Dune World, movie (2021) - Watch the trailer on YouTube
video © SRS Cinema
Article updated: 2022.09.21
The Dune World (2021) is a futuristic fantasy adventure film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: Dune World, movie (2021)
Original title: Dune World, Alternate title: Sand World
Series: -
Setting: future fantasy Earth
Product type: Film, Genre: futuristic fantasy adventure, Style: sci-fi, fantasy, futuristic fantasy, creatures, psychic powers, adventure
Release: 2021.04.30
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2022.01), first time
Rating: Very bad (1- out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points)
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This is my review of Dune World, a futuristic fantasy adventure movie from 2021. It's about a spaceship crashing on an alien planet, and the crew tries to repair their vessel. The Dune World film is boring, I don't recommend it to anyone.
Dune World, movie (2021)
image © SRS Cinema
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Review (spoiler-free) - Sand World / Dune World, movie (2021)
After watching Dune: Part One (2021), I though I'd explore the the other movies Dune inspired. I didn't even check the premise or the trailer before sitting down to watch this.
The Dune World movie is about a spaceship crashing on an alien planet, and the crew tries to repair their vessel.
The story might be okay, but it's way too long for the core plot. The consistency is constantly interrupted by visions, flashforwards, random shots. There are no character arcs. I didn't find major logical problems.
The cinematography is bad and irritating. We see the same shots over and over and over again. The movie is not interesting visually. There are so many close-up shots, I assume this was made to be watched on a small screen. The 3D designs look good. The physical sets look disappointing. The costumes were more or less okay.
We don't get to know the characters, so we don't really care about their fates. The actors probably portray them according to their directions, but they are annoying.
The music (by Symphanee Electra X) is okay.
Dune World is not entertaining in any way. It's not even "so bad it's funny", it's just bad.
Dune World is a boring and irritating futuristic fantasy adventure, that I don't think anyone would enjoy.
My experience
I wasn't satisfied with Dune World (2021).
Rating: Very bad (1- out of 3 points). Dune World is a bad film in every aspect.
Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points). Dune World is not worth watching.
Rewatchability: Low. I don't think anyone would ever want to watch this again.
Chance of watching it again: No.
Chance of watching a sequel: Low. It's unlikely that I'd watch anything from this team.
Dune World, movie (2021)
image © SRS Cinema
Will you enjoy this?
If you dislike amateur movies, you should skip watching Dune World.
If you prefer amateur films, and don't mind bad looking sets, stupid stories, bad acting and irritating editing, then you might give a chance for the Dune World movie.
If you like supernatural or fantasy movies, you might like Dune World.
If you can get through the first half hour of the movie still interested, the rest will be practically the same.
If you don't mind illogical elements in your movies, you can enjoy this.
If you prefer visuals over story, you should avoid this movie.
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in fantasy adventure stories, you might watch the Dune World movie for the plot points, but I'd rather recommend reading the plot summary.
Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?
The visuals probably look better the smaller the screen you watch it on.
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Dune World, movie (2021)
image © SRS Cinema
Review with spoilers - Sand World / Dune World, movie (2021)
I didn't like the Dune World movie.
Cover
The cover of the movie is okay, although it doesn't say much. The creature shown on the image slightly spoils the movie.
The trailer
The trailer is actually good.
Promise of the first scene
There's a demented man, talking mysteriously. I assume we'll find some meaning for his words. Otherwise, the movie will be probably just as hard to understand as the beginning.
Execution: No, we didn't get any meaning in the end. So, it was just really a confusing gibberish.
Plot summary / Synopsis
A spaceship (Robert Indiana) approaches a planet (Caliban), to take up minerals from the mines. There are no humans on the planet, just automated robot mines. There's a female captain (Samantha Coolidge as Babylon), who has some kind of vision from the Oracle (Jeff Kirkendall as The Oracle). There's also a pilot (Ryan Dalton as Kondor), and a robot (Anthony Polonia "A.T. Tomas" as Link) on the bridge of the spaceship.
Something strange happens. The engineer (Drew Patrick as Kidd) reports that power is dropping since the incident. There's also a fourth crewmember (Houston Baker as Chafe). They crash land on the planet.
We see the ghost of their previous female captain (Cassandra Hayes as Raven) - who died on their last mission - telling them they have to be ready. And a robed man, and a creature. We often see them throughout the movie.
The female captain wakes up to find everyone dead. Then she wakes up again, and it was just a dream, everybody is alive. There's a station nearby, but they suspect that it might have been the source of the attack.
They get out of the spaceship, and try to reach the station on foot. They find a human skeleton. There's some mining equipment, that they switch on accidentally. Then a giant worm attacks, and kills the fourth crewmember. They try to shoot it, to no avail, so they run away. They theorise that it was the sounds of the mining equipment that drew the attention of the giant worm.
We see visions of the captain running through corridors from a hooded man. Then the ghost of the previous captain tells them they shouldn't try to leave the planet, and don't fight the inhabitants.
They are attacked by giant worms, but they are able to fend them off.
They get to the station, and get inside. There, they find a recording from the Oracle of crew that built the station, about dragons, and wagons, and pits. The pilot guarding the entrance sees a hooded man. He tries to shoot the hooded man, but the hooded man survives this, grabs the pilot, causing the pilot to fall.
Inside the station, they accidentally switch on some equipment, that causes noise, that attracts the creatures. A giant worm breaks through the wall, and kills the engineer. The robot switches personality into the personality of the engineer, who saved his memory before they've left, and linked it to his own biorhythm, so it would only activate if he dies.
On their way back to the ship, they meet two hooded men, but they can't get them to talk. They decide to get back to the station, to hide from the hooded men. The robot starts to malfunction, then stops working. A hooded man appears, so the captain tells him that she has to try killing him. She realises that the hooded man are the former crew, who built this station. The hooded man removes his mask, revealing the pilot. He tells her that it's the minerals they are mining, it gets into their brain as they breath it in. This is how they are spreading. The captain tries to shoot him, but the beam doesn't affect the pilot-creature.
After some running, the captain suddenly finds herself on Mars. The robot tells her that she had finished the virtual reality simulation of the mission to the planet they have planned to go. She is joined by the engineer and the fourth guy, and they are happy together. We see however, that it's just a trick on her mind, and she is still on the planet.
The setting
It's set in the future of Earth, probably a few hundred years later.
There are psychic abilities in this world. On larger spaceships, it's common they have an oracle, who is always right about their predictions.
Dune World, movie (2021)
image © SRS Cinema
The mineral
The mineral is able to be used as fuel in any kind of spaceship.
The dust of the mineral can be also inhaled. It influences the human minds. Those affected by the dust may be connected via a shared link. Or it might be that the dust was once part of a living consciousness, that now infects humans. It's not entirely clear.
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one. "Don't sniff minerals"?
The structure of the story
The scenes of the Dune World film are mostly played in sequence, following the same storyline. There are some flashbacks and flashforwards intercut into the regular scenes.
There is no single viewpoint character.
It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, action, and a kind of resolution.
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Things I liked
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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
I haven't seen any other works of the writer (John Oak Dalton) or the directors (Anthony Polonia, Mark Polonia). And now I'm not sure I want to see any more from them, unless I read good reviews beforehand.
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Dune World, movie (2021)
image © SRS Cinema
Analysis of the story - Sand World / Dune World, movie (2021)
I didn't like the story, it was so long, repetitive and boring, that it prevented me from enjoying Dune World.
Problematic elements
Too long movie: The movie has content for about half, or third of the runtime. Many shots are repeated, probably to fill up time, or to create tension. That doesn't really work, so it would be better to trim those scenes. There are also switched shots and warped shots to disorientate the viewer, but these are more than likely unnecessary.
Visions: The scenes are often intercut with images of the planet, the Oracle, or the man with glasses.
The robot: The robot is really irritating, and it's not funny, if they tried to make it comedic.
Cheap sets: The sets look cheap, but that's something I can overlook, as long as the story is good enough. This story is not good enough.
Cheap props: When you try to make a movie, at least spend some effort if you can't spend money. The toy guns they've used could have looked acceptable, had the modify them to look more "realistic". Even if they loaned them, they could attach some extra parts, or wires, to hide the fact that they came from a toy store.
The hooded man uniform: Why do they dress the pilot into those hoods? Is there any advantage of wearing that hood?
The marriage: The marriage of the characters (2 wives + 2 husbands) could add some extra layer of complexity to a story, but here I've found it just annoying, and requiring extra exposition.
Unanswered questions
- What kind of attack did they use against the spaceship? Did the minerals allow the previous crew to make such an attack?
- Why does the ghost of the previous captain appear? Why does she recommend them to stay here?
- What have happened to the captain?
- What will they do to the captured crew?
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Possibilities of improvement
- Trimming the scenes could improve the movie.
- Cut most of the visions.
- Cut the irritating repeats of the robot.
- Add dialogue, giving answers to the unanswered questions.
How it could have been better?
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Behind the scenes
Thoughts about the reviews of others
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Dune World, movie (2021)
image © SRS Cinema
Uses for the film - Sand World / Dune World, movie (2021)
Plot
- Set in the future of Earth, on another planet.
- A spaceship is sent to a mining colony to take up cargo from there.
- A spaceship is attacked as it tries to land on a seemingly uninhabited planet.
- Aliens try to infect people landing on their planet.
Scenes
- When the spaceship lands on the planet, it could be used to depict a spaceship landing on a dusty planet.
Designs
- The hooded men look okay, for humans living on a desolate planet.
- The spaceship looks okay.
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
- As they travel on their ship, they get damaged (probably due to an unprovoked attack). There's a nearby place that might help them with the repairs, but it can be that it was that place that attacked them in the first place...
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
Supply run: There's a team that wants to get supplies in a dangerous territory, that acts as the attacker. The defender units are the locals, inhabiting the area. The defender sets up the playing area. The defender chooses one edge as the entry zone for the attackers, and deploys an supply station (a bunker, a shed, a tent) anywhere on the playing area. Then they place some creatures on the playing area on random places. Then the defender deploys their units anywhere on the playing area, except from the starting area of the attackers, and at least one movement away from the creatures. The defender units can start the game hiding. Then the attackers deploy their units in their starting zone, and the first turn begins. The attackers have to get to the supply station, take the supplies, and leave through the edge of their starting zone. The creatures react to movement within their own movement range, and charge the model moving through their territory. Otherwise, at the end of the turn, the creatures roll a d6: on 1-4, they move into the indicated direction (1: north, 2: east, 3: south, 4: west), on 5-6, they stay in place. The attacker wins if they get the supplies, leave with it, and more than half of their units are alive. The defenders win, if they kill more than half of the attackers.
Gathering army: One side of the battle has the ability to convert defeated enemies. If their models defeat an enemy in close combat, roll a dice. On 1-3, they are able to infect their bodies, and they can start acting immediately. On 4-6, the infection takes more time, so the model gets out of the game. The infected model can be indicated with a marker, or exchanged by the player to another model, to show it's infected.
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
Spaceship crew: Human-sized modern / futuristic human civilians. For example, the models from the Space Trucker Crew set would be good to depict them.
The giant worm: Giant worm-like creature.
The hooded men: Human-sized humanoids, with hoods and goggles.
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Similar stories - Sand World / Dune World, movie (2021)
Short stories
Ray Bradbury: Asleep in Armageddon (1948): In a futuristic setting, on an alien planet, the ghosts of the extinct inhabitants infect the minds of the humans.
Movies
Dune Drifter (2020): In a futuristic setting, a spaceship crash lands on an alien desert planet. They need supplies to repair the ship. They have to defeat the enemy, dressed in black, wearing a mask, to get that.
Ghosts of Mars (2001): In a futuristic setting, on an alien desert planet, the ghosts of the extinct inhabitants infect the minds of the humans through the dust of the planet.
Planet Dune (2021): In a futuristic setting, on an alien desert planet, there's a giant burrowing worm that hunts people.
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Frequently asked questions - Sand World / Dune World, movie (2021)
Is the Dune World film based on a book or comics?
No, Dune World is not based on either books or comics.
Is the Dune World film a remake or reboot?
No, the Dune World film is neither a remake nor a reboot.
Is there a post credit scene in Dune World? Does Dune World have end credit scenes?
No, there's no post credit scene in Dune World.
Is Dune World related to Dune?
No, Dune World is not related to Dune.
Where can I see Dune World? What is Dune World playing on? What streaming service is Dune World on? Where can I watch Dune World online? Is Dune World available on Netflix? Is Dune World on Amazon?
As of 2022.02.01, Dune World is available on Hoopla.
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Resources - Sand World / Dune World, movie (2021)
Information
IMDB: Dune World (2021): Database article.
Letterboxd: Dune World 2021: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
Reviews with no spoilers - Dune World film (2021)
: Review video about the Dune World film with no spoilers.¤
In French:
https://www.filmsfantastiques.com/2021/09/dune-world-2021/
Google Translate: https://www-filmsfantastiques-com.translate.goog/2021/09/dune-world-2021/?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=hu&_x_tr_pto=wapp
In Italian
https://gentedirispetto.club/t/dune-world-mark-polonia-2021/36600
https://www.voicesfromthebalcony.com/2021/09/13/dune-world-2021-review/
https://moviesandmania.com/2021/04/27/dune-world-movie-film-sci-fi-mockbuster-2021-overview/
Reviews with spoilers - Sand World / Dune World film (2021)
: Review article of the Dune World movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
Analysis - Sand World / Dune World movie (2021)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Dune World.¤
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Buying the product - Sand World / Dune World, movie (2021)
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Have you seen the Dune World film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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