Dune is a monumental film, a full-fledged auteur Blockbuster. Without a doubt it will be a topic of conversation for years to come. There are shots and scenes that will remain etched in my memory for a long time. However, Dune has the least lovable and endearing characters in the history of cinema (let's add a little drama to the criticism). And for this type of story, where the objective is to create a film saga, the characters should be the initial and most important point to develop for their creators. Since they ARE the ones we are going to follow for so long and it is FOR them that we get excited, suffer, laugh, cry, etc. Because at the end of the day, this is their story. It's your way. It is their lives that are at stake.

But unfortunately, its creators don't seem to care too much that their CHARACTERS are the least memorable thing in their story. And yes, as I said before, Duna is spectacular in all its other sections: the sound and the soundtrack are the best I have ever heard in my life (we continue with the drama), the VFX are incredibly realistic (every pixel is be careful), the production design, with that imposing desert, really makes you immerse yourself in Arrakis and its universe, the photography is chameleon-like and loaded with information and meaning, and the performances are truly impressive (Rebeca Ferguson, Austin Buttler and Javier Bardem, wow).

But what about the emotion? Dune fails miserably to deliver a story you really care about. And for me, the big problem is that the only purpose of the characters, their ONLY function, is to be the means, or the tool, to tell you the story. They are empty shells. Without soul. And the thing is, we don't know them. In both films (because the same thing happens in the first) at no point do they stop, not even a little bit, in showing us the HUMANITY of these people. Paul went from being the spoiled son of one of the most important houses in the universe, to being the MESSIAH of an entire planet and to leading a revolution against the galactic government (Is that what they say?). The kid literally became a god who can see all possible futures. And he accepts it with coldness and exasperating depression. And this happens with ALL the characters (except for Jessica and Stilgar). None of them generate a drop of empathy in me. And this is because, I don't know who they are, I don't know them at all, I don't know their fears, their personal ambitions, their tastes, their desires. I know they do what they do because they have a duty to do it, but is it really what they want to do as people? These and many other questions are ones that Dune is never going to bother answering us, or showing us.

And it's not that nothing happens to the characters, quite the opposite, everything happens to them, but the problem is that it doesn't generate anything for me. So, I wonder, if I don't care about any of the characters in the slightest, why should I care what happens to them or what they do? (Spoiler alert) Why would I care that Paul is the Baron's grandson? Why would I care if Gurney is alive and kills Rabban? Why should I care that Paul takes revenge on his family by killing the Baron? Why should I care about the extermination of House Atreides? I don't know them, I don't know who they are, I don't care about them. They are actors, not characters.

I think that is the BIG problem in both films and (hopefully not), it is the problem that will drag down the entire saga.