At first glance, 2021’s “Dune” is just a modern Star Wars complete with warring emperors, faceless creatures roaming barren desert planets and even the spaceships used to get from planet to planet.  

The movie is set far in the future once Earth is only a part of the distant past and follows Paul, the rising Duke of the House Atreides as his planet assumes control of the planet Arrakis, the planet which houses the highly sought after drug, spice. 

The 2021 iteration, produced by Warner Bros. and directed by Denis Villenueve, comes 37 years after the original Dune movie produced by David Lynch.  Both are based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert.  

According to Warner Bros. Pictures, 2021’s “Dune” is the first of two movies being produced in this universe, with the first one only covering half of the book.  Part two’s tentative release date is Oct. 20, 2023.  

The cast is stacked.  Starring among others, Timothée Chalamet as Paul; Zendaya as Chani, a girl from Arrakis; Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Paul’s dad; and Jason Momoa as a famed soldier, Duncan Idaho.  

The plot is 2 hours and 35 minutes of confusion.  Maybe for a true sci-fi buff or someone taking notes during the movie it’s easy to understand, but for the average viewer, jumps between planets, time periods and occasionally point of view, just add to the confusion of it all.

Hans Zimmer’s score for the movie is a redeeming quality.  The score captures the sci-fi themes perfectly with out-of-the-ordinary instruments and sounds used throughout as opposed to the traditional orchestral compositions.  

And even though “Dune” is a Star Wars clone, Zimmer, who also composed the scores for Star Wars, manages to separate one from the other through his music.  

Beautiful cinematography paired with these scores distracts from jumbled plot lines and instead pulls focus to sandy hills and the blazing sunshine that permeates every frame.  

The movie is above all else confusing, but its score, cinematography and impressive cast make the movie, if nothing else, a pleasing visual and auditory watch.