I finally watched it last night. Avoided reviews and spoilers (is that a thing for movie based on a book that already has a movie?).
Setting- at home, large TV, very good sound system cranked all the way up, in the dark.
Going in- I love Denis Villenueve. Think he is one of the visually inventive directors of our time. Sometimes I worry he is a little style > substance, but still. I've read the Dune books (up to a point, I petered out after the third or forth) and saw the Lynch movie, but it's been decades.
Reaction- absolutely loved it.
Let me start with the good/great. The visuals were absolutely insanely good. So good I wish I saw it on a giant screen. Arrakis is shot with the loving detail of Lawrence in Arabia. The ships are pitch-perfect. The interiors are amazing and reflect something both hyper-futuristic and incredibly old. Even the smallest details, from the costume designs to the shields, are perfect. And the casting is marvelous.
....and the sound. Oh, the sound. I listened to it with my system cranked up, and the music, the ambient sound, the mix, was so good. So ... immersive. Absolutely spot on for me. The acting worked too. Most importantly, there was a lot of "show, don't tell." Outside of the very opening, there wasn't a ton of exposition dump. For a movie with a complicated plot and dream sequences and a lot of factions to take it, there's a lot of silence, and the dialogue is only there when needed. I appreciate that. It's sort of the opposite of a Tarantino movie- it's not quips, and it's not about the dialogue. This is a visual and audio feast.
The not so good. The worst part is that it's Part 1. Sure, it ends at a decent point, but still .... imagine if you saw The Two Towers in the theaters, there wasn't a first movie, and there may or may not be a sequel. The person I was watching with turned to me and said, "Wait, that's the ending? We have to wait two or three years for another one?"
The other thing that, upon reflection today, wasn't as great is that the choices made by Villenueve (which were almost all correct) also lead to certain shortcomings. For example, the Sarduakar. The introduction was so cool. But then they were a big "So what?" I have the vague recollections from reading the books why they were such a big deal, but other than a stray bit of dialogue when they were introduced (which was an incredibly cool introduction) and a little bit later (you know when you've encountered them), you have no idea that they're special- worse, there is nothing in the movie to indicate that they are special- it's an example where there was a "tell, don't show" that didn't even "tell" very well, and certainly didn't show! This is emblematic of the choice that get made when reducing a rich text to a movie (or even reducing half of a rich text to a movie) .
Overall, though, absolutely loved it. I would be crushed if I don't get to see how it ends.