Hi guys, have you seen the latest Denis Villeneuve movie, Dune? What did you think of it? It's got a rating of 8.2 on IMDB which is super high (albeit most movies tend to be overrated when they come out).
I'll start with some comments. First off I have not read the book or seen the 1984 movie. So the plot twist was a pleasant surprise. The Dune universe and all of its intricacies (the Bene Gesserit sisters, the Sardaukar army, the various houses and factions etc.) were fascinating to learn about. The costumes were great while the dragonfly aircrafts were awesome....I did not think character development were that good. Paul's growth in a capable leader felt rushed. None of the other characters felt that deep to be sympathized with (even Paul's father).
Of course, the greatest thing about this movie is the soundtrack! Good old Hans Zimmer loved Dune and when Denis invited him to score the film, he agreed immediately! Zimmer said that he and his team worked around the clock and around the globe (literally) to produce a soundtrack that, in his words, must sound out of this world [sic]. So you hear a lot of whispers, natural sounds and dissonance in his music.
I am a great fan of Hans Zimmer after first discovering his score in True Romance (1993) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108399/). So I covered 3 songs from this OST on the piano. Furthermore, I recognized a similarity between Zimmer's Dune score and Ennio Morricone's score of the Spaghetti Western 'Once Upon a Time in the West', particularly the song 'Man With a Harmonica'. So I mashed them up together! I hope you like it!
I really liked the two first books (and soon will start the 3rd one) so I am biased towards the series. I liked the movie, but wouldn`t call it great. Only the music and animations are really good, the story feels shallow in comparison to the books (as so often).
Typical off novel adaptations it's so hard to recreate the exact success of the original. Furthermore Dune the book was such a class of its own (or so I heard). Still 8 point something on IMDB is no ordinary feat.
It felt a little long, there was a point where I figured, "ah this is where its going to end," but it never out stayed it's welcome. I remember The Wolf of Wallstreet as being way overlong, I kept thinking, "it ends here right? It can't possibly keep going, its been well over two hours now..."
Dune had those trademark Dennis Villaneuve aesthetically brilliant silhouette designs, a truly phenomenal looking movie. Great music, acting was good, I'd say MC was a little stiff in the face, but it didn't really detract from the movie much, in my opinion.
I can't remember any of the crazy ass names other than the kwisach haaderach (used to be a poster with the name) and the bene gesserit, which sticks in my head for some reason.
Really excellent movie though, I saw it opening night after watching the new Venom and was a little irked that Venom had a half full theater and opening night Dune had all of three people including me.
About character development, Dune's written form is kind of subversive. On a surface reading, it can feel like a hero's journey story where you follow the heroic Paul Atreides go from noob to pro where he saves the universe.
But in terms of powerlevel, Paul is already a very powerful character from the start. He already has some prescience, he is a very strong fighter, he is proficient at statecraft, he can pass the gom jabbar test. He is capable of using the Voice, has been trained in the Weirding Ways and even thwarts the assasination attempt with extreme discipline and skill. We later also see he is a competent ornithopter pilot. He is also smart enough to adopt theoretical knowledge and use them in the field as if he is an expert. Keep in mind that in the book the character is basicly a child. His increase in power is entirely due to the spice awakening his innate genetic predispositions.
The Atreides House is also not entirely the good guys, even though on the surface they seem like it. They seek to gain and maintain power like all the other houses. When they come to Dune, the Fremen are viewed as potential tools, not as friends/allies. The Fremen are also not really the good guys. It's very easy to think Atreides/Fremen are good because they are underdogs and victim whose main opposition relies on brutality and fear to rule.
I won't spoil the outcome. But it is not the good ending that you would expect. Though again, when reading the book at a surface level, it will seem like it was a good ending. The message of the book is a commentary on charismatic leaders, and the inherent danger they pose. The 1st book is subtle about it. The 2nd and 3rd are less subtle. The 4th is very explicit about it.
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I liked the film. It still doesn't capture the story as well as I would have liked, instead favouring a slow pacing and astonishing visuals. I feel like some of the dialogue is a little cheesy which breaks the fourth wall a little bit. I still think the director/writers did a good job to explain the world without outright having characters say it out loud. The acting is good, but I still feel like the characters come off a little too flat. But all this is me knitpicking. It is a very good take on the 1st part of the story which manages to stay true to the writing without making a film that only Dune nerds will comprehend.
Paul is quite literally a messiah, the chosen one, starting a holy war. So here it's normal he's kind of OP from the start. The book doesn't make it seem like he needs to grow a lot still. He needs to hone his skills a bit more, especially on the diplomatic side, but it's very clear from the get go he's a super elite human being.
The holy war feels like it's supposed to be a complete annihilation of the powers that be, starting with losing everything yourself (except your mother). I wonder if it's a critique on the state of Israel where he cleverly introduces multiculturalism (for lack of a better descriptor) to inject a message of inclusiveness and acceptance. My takeaway from the book was hope in an almost biblical sense.
Paul is quite literally a messiah, the chosen one, starting a holy war. So here it's normal he's kind of OP from the start. The book doesn't make it seem like he needs to grow a lot still. He needs to hone his skills a bit more, especially on the diplomatic side, but it's very clear from the get go he's a super elite human being.
The holy war feels like it's supposed to be a complete annihilation of the powers that be, starting with losing everything yourself (except your mother). I wonder if it's a critique on the state of Israel where he cleverly introduces multiculturalism (for lack of a better descriptor) to inject a message of inclusiveness and acceptance. My takeaway from the book was hope in an almost biblical sense.
I have not read the whole thing, but in the book he's still a kid at this point in the story afaik, so even more op.
I liked it a lot. Normally i dislike movies over 2 hours, this one needed 3 at least. Looking forward to the directors cut. Also hope, they go all the way to "God Emperor".
What i missed the most, is more about the spacing guild and space travel, because it's so important for the story (I also want to see a real senior navigator!!!). And more Harkonnen scenes, can't have enough. Well, they had the "pet scene" and the executions to made kinda clear what sick bastards they are, but there's so much more.
Read a lot of negative comments regarding its lenght and that it was too long, but I disagree.
It seemed too short for me. A lot of really important things went unexplained, needing to pause the movie or ask people who've read the books for more information - then it ended partway through, as if it were taking an ad break but never coming back. People are joking that it should have been called Dun instead of Dune :D
I read the book probably a decade ago, so I remembered very little. Went in with high expectations because I really liked the new blade runner and heard very positive reviews and overall they were mostly fulfilled.
I did remember though that the Atreides were less benevolent than in the movie, so that surprised me a little. Paul's dad in the movie is a genuinely benevolent ruler and that isn't how I remembered him.
I don't really see Paul be a great leader by the end of the movie, the main growing he did was out of his father's shadow out of necessity imo. He still doesn't want to lead and it more or less falls into his lap due to his mother. Paul is pretty elite from the get go, he can apparently fight which becomes clear when he beats his trainer who later gets mentioned as a fearsome warrior by his enemies, he can apparently pilot decently well and is well educated as well as curious as repetitively shown when he learns things about Dune. He's a promising heir from high nobility, which means he was likely educated in multiple aspects since early childhood. To boot he apparently has psychic powers (forgot what Dune calls them).
Overall I liked a lot of the acting and all of the visuals and soundtrack. Especially Fergusson as Paul's mother imo did a good job at portraying a complex character. In terms of story I thought it could be a little less black and white, which I remember the book to be and found some of the stuff that the BBE could do weird (f.e. when he clung to the ceiling apparently). Obviously the ending is a bit abrupt and more of a "here begins Paul's Fremen story" than a real ending, so dunno about that, but I enjoyed that Villeneuve again took his time and didn't try to streamline his movie to Hollywood standards.
EPT
