by pawning stolen items, breaks into Alex's house in the pouring rain seeking shelter, thinking it is abandoned, where he finds Alex's parents sat on the couch and the missing children in the basement, all in a catatonic state. After spotting a poster for the missing children promising a US$50K cash reward at his local pawn shop, he goes to the Police station to report his findings. However, Paul, who threatened James following an earlier altercation, in which the Police Officer pricked his finger on the needle of a syringe concealed in James's pocket fearing AIDS, hepatitis or some other nefarious virus, spots and chases him. James runs into the woods, where he becomes disoriented and sees the woman from Justine and Archer's nightmares. Paul catches James, who in attempt to gain favour with Paul says he knows where the missing children are located and offers to split the US$50K reward with him. Paul drives to Alex's house to investigate, leaving James handcuffed in the patrol car. Hours later undercover of darkness, Paul returns to the car and drags James into the house kicking and screaming.

Marcus is visited at school by a mysterious heavily made up woman wearing gaudy clothes - Alex's eccentric aunt, Gladys (Amy Madigan), who claims to be the family's caretaker after Alex's parents have fallen ill. Marcus insists he must meet with Alex's parents. The next day, being a Saturday, Gladys appears at Marcus and his husband Terry's (Clayton Farris) home claiming she missed the bus and had to walk all the way to their home and that she is distressed, exhausted and needs to talk to Marcus. She performs a ritual with a stick from a potted tree that she carries around with her, and a lock of hair she cut from Terry's head, and with a small bell hypnotises Marcus into violently killing Terry by head butting him multiple times until his skull caves in. 

She then orders Marcus to kill Justine. Marcus attacks Justine at a petrol station, interrupting an argument between her and Archer, who does what he can to defend Justine. She narrowly escapes in her car, with Marcus frantically running after her. Archer giving chase in his pick-up truck sees Marcus being fatally struck by a car travelling at speed through an intersection killing him outright with his brains spilled out all over the road. That night, Justine and Archer reconcile their differences after coming to the conclusion that the children were running toward Alex's house.

It is subsequently revealed that Gladys is in fact a dying witch posing as Alex's aunt, who can subdue people and weaponise them against others, using personal items from her subjects and a lock of hair from any target of her choice. After entrancing his parents, Gladys ordered Alex to keep her secret and threatened to murder his parents if he disobeyed her, saying that she can turn them against each other, and even make them eat one another if she so chooses. Gladys instructed Alex to gather one item from each of his classmates, and a desperate Alex complied after she promised she would leave once recovered. Using the personalised name tags Alex stole from his classmates' individual storage boxes, Gladys cast a spell on the children, drawing them to Alex's house at 2:17 AM and keeping them in the basement in order to feed off their life-force and extend her own longevity.

After maintaining a kerb side vigil outside Alex's house to see if there are any movements or developments Paul appears at the front door and motions for them to enter. Upon entering to investigate, Justine and Archer are attacked by Paul and James, both now hypnotised. James relentlessly attacks Archer, and Paul has Justine pinned up against a kitchen cupboard with both his hands around her neck. Justine is able to wrest Paul's gun and first shoots him through the throat and then cleanly through the temple killing him outright. James by now has the upper hand over Archer, as Justin appears from behind and unloads a single bullet straight into the back of James head. Searching for Matthew in the basement, Archer encounters Gladys, who enchants him into attacking Justine. 

Chased by his parents, Alex enters Gladys' room and copies her spell using hair from Gladys' wig. The possessed children suddenly chase Gladys out of the house and through the neighbourhood, smashing through windows, doors, fences and upending furniture as they go until they catch, dismember, and decapitate her, breaking the curse and snapping all of her living victims out of their trance. Justine searches through the house for Alex finding him cradling his parents in his arms and Archer follows the trail of destruction left by the rampaging children until he comes to a house, and in the front garden are the children looking down on the blood stained grass and what remains of Gladys. Archer reunites with a seemingly catatonic Matthew. 

The narrator explains that Alex moved out of town to live with a kinder aunt after his parents were institutionalised. The children were all reunited with their parents, though only some have started to speak again.

With 'Weapons' Writer and Director Zach Cregger  has crafted a taught and tight horror offering that proves that he is no one trick pony after the critical and commercial success of 'Barbarian', and at the same time has delivered us one of the best original and inventive films of the genre this year. The film masterfully blends dark humour, with a few jump scares, psychological horror, mystery and a chilling and interesting premise that will keep you fully engaged for its 128 minute running time. And the performances by the principle cast are all top notch, but particularly from Garner, Brolin and young Cary Christopher who all bring a sense of angst and immediacy to their roles. Told in perhaps for the genre, a non-linear fashion, this film sets the standard by which others will be judged, and if you have to see one horror movie this year, make it this one.

'Weapons' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

DUNE : Tuesday 7th December 2021.

'DUNE' which I saw at my local independent movie theatre this week is an M Rated American epic Sci-Fi film Directed, Co-Written for the screen and Co-Produced by Denis Villeneuve whose previous feature film offerings take in 'Incendies' in 2010, 'Prisoners' in 2013, 'Sicario' in 2015, 'Arrival' in 2016 and 'Blade Runner 2049' in 2017. This film is based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert and is the first instalment in a planned two part adaptation with 'Dune : Part Two' now slated for an October 2023 release. Originally scheduled for a late November 2020 release, the film was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, instead having its World Premier at the Venice International Film Festival on 3rd September this year ahead of its international release in mid-September. It was then released in US cinemas and streaming on HBO Max on 21st October, and went on general release in Australia only last week. The film has so far generated largely positive critical acclaim and has so far grossed US$383M off the back of a US$165M production budget. 

Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) of House Atreides, the ruler of the planet Caladan, is assigned by the Emperor of the Universe Shaddam Corrino to replace House Harkonnen as fief rulers of the planet Arrakis. House Harkonnen have presided over Arrakis for the past eight hundred years and so this news comes as a bitter disappointment to them needless to say. Arrakis is a harsh desert planet and the only known source of 'spice' in the universe, a valuable substance that bestows its users greater vitality and expanded consciousness. It is also critical for interstellar travel as it allows Spacing Guild Navigators to use a limited form of foresight to safely navigate through interstellar space. The reality is however, that Shaddam is scared and jealous and intends to have House Harkonnen stage a violent and bloody coup to retake the planet with the aid of the Emperor's Sardaukar troops, eradicating House Atreides once and for all, whose influence threatens Shaddam's control. Leto is reluctant but but can see the political advantages of controlling the spice planet and forming an alliance with its native population, skilled desert dwelling fighters known as the Fremen.

Leto's mistress Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) is a disciple of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusive sisterhood whose members possess advanced physical and mental capabilities. As part of their centuries-long breeding regime, the Bene Gesserit instructed Jessica to bear a daughter whose son would become a male Bene Gesserit, a messianic superbeing with the power of second sight necessary to guide humanity to a better future. Instead she gave birth to a son, Paul (Timothee Chalamet). Throughout his life, Paul is trained by Leto's aides, Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa), Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), and the Mentat Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Henderson), while Jessica trains Paul in the ways of the Bene Gesserit. 

Paul confides in Jessica and Duncan that he has recurring dreams of the future. Because of these dreams, the Emperor's Truthsayer the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling) visits Caladan and subjects Paul to a deadly test to assess his impulse control, which he passes. Mohiam instructs House patriarch Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard) to spare Paul and Jessica during his coup on Arrakis, to which he responds that he, will not harm them. 

Some two weeks later, House Atreides arrives at Arrakeen, the fortress stronghold on Arrakis, where Duncan and an advance party have been learning all they can about the planet and the Fremen. It is unknown who remained on Caladan to oversee and protect the Atreides home planet in the meantime. Leto negotiates with the Fremen's chieftain Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and meets the Imperial ecologist and Judge of Change Dr. Liet-Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster). Kynes informs Leto, Paul, and Halleck of the dangers of spice harvesting, including giant sandworms which can grow up to four hundred metres long and which travel under the desert sands and are attracted by vibrations and sounds on the surface. During a flight, they spot a sandworm approaching an active spice harvester with a stranded crew on board. Leto and his team rescue the workers with barely minutes to spare before the sandworm swallows the harvester. Paul's exposure to the spice-laden air triggers more intense visions of the future.

After an attempt on Paul's life by a Harkonnen agent, Leto places his army on high alert. Suk doctor Wellington Yueh (Chang Chen) disables Arrakeen's protective shields which allows Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops to overwhelm the Atreides forces, and ultimately destroy Arrakeen. Yueh incapacitates Leto and tells him he had no choice but to make a deal to deliver him to the Baron Harkonnen in exchange for freeing his captive wife. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison gas capsule and is killed by the Baron after delivering the Duke. As Leto lies naked in  chair at the end of a long table and in an incapacitated state he murmers, and the Baron leans in to listen. Leto bites down on the fake tooth and releases the poison gas, killing himself and members of the Baron's court almost immediately, but the Baron survives. 

Duncan escapes and steals an ornithopter (a flying machine with the body of a helicopter but the wings that oscillate rapidly like a dragon fly). Harkonnens soldiers capture Paul and Jessica and take them into the desert where they will be dumped to die. However, Paul and Jessica overpower and kill their captors using a Bene Gesserit ability known as 'the Voice', a means of controlling the actions of others through verbal commands. Finding a survival kit left for them by Yueh, Paul and Jessica spend the night in a tent, which by daybreak is buried under the sand. Paul experiences more dreams, this time of a 'holy war' raging across the universe in his name. The next morning, they make their way out of the buried tent and continue their journey in search of the Fremen.

The Baron, recovering from the poison gas attack, gives command of Arrakis to his over zealous nephew Glossu Rabban (Dave Bautista) and orders him to sell spice reserves while the price is still at a peak and restart production to recover the cost of the coup. Paul and Jessica are found by Duncan and Kynes and head to an old unused aquifer station but are quickly tracked by Sardaukar. Duncan and a number of the Fremen sacrifice themselves to allow Jessica, Paul, and Kynes to escape the aquifer on foot. Kynes separates and is ambushed by three Sardaukar soldiers, so she lures a sandworm by thumping with her fist on the sand. The sandworm duly arrives and quickly devours them along with her. Paul and Jessica escape in an ornithopter and fly through an 800kph sandstorm, ultimately crash landing deep in the desert. 

Running to a rocky outcrop they manage to evade a sandworm and there meet a group of Fremen, among them Stilgar and Chani (Zendaya), the girl seen by Paul's in his dreams. Fremen warrior Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) protests their admission into thier encampment and is killed by Paul in a ritual duel to the death. Against Jessica's wishes, Paul insists on joining the Fremen to fulfil his father's goal of bringing peace to Arrakis, and preventing a holy war spreading across the universe in his name. 

'Dune' is an epic film in just about every sense of the term. From the stunning visuals, the action set pieces, the character development, the cinematography, the ensemble cast, the world building and the Hans Zimmer composed thumping soundtrack this ticks all the boxes and must be seen on a big cinema screen to truly appreciate the scale and spectacle of what Director Denis Villeneuve has delivered. At over two-and-a half hours in length, sure the movie lags in places but it moves along at a swift pace and never leaves you wanting, and whilst some critics have commented that it only covers half of Frank Herbert's novel, that is the Director's intention as the opening credit says 'Dune : Part One'. Aside for being a Sci-Fi spectacle for the ages and all ages, the film has emotional heft and delves into the human psyche as much as it does the grandeur of the set designs and the manner in which the action scenes play out. For a universe set some eight thousand years into the future however, one thing that left me scratching my head was why, oh why, with all their advanced technology, world building prowess and interstellar travel capabilities, do they still go into hand to hand battle with swords and daggers? Clearly, ours is not to reason why . . . ! Bring on 'Part Two'.

'Dune' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-