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The sci-fi story really seemed to be a leftover from a previous era, when it came to elements like the boring name "Paul" for the protagonist; the prevalence of sand monsters eating people; and the reliance on Islamic culture to seem mystical and foreign.

Audiences in 2021 can't be expected to be engaged or surprised by much of this. Then there were the secret powers which blended aspects of Jedi mind tricks with Lord of the Rings, but in a way that was ultimately just less exciting.

Right from the opening credits, we see that this is only "Part One" of Dune; and we see that Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is absolutely crucial to the plot, so it's really hard to ever feel that he's in danger.

Sure he's cute, but he never really seemed to have much emotion. With the film being so heavily focused on Paul, it might as well have been titled "Bored youth moves to desert barracks".

I'm sure that when the book was written, many of its themes were still fresh. Sure there's nothing new under the sun, but there is even less that's new under the sun of Arrakis.

The lead police officer has marital problems and engages in a rivalry with the lead bad guy.

The bad guys are all muscular / ex-military and capable with guns, but their plans are intricate and smart, so the guns and muscles aren't really justified or sensible, but hey, it's an action movie, so why not both?

The bad guys are always angry, because they're bad guys.

Not only does the lead police officer have marital problems, he also likes to bend the rules.

The movie is very much channelling Michael Mann's masterpiece, Heat; but also, these guys must've seen Ocean's Eleven (for overly complex robberies) and maybe Fast & The Furious (for unnecessary guns and muscle), then decided to mash all of them together.

I still enjoy crime movies, but this film was a fairly derivative work that would've been forgettable, had Gerard Butler and Ice Cube not managed to shine through and take this over the line.

I lost count of the number of times I was left gasping for air, on the edge of my seat. I seemed to become a mouth-breather like Josh, the main character.

Very gritty and absolutely realistic - as an avid listener to crime podcasts, I recognised that some core plot elements here were actually based on real events.

Jacki Weaver is electrifying and the male cast are convincingly sinister.

I had nominated this to my American friends as something we might watch for Australia Day, but just as well I didn't - if you're looking for party vibes, balloons and rainbows, you definitely came to the wrong place. If you want to scratch the surface though, and see what the underbelly of Melbourne can be like, you will not be disappointed.