Ahead of Dune 3, I watched the first two on 4K Blu-ray – and they really are showcases for the format
Even Atmos rarely sounds this good
Sometimes a movie comes around and demands that you do some homework before strapping in for the big release on IMAX. Earlier this year I hugely enjoyed going through and watching most of Christopher Nolan's movies on 4K Blu-ray before heading to the BFI to watch The Odyssey on IMAX 70mm.
Now, months later, I'm doing the same process but in a more direct form. Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Three comes out in mid-December, and while I haven't snagged BFI tickets this time until January, I'll be at Cineworld's Leicester Square location for a great IMAX screen a couple of days after it releases.
In preparation for that, I just watched both of the first two Dune movies on UHD disc, and it's confirmed what I already knew (I love them both in different ways), as well as something I hadn't really realised yet.
The sweeping but detailed nature of the story told by these films means that it's a pretty good idea to refresh your memory of their twists and turns before you head out for the third film, I'd say. Sure, the broad strokes of Paul's ascent to power on Arrakis (and in the Imperium) are relatively clear, but can you remember the motivations of Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), or recall how Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) has shifted vibe over time?
If any of that feels vague, now's the time to dip back in – and I'm extremely confident that there's no better way (short of catching a re-screening at an actual cinema) to enjoy these films than on physical. That's for a few reasons, too.
The first one is the most obvious – these films are spectacular to look at, and getting the highest resolution you can when doing so is a good thing. Don't get me wrong, the standard Blu-rays also look terrific (especially on a great 4K player like the Panasonic DP-UB820, with upscaling tech on board), but the added clarity of the 4K discs can be quite something.
Plus, only the 4K versions (at least the ones I own) are Dolby Vision encoded, so you get a nice boost to colours and vibrancy, too, which counts for a lot on films with such amazing palettes.
What's really game-changing for home viewing, though, is the quality of the Atmos mixes on both films. These are booming great movies from a sound perspective, with huge set pieces that make them cacophonously loud, but the mix is nonetheless incredibly legible and clear – dialogue always comes through.
That's something that Nolan himself could probably learn a lesson about, authorial intentions aside, and it means that a good sound system can make both films extremely cinematic at home. I've got a Sonos Beam Ultra with a pair of Era 100s as surrounds, but it was the added Sub Mini that really did the work this time around, I'd say.
The booming rumbles when ships, ornithopters and explosions featured were all quite unreal, although that's not to say the spatialisation of the mix wasn't also noteworthy. In the first film in particular, a couple of examples of Ornithopter flight really underlined the verticality that the Beam Ultra can bring.
So, to reiterate – now's the time! You've got about a month until Part Three arrives, which means there's no better time to watch these two epic sci-fi flicks without it feeling like a total binge. If you can get 4K discs lined up, that'd be my choice, but there's no real wrong choice when the material's this good.
