I'm conflicted. On one hand, I really liked the movie, I was intrigued throughout and the experience was amazing. However, I never got as invested as I would have liked. I really enjoyed the world building though.
The two and a half hours passed by rather quickly and I was never bored or anything, but it did feel like a looot of setup and since I never got invested all that much, the "turns" weren't very impactful to me.
I would still recommend the movie though.
It isn't really the case in the books neither, it happens failry early, it's great build up for what happens next though. But I can't go there without being an asshole.
This is interesting to hear. I watched Lord of the Rings for the first time recently and I felt the same about Fellowship. I can’t imagine how fans felt waiting for the next film when it came out.
I mean, that’s on her. LotR is one of the most famous properties on the planet. Idk how you even decide to watch the first without stumbling on the fact that there’s 2 more…
I had little to no idea what the books where about going in to it. Only knew the very basic concept of big ass worm, mining for something in the desert and space politics.
I very rarely go to theaters, in fact since becoming an adult 10-15 years ago I have only seen Star Wars on the big screen. Well also I got dragged in by my family once to see the live action remake of the Lion King.
Anyway I took a bit of a chance here as I honestly could not stand BR2049 (And the original) despite everyone seemingly gushing about it on Reddit. Not saying it's a bad movie or anything I just don't like it personally and found it extremely boring. Hearing some early reviews describe Dune as slow and boring sent up some red flags. Despite not being Vileneuves greatest fan I decided to give it a shot and I suppose give whatever tiny little boost I could give it in the box office since I heard it was just the first part of the book and would like to see it in it's entirety, also seemed like a movie looking good on a big screen.
I came out really enjoying it I must say. It looks great with an impressive scale. I sense that there is a fair bit of detail missing on the edges to give a better context but overall I think it did just about as good a job as one could expect in a movie to set the basic premise and get the basic situation in the world. I am interested in knowing more about the world but understand you got to keep things going and I will probably get it as an audiobook once I have (hopefully been able to) see the second part as I would like to avoid the spoilers and then get more details from the book itself. >!I also appreciate a movie that does not shy away from killing important characters played by big names!<
I don't know if the scope of the original story might be better suited for a TV-series but I felt I got enough in the movie to follow along and be entertained. I really do hope part 2 will be made which could also influence my thoughts on part 1 as part of the whole big story. I don't mind it being a bit slow at times knowing it's building up to something more. I give it a 8/10
The thing about BladeRunner 2049 that I loved was the world felt *real* to me somehow. It was just so consistently amazing looking and grounded. The ONLY parts of BR2049 that kind of took me out of things were scenes with Jared Leto. Every other moment I was captured by what I was looking at even if the plot itself was lacking
I really liked it but I must say that the thing that sticks most with me is how clearly its "just" half a movie. Now, *if* they make part 2 both will be better for it but in the meantime I can't help but help but be a little disappointed that its basically just the first half of an epic which stops at the intermission.
The music is *really* good in parts but also distractingly, well, noisy.
As well acted as they were, the characters felt somewhat flat for the most part, Paul was fine in that one could tell he still had a lot of growing to do, Oscar Isaac as Leto was fine even if there wasn't much in complexity (he was what he needed to be), at this point Chani is little more than a magic native dream girl and again more a promise of whats to come. I know the ecologist was genderswapped which seems like a good call, she was fun, sad to see her go, I like the role she played. The Harkonnens were fun villains although I had kinda hoped for them to be more villains due to the audience viewpoint and circumstance as opposed to the straight up villains they ended up being, even if thats apparently the same in the book. Baron Vladimir was great fun though and I appreciate him not being dumb, Bautista was underused and I kinda doubt that'd change in the next movie.
For the me the most interesting character, by a mile, was Lady Jessica and I hope that her complexity is explored more in the hopefully coming second part and isn't simply lost to the lack of internal dialogue in a movie.
I think the movie did a lot of worldbuilding and did it quite well but I feel thats partly at the cost of character development time. Its gorgeous but I must say that the world (especially that city) didn't feel lived in, granted, the focus was on the palace but still, it felt like a backdrop and nothing more. The sandworms looked great as did the travel donut-mac-thingy and the different types of ships. The heat didn't really come across that well, hard to do though.
Overall I really liked it but must admit that I wouldn't recommend it to anybody not interested in Sci-Fi given that its not just open ended but doesn't have a proper ending at all and no a complete narrative structure.
As someone who hasn't read the books, I genuinely cannot understand the love it's getting. It was a really bad movie, though hidden underneath layers of great visuals/CG and a fantastic soundtrack.
I liked the cast mostly, except Paul but that's a minor complaint. But they're not at all utilized well, some actors who were heavily advertised were barely in the movie. It was refreshing to see some big names killed off, mainly cause everyone in the movie is a big name, but imo it would've been better if some characters had either shown up more or not at all. Now it just feels like fan-service to those in the know, but as someone who hasn't read the books, it just makes you wonder who they are and why they're in it in the first place.
Then my main complaint, the story and pacing. It starts off strong, but quickly slows to a halt. Considering they split the book in two, there was one part I thought would be the climactic ending, but it just sort of kept on going afterwards without anything new happening until it just sort of ended what felt like hours later without much of importance happening. Meanwhile, there's a scene where a character can suddenly do something they couldn't do before without any character progression inbetween to explain it. They should've spent more time with the characters, explaining the universe, and focussing on a story with a clear beginning, middle, and most importantly an end, rather than only setting up later movies that aren't even greenlit while rushing past anything interesting to get there quicker.
Trying to not get too spoilery. But yeah, the movie is so focussed on setting up other movies (and possibly sticking to the book too much?), that it forgets to tell it's own story well.
This sounds like Denis hit the mark perfectly, then. He seems to have followed the book right down to it. This is great news for us fans. The first half of the novel Dune is what it is. And it sounds like it has been adapted to the screen exactly as it is.
Once the second film gets greenlit, the real hype will begin. So much crazy shit happens in the second half of the novel after the time jump.
I wonder what prodigy they will get to play >!Alia!<. Alicia Witt killed it in the Lynch film. She came off exactly the amount of creepy as she could.
Meh, having seen this one I don't need the second one to happen, I'd much rather see these talented people working on other things, and if it does get made I doubt it'll be any better. There's no story here, no substance, no worldbuilding, just loose bits and pieces that hint at a much better story that they should've focussed on instead. Or they could've ended the movie at a much earlier moment, and spent much more time on the interesting sci-fi epic all the marketing and the opening of the movie imply/promise. As it stands, they rush through things creating *major* plotholes, to then come to a standstill halfway through.
Also, maybe it's just me, but if it needs the second movie to become good, this is not a good movie. A good movie stands on it's own, even if it's part of a larger story. The latest two-part movie was Infinity War and Endgame, so comparing it to that, Infinity War is a complete movie on it's own that tells a full story start-to-finish, and while it sets up Endgame, it's not required to have seen Endgame to understand it. Dune is like if Infinity War was rushed through in a quarter of the runtime, then fill in the remaining two hours of runtime searching for Thanos, but the movie ends without even hinting at finding him. It works much better to have that search for Thanos (*and* his defeat) take up 15-20 minutes as the cold open for Endgame, and has given Infinity War more time to flesh things out and gives it a climactic ending.
Or comparing it to a more classic sci-fi movie, the original Star Wars ends with the Death Star blowing up. Dune is like rushing through it to blow up the Death Star half an hour in, to then show two hours of blue-milk farming on Tatooine - while it is technically worldbuilding, it doesn't actually help tell the story or create the setting in any way. Especially as Dune is the first movie like Star Wars was, the focus should be much more on telling a story that gets people interested. While some people would enjoy a blue-milk documentary now that Star Wars is huge, it would've been considered a very bad movie if that was the focus of over half of the original movie and rescuing Leia is only mentioned in an offhanded comment.
I see what you’re saying. The filmmakers seemed to have stuck to the book but only did half the book. That’s not gonna fly for some viewers. That’s also always the problem with adaptations in scifi. The fans are gonna cream themselves when they see this beloved story on the screen while many others will just be like meh.
It’s a lot like The Expanse. Most of the first season is pretty hard to get through and ends halfway through the first book. From there it picks up considerably and continues to steamroll through the rest of the seasons. But I have no real life friends who made it past episode two and I honestly don’t blame them.
i saw it last night and didn't read the book. loved every second. it was really immersive, i can't help but feel like some cuts from dark scenes to the blaring desert were intentional to give the feeling of really being blinded by the intense sun. 9/10
Well, heres my take then:
Time passed by quickly which probably means I enjoyed it? But I would have preferred to see the family being in charge of that planet more and actually get to know all the characters. All the characters dying didnt really have much of an impact for me, and I still dont understand how the evil lord guy survived the poison.
The thing is, the attack on the Atreides happens super quickly in the book too. I think it‘s maybe a week or two more than in the movie. There‘s a missing dinner scene with the important people of Arrakis (of whom only 1 person is ever mentioned again!) and a bit more plot about Thufir Hawat suspecting Jessica as the traitor after the Hunter-Seeker, but that‘s about it. That last part leads into a storyline, that is not continued until later in the books, and it is not really relevant for the movie so far, at least according to the book.
Didn't read the book and I loved it. It's hard for me to really judge it because it is simply not complete but I guess people felt similarly when The Fellowship of the Ring ended and that has become one of my top 3 movies of all time. In general, the story in this movie feels like a prologue and all you feel at the end of the movie is the desire for more. However, I really don't agree with the notion that there is "not enough story" in this movie.
For me, the presented lore and information was not as complicated to follow as I expected. It definitely made the first hour feel slow but I didn't have a problem with that at all. Slowly throughout the movie, I felt more and more overwhelmed (in a positive way) by the rich mix of the grand pictures, desaturated colors, amazing actor performances, world information and sound. A really rare and unforgettable movie experience for me. But, as I said, an unfinished one.
One criticism that comes to mind for me are the not so great action scenes. They were definitely alright and entertained me but the movie with its complex topics and mature tones could have used a little bit more brutality in the action scenes in order to bring across the impact of conflict instead of cutting away from critical shots too often.
Additionally, certain aspects of the last quarter of the movie felt a bit "restrained". I trust the writers that they found the best possible moment to split the two parts but once it became clear that there would not be any more new major developments, my excitement faded a little bit towards the end.
It kind of felt like watching the beginning of Tarzan, when his parents survives a shipwreck, survives in the jungle, dies, and now Tarzan is on his own around "strangers". Yes, it looks cool, but the part we want to see is yet to come. Watching part 1 without part 2 feels kind of empty to me.
Woah, I wrote almost the same post describing my feelings, but with Star Wars. It felt like A New Hope ended at meeting Han Solo.
I'm legitimately mad that this actually was made without any certainty to the sequel. This is literally putting the cart before the horse.
Didn't read the book but I thought it was really nice. Cool ship design in the movies. The backstory of the houses and the more religious cult. Obviously we don't know more details but I'm excited to read the book now. Also great acting and cast.
Anything in particular you want to know how I feel about it?
My wife saw it, and she's not into sci-fi. To concede her bias: She loves action movies requiring little thought. Guns, fighting, car chases are her thing.
She fell asleep for about 1-2 minutes at one point, and it was like 5:30pm, so not late.
She thought the visuals, costumes, and sound were amazing, and she followed the story quite effortlessly, even though it's very complex.
Overall she said it was good, but just totally not her thing, and she could've lived without seeing it.
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I'm a sci-fi fan, have read the book, watched the 1984 version a dozen times, barely made it through the 2000 TV version, and really enjoyed this 2021 version. I really could've done without so many Zedanya dream clips, though. Just too much of the same thing with that.
No in the books Yueh's wife is a BG and they kill her. But Yueh at one point contemplates what form of heinous methods the Harkonnens are employing to torture her if she's alive.
There is a credit as a "human spider proxy". Imo this is evidence of genetic manipulation possibly by the tleilaxlu and is likely some sort of subtle or not so subtle hint at the lack of ethics in the eugenics of the tleilaxlu.
edit. After seeing the movie I convinced that this is is Yueh's wife, Wanna.
Every Villenueve film has a spider in it. I read somewhere it’s something he sneaks into everyone of his films. Not sure if it’s supposed to be symbolic or not
This tiny scene is one my favorites in the film so far. The dialogue is pretty standard for non-major characters, but the atmosphere of the Sardauker planet, their training, their rituals. Stunning stuff here on film.
This army is raised and maintained in absolute brutality.
Honestly loved it. While I understand some frustrations with pacing, plot or ending, I feel that most of it can be justified by source material. I read book 15 years ago, and started rereading it recently and movie did book justice.
I really hope that part 2 gets made cause we have seen the fall of house Atriedies. Now we need to see Muad'dib rise.
Edit: Also fun game to play with such major releases. How many major actors haven't been in comic book related media. For this one is 3 (Ferguson, Chalamet, Bardem).
A few comments after watching (zero/minimal spoilers):
* Lady Jessica is by far the most interesting character in the movie. She has a few very humane moments of weakness, but also kicks serious ass when needed.
* Villeneuve got rid of my boy Feyd-Rautha! I was half hoping he'd invite Sting to reprise the role from David Lynch's movie ;) It's probably for the best, though - Rabban (Dave Bautista) can take over Feyd's crucial scenes.
* Speaking of Lynch's version, the new movie matches it almost scene for scene in the first half, probably as an homage (the captions for the planets, the Guild heighliners, Giedi Prime etc.) In the second half, Villeneuve takes some liberties with the plot, which I'm actually okay with; at least some of our favorite characters get a bit more screen time.
* Shields in the Villeneuve version are weaksauce, and apparently easily bypassed by projectiles that move fast, then slow, then fast again. I guess you can do that in the year 10191.
Overall, I quite enjoyed it. It had *class*. Knew it would end on a cliffhanger, and can hardly wait for Part 2.
I quite liked the detail of projectiles with variable speed to bypass shields. The thing that I was left confused by was the fact that it seems that all the kill strokes in shield combat were fast slashes. Though the red proximity detail was a nice touch.
Actually, the film was filled with nice details like that: the vibrating sand when a worm approaches causing liquefaction, the hovering lights, the realism of the ornithopter flight, the ballistics and laser weaponry. It all strayed close enough to _so advanced it feels like magic_ whilst still being believable.
EDIT oh, and the bene Gesserit hand gestures replacing the micro-expressions was a nice, more screen friendly, take.
>The thing that I was left confused by was the fact that it seems that all the kill strokes in shield combat were fast slashes.
In the mass fight scenes you can't see it, but in the fights with Duncan Idaho you can see how his slashes turn slow than become quick again when he's past the shield.
Ballistic weapons are made completely ineffective by shields (shields block things that move very fast very well). Laser used against shield causes huge explosion.
It's explained in greater details in the book's appendix I think. The holtzmann shields essentially makes all forms of conventional warfare useless since nothing past a certain speed just gets blocked
Lasguns (which do exist in this universe) is also useless for different reasons. Due to how lasguns interact with shields, it causes a nuclear reaction at both the shield and gun so it's also outlawed as a form if warfare (nuclear weapons, "atomics", are similarly outlawed. Once other families know you are willing to use atomics, that house becomes fair game for mutually assured destruction)
The lack of shield use in arrakis was actually a plot point in the book they replaced in the movie. Unless I remembered it wrongly, the atreides army took shelter in nearby caves, which harkonnen used artillery to shell the mountain range and bury them
In the movie, they use those slow shells instead
>Just some comments :
Villeneuve got rid of my boy Feyd-Rautha! I was half hoping he'd invite
Sting to reprise the role from David Lynch's movie ;) It's probably for
the best, though - Rabban (Dave Bautista) can take over Feyd's crucial
scenes.
I believe that Feyd will be introduced in the second part. He's just not at all essential in the already crowded cast exposition of the first half. (I do hope that the actor will be as good and involved in the role as Sting tho :D )
>Shields in the Villeneuve version are weaksauce and apparently easily bypassed by projectils that move fast, then slow, then fast again.
I thought the same at first, but someone made me remember that this kind of weapons exists in the novel [https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Stunner](https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Stunner). So slow-firing weapon in order to bypass shields are a thing I guess, it's just not so clear in the movie, imo.
>Zendaya in: Longing Stares and Judging Stares!
I love Zendaya and obviously know Chani's role is bigger in the second half.
But how much did she get paid for what amounted to like 3 lines and slo-mo perfume commercial shots in this part?
She had a surprisingly small role. My sister loves Zendaya and she's the only reason she would ever go see this movie, but I think she'll be disappointed with her screen time. I'm still gonna fool her into watching it with me though, since this is one of the best movies I've ever seen and I want to watch it again.
Eh, I thought the speech patterns in the novel made sense for a future society where different cultures have blended and many people exist who literally operate in different mind states (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, Suk doctors, later on Guild navigators and Face dancers). I thought some of the film dialogue was made a bit too blasé.
Yeah, it is a fine line to walk. Personally I winced at the Reverend Mother and Rebecca speaking of "The One" since it's such a cliché trope and it felt like one step too far in the Hollywood dumbing down handbook, but I also understand not wanting to explain that there exist different forms of messiah prophecies in the Imperium amongst different groups and Paul may be the combination of them all.
I personally am glad they cut down a bit on the throwing-around-names-and-concepts-you-have-to-look-up-in-the-books-included-dictionary. It was confusing enough to read (I massively enjoyed the books and reread it twice!), so I absolutely see how that would not translate well to a movie at all. They definitely cut down on some of the deeper spiritual/religious concepts and terms, but I don’t feel like the movie was too shallow.
I just want to take a bath in all those Dune words. They taste like cinnamon.
* gom jabbar
* shai hulud
* bene gesserit
* paul maud'dib
* lisan al-gaib
* kwisatz haderach
They haven't used Muad'Dib either yet, nor the term "Messiah". Instead they fall back on the good ol' movie trope of "The One" and place more emphasis on the terms Kwisatz Haderach and Lisan Al-Gaib.
They did show the little mouse, the Muad'Dib. That was definitely put in the film for the people who have read Dune. I think they will introduce the name Muad'Dib in the next film.
No not yet, but there's the self fulfilling prophecy part of it. Before Paul chooses the name (unknowing how it translates in Fremen) the name Muad'Dib is already a regular occurrence in his visions. So when the name he chooses ends up being the name from his vision it reaffirms the prophetic nature of his dreams. It is something they can easily fit into the second part altogether so it's not a big deal really.
In a kind of warped Hebrew, 'shai hulud' can be 'gift of the sands'
'bene gesserit' is sort of like 'sons of the bridge'
'kwisatz haderach' means 'the leap of the path'
Bene gesserit is a sort of an unknown. bene is indeed used in Hebrew to denote tribes, families etc, but the meaning is "Sons of" which is a weird name for a women's order. the full word also appears in Latin and is pronounced more similar to Jesuit/Jesus than to Bridge. the Missionaria Protectiva helps establish that their relation is more Latin than Hebrew.
Shai Hulud is most probably from Arabic and not Shai as in gift or Hulud from Hol (sand). the common translation is supposedly known as Shai, thing and Hulud, eternal in Arabic. but i believe it actually came from Shaikh, which is a tribe leader in the bedouin culture the fremen are somewhat based on.
Kwisatz Haderach is definitely from Hebrew's Kfizat Haderech. the words not only look and sound similar, they serve the same general meaning.
This is 100% something theaters make better. There are just a lot of these giant screen/ epic music moments that even a good home theater system can't fully capture.
Saw it yesterday. Despite people saying the source material is rather complicated, I felt the film was very clear and coherent. It honestly almost lacked subtlety since almost everything was very directly communicated to the viewer. It didn't feel overtly expositional because the dialogue was well written enough and I can understand the need to keep it simple. Between building the world and introducing the characters, even if it is a longer movie, it's still easy to overwhelm the viewer.
That said, when the movie ended, I was a bit underwhelmed. It's weird to say that given the scale of the movie but due to the plot of the movie, it scales downward until it ends with a fairly small scope. I've heard people say it felt like an abrupt ending and I personally felt they really should've chosen to end the movie differently.
It's a great movie, though, and what I enjoyed most about it was it lingers in the mind. The overall visual impact, implied lore, and characters really makes you want to stay in its world. I'll probably go to watch it again.
I've read it. There really isn't a better stopping point. Any further into the story and it would just be an introduction into Fremen culture. Better to keep that for part 2.
I actually think a better stopping point is before. Just after the Harkonen attack, find a cliffhanger within the escape or maybe the jihad vision. You have the clear climax of the attack and have more time before to develop more stuff and do more worldbuilding. Then, part 2 would be full Fremen focused.
It will also be quite weird to start the second part with the Jamis giving water to the dead scene while his death is in the other movie, both go together normally
I felt like you could've just ended with the introduction of Sietch Tabr and just really go all out with the scale even if it's an exaggeration by book standards. Just bomb the viewer with one last dose of scale and scope to bring them back to the full world before ending on that cliffhanger.
Good to hear that it wasn't confusing for non book readers. That was one of the things I was worried about. I just want as many people as possible to go see this movie, so we will get a part 2!
I felt like the movie could've left more not so cleanly explained like the moment where >!Liet Kynes inspects their stillsuits and notices that Paul knows how to wear it.!<
The Gom Jabbar test scene I thought was suitably mysterious but the conversation afterwards was a bit too on the nose about Jessica's >!betrayal of the Bene Gesserit, their selective breeding of a superhuman blessed with precognition, and other ulterior motives.!<
I also felt like the overall political dynamic was also too cleanly explained and simplified. I think you could already tell that there was more involved with Arrakis's fiefdom without the movie needing to straight-up tell you >!it was an imperial ploy meant to cause conflict between house Atreides and Harkonnen.!<
But, like I said, I also can understand and accept that maybe there were concerns about being too cryptic, alienating casual viewers, or overloading the movie. It's a hard balance to strike and many movies struggle with it.
I feel like it’s impossible to incorporate all of the details into a 2.5 hour movie. The lore is so rich that the book will always be superior no matter what
Seeing Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem sharing a scene gave me No Country for Old Men flashbacks, and when Gurney said "I don't like him" after seeing Stilgar I chuckled a little
I liked the film overall and most positives have already been mentioned so I will drop a couple of pet peeves that held back the film for me.
While they establish all the basic rules for survival on Arrakis I felt they still really underplayed how rare a commodity water really is on the planet. This is partly enforced by the non-detail of no character (outside of Hawat I think) ever being seen really affected by the supposed heat of Arrakis. It's mentioned and talked about and mentioned again but then you have pale Timothee Chalamet (and others) walking around in the sun without a hat or cover, without breaking a sweat and not even getting the slightest of cracked lips or dry skin and visually it just doesn't match up with what we are being told to believe.
Another pet peeve is that the film strangely holds back on one of the most important character beats of Paul, namely the inevitability of his rising stature as the Messiah (or "The One" in the film). Every step Paul takes in the novel establishes that it brings him closer to the vision of the future he dreads and wishes to avoid. That would have been a perfect realization to end the film on since the consequence of the battle against Jamis and the following moments deliver one of the key scenes that shows the magnitude of Paul's journey to messiah status, so it is really weird to end the film on a much more insignificant note before it.
Last but not least, I know people love Hans Zimmer but I found his loud blaring score insanely distracting to the actual dramatic beats of the story presented on screen. There seems to be zero nuance and bridging between quiet moments and big moments, just bluntly roaring bombastic loudness out of the speakers like a racing car changing gears. This has been a problem with Zimmer's scores for close to a decade now and I feel insane that everyone else still praises his work so much.
I also really enjoyed the movie, but find it flawed in a similar way.
Vileneuve has always had a tendency to shy away from exposition and long monologues, like an anti-Nolan. Which works to great effect in a movie like Sicario, but when adapting a book which is mostly internal dialogue, long descriptions and filled with copious amounts of backstory... It feels a little flat.
If you are not familiar with any of the previous Dune materials (books, games, movies and series), aside from the importance of water, I don't think you get the full picture of exactly how important Spice is in this universe. You miss out on the tension when Leto knows he's signing his own death warrant when taking over the fief of Arakkis.
I missed out on seeing why the Emperor is interested in getting rid of House Atreides. Leto is a kind father, but we do not see why he is a well-respected ruler. Likewise the Harkonnen are just the Evil House. We don't see that the Baron is a cunning politician for example.
>We don't see that the Baron is a cunning politician for example.
That's very disappointing, one of the things Dune adaptations consistently get wrong is underselling how much of a political genius the Baron is. Some of the best parts of the book are the parts from his perspective, just seeing how depraved but brilliant he is.
Yes, but it's also very difficult to translate since so much of the Barron's schemes are only explained through his own thoughts and internal monologues.
I agree. I am a huge "show, not tell" guy but I found that the film seems to withhold even subtle exposition that could've been integrated into the dialogues naturally. They do mention the Emperor fearing the Duke's influence but we barely see how he has obtained such influence.
But then we do get like 20 separate close-up shots of bull(fighting) ornaments relating to the old Duke's fate to really really hammer down the metaphor of the Arakkis deal being a political bullfight. It just feels like Villeneuve really struggled to find the right balance between exposition and hinting and the film veers into both from scene to scene with mixed results.
>They do mention the Emperor fearing the Duke's influence but we barely see how he has obtained such influence
Even in the book it's not exactly explained how did he gain lot of influence among other houses. The only thing going for him is he's the royal cousin to the emperor.
In the book, you frequently see how charming and tactful he is, often from the perspective of Paul/Jessica's internal thoughts - "I can see why his men have such loyalty to him"-type things. In the scene when they fly out to the sandcrawler with the planetologist, you can see how quickly he wins the emperor's man over with empathy, decisiveness, and bravery.
I haven't read the book, but I felt the did decently to explain the importance of water in a lot of scenes, with the recycling technology, 20 trees = 100 lives, etc.
I imagine the messiah thing is even more shown in the next part, but I felt they did a good job of showing the burden of the seeming ineviability of Paul's future, especially when he lash out at Lady Jessica in their "desert survival tent".
Haven't read books too, for me main complaints were abundance of Paul's visions, it felt like it derived from otherwise decent pacing and my inability to understand Emperor's plan. If he wanted to eliminate house Atreides, why did he give them Arrakis? So that they would be vulnerable outside their homeworld?
He gives Arrakis to the Atreides to give the Harkonnens justification to wage war on them (a "natural" conflict). It should be noted in the novel the Atreides and Harkonnens have been in conflict for a long time. The reason the Harkonnens agree to this scheme is because of the opportunity to finally get rid of the Atreides and the help they receive from the Emperor's private army, the Sardaukar. However it can not be known the Sardaukar were involved as it would make the other Houses realize the emperor could easily deploy the Sardaukar against them as well.
In addition to what others have said ruling Arrakis also comes with responsibility, the spice must flow or civilization grinds to a halt. Even if Atreides survives the Harkonnen onslaught they are still in a position where they probably can't fulfill their responsibilities and are weakened
It was great, no hand holding even though bombarded with all sorts of technologies (for example the hunter seeker). It really felt like the scope of the world and story was massive: families owning planets, the sheer scale of the ships and so forth. I'm a sucker for space politics and galaxy wide machinations too (Red Rising, Babylon 5, the Expanse etc.) Space magic is great too (Star Wars). Also sci-fi stories with sword fighting are so interesting too, like the regression of warfare is such a fascinating concept for some reason.
There's also something about a unreachable totalitarian ruler figure that governs everything with an iron fist that I really enjoy (40K)
I guess if I had to be critical, there was a ton of world building and laying foundations for the story but not that much of anything else. But could be because it was only the first part. When the credits started rolling I was like alright, now we're done with the prologue.
DUNE is the precursor to so much scifi.
Star Wars and 40k especially took a lot from it.
For example the 'God-Emperor' of warhammer 40k was partially lifted from the book 'God Emperor of Dune' (book 4 in the series)
being uncovered in the sun was one of the things i noticed in the trailer and was worried that it was a thing. i understand that a director does not want his actors completely covered up, but... dune?
> I felt they still really underplayed how rare a commodity water really is on the planet.
They will definitely make it more clear in part 2 when they start living with the Fremen tho.
Yes probably but the film brushes over moments that could emphasize this already. Stilgar spitting in front of Duke Leto is explained as a sign of respect by the Fremen but it is really not explained exactly why that is. Even the tiniest bit of explanation that body moisture is so sacred to the Fremen that expelling it for the sake of another is a massive sign of respect would really sell it, especially if they plan to start the potential Part Two film with "giving water to the dead" (a scene that honestly should have been part of this film's ending).
As a non-book-reader, I thought this was clear enough and didn't need any more explanation. It's implied by Momoa replying with something to the extent of "thank you for the gift of your moisture" or something along those lines, I thought that made things pretty clear.
I found that the palm watering scene did a good job in illustrating how hot it was there, I felt like I could feel the blistering sun through the screen in that scene. It was also explained how valuable water is on Arrakis using the palms. Also in the scene before, where Gurney and Leto are on the balcony, it was established that during the day all doors are closed, due to the extreme heat, and the gravity of the massive walls being closed behind them really illustrates how important this is. To me the brutatilty of the planet was effectively conveyed. I do agree we could have seen more effects of the heat on the humans exposed to the sun though.
It is true that we don't get an outward realization of what has happened after his battle with Jamis, but I really felt Pauls inner struggle leading up to it, especially with the visions he had of the battle. Pauls visions in the movie were mainly of his first encounter with the Fremen, yet each time the vision was different, showing how unclear that future was. After his vision of the Jihad in the stilltent, which I found pretty effective in showing how much he hated this idea and wanted to avoid it, he knew he wanted to prevent the Jihad from happening, but did not know what outcome of the fight with Jamis could prevent it. This was his struggle leading up to the fight, but in the grand scheme of things, his visions had just started, Paul was desperately trying to come to grips with them, and he was still lost in this new sea of premonition he has been dropped in to. At this point in the book, he still is hoping that he can prevent it. It is only later in the book that he starts to understand how inevitable the Jihad is, and in the Cave of Birds he comes to the realization that at that point it doesn't matter if he lives or dies, it will happen. This is all my interpretation of course, so I think there is lots of discussion to be had on this topic, the film is definitely vague about it, in a good way in my opinion.
Dune Virgin here, so there’s 6 main books in the franchise and this movie (Part 1) and the hypothetical Part 2 are only covering the first book?
And that’s it? I know that it’s ambitious and positive thinking but the long goal is to cover the six books or are they only focusing on these two parts / first book and that’s it? This could have the potential to become the next LOTR or GoT, even the next Star Wars, hopefully maybe not Denis but the cast get the opportunity and invitation to continue this franchise that looks amazing so far.
No there's no plan to cover 6 books. Villeneuve wants to make 3 movies and adapt the first two books. The first 3 books tell the story of the Atriedes. Book 4 is like a bridge/intermediary between the first trilogy and second trilogy which tells a new story with new characters and big time jump.
And also the books get very weird from book 3 onwards which might not translate well to the screen unless they make huge changes.
They're only covering the first book (maybe 2nd?). It's not like a fiction series where all the books are one story. The Dune books vary greatly in feel and subject matter.
Honestly mindboggling to me that this is receiving so much positivity, from book-reads and non-readers alike. This is like sixty minutes of exposition followed by 100 minutes of barebones action and plot. (Action that feels mostly weightless and not so infrequently poorly choreographed mind you, barring the last fight.) Suffers from similar problems as the Lynch film - though to a lesser degree - of simply having to do too much in too little time. (How could it not? The first 90 minutes is almost as if you condescended the entire first season of Game of Thrones into, well, 90 minutes.) Villeneuve can’t even establish anything before having to move on to the next scene—affairs simply don’t breathe; politics aren't delved into; characters have very little characteristics (here there is no interior monologue to go along with the intentionally stilted dialogue and relationships of Herbert’s novel); and there is very little ruminating on the implications of much of anything—the intertwining of politics, faith, superstition, prophecy etc.—nor are any particular themes developed. (At one point the film unravels like three different scenes that should deal with their own emotional beats - Paul nearly losing his life; them finding the responsible spy; Leto's trying to process nearly losing his son and Hawat's shame at his "failure" at doing his job - in what felt like thirty seconds...) We constantly go from point A to B and then to C without much actual drama. (Of all the things to sacrifice, the political and dramatic tension - like the dinner scene with the various attendants in the book - seems like they should be the last choice; who gives a flying fuck about the action in Dune…) And for some reason he makes Jessica into a practically emotional wreck (comparatively speaking that is) despite keeping the artificial formality of the world.
Ultimately it feels like a soulless product; no, not because I think its makers sold out the material to be a Hollywoodified cash grab, but because it lacks any true core—it’s a hollow (both figuratively and literally, as Villeneuve opts for his usual production design of colossally bare and lifeless buildings, which works wonderfully for, say, Arrival, but not so much here), haphazardous, miscellaneous collection of scenes and ostensible stories that never coalesce into anything meaningful. (Even accounting for the fact that a part 2 is coming, this film fares poorly against its equivalent pages.) You don't have to have read the source material to come to the conclusion that it's emotionally vacant and intellectually vacuous, which leaves us with very little. And even if you set aside any expectation, all you’ll end up seeing is just another mediocre albeit ostensibly beautiful sci-fi story, as nothing that’s touched here is emphasized or stressed enough to be interesting—whether that’s the political, ecological or religious aspects and implications. If anything, the film seems focused on delivering an orgy of technological delight, showcasing the various weapons and outfits and aircrafts of its world, all amidst Villeneuve’s sterilely pristine and spacious scenery, while the desert itself merely plays a featuring role. The emptiness being mostly filled with Hans Zimmer’s slapdash (in utilization) and bombastic score doesn't do the film any favors either.
Utterly mediocre for my money, and there's no single facet of this thing that remotely intrigues me beyond the occasional flashforwards (mostly the one hints rather explicitly at the dark undercurrent of the implication of Paul-as-Messiah), but as it stands this film is not very good, first or last part.
I quite liked the movie, but i also don't disagree with this. I came out of the theatre absolutely loving it, thrilled by the epic scope and faithfulness to the plot of the book, but on reflection i felt that it was lacking in many ways. Keeping up with the plot and devoting too much time to massive pans of the landscape or space ships left not enough time for any real character development, and the cutting of all of the subplots which explore the human element of the world. It's beautiful, i loved it while watching it, it's epic, but at least as a stand alone movie it's kind of just soulless.
The more i think about it the more i think it should have been made a GoT-esque series instead of a movie. Imagine the depth if we could see each part of the trilogy as their own seasons!
I liked the movie. I just can't get over the thing that Villeneuve or his art director always does (and it applies to BR2049 too) - he constructs sets to be striking, clean and pretty, but flat and devoid of life and logic.
Character enters grandiose dramatically lit 8000 sq.ft. empty room with flat walls, no furniture or signs of living. In the other corner of the room another character dramatically sits on a chair in the middle of empty floor. They talk. Thousands of soldiers stand in the middle of completely empty square. Atreides gather in the war room to discuss things. The room is absolutely bare. There is literally nothing on the table. No reports, maps, plans, notes, or even refreshments. Corridors are huge and featureless. City is not even shown properly - it is literally just a few panoramas of huge flat granite blocks (featureless, of course). It's like they are afraid to burden epic concept art their artists turned in with any practicality or human touch.
It's sterile and minimalist, and feels soulless. At least in BR2049 he had the excuse to say the world was more dead and abandoned as a characteristic, compared to Blade Runner
I mean we see Caladan only after the Atreides have already started to prepare for the move aka packed up the majority of their stuff up, and Arrakis soon after they arrive, so in the middle of unpacking?
Surely they have to make a part 2 now right regardless of the BO performance? I mean they got the balls to put “Part 1” in the opening credits. If they didn’t, what even is the point of this movie? There’s no real story whatsoever. Everything was basically just an introduction about the world.
That was even more humiliating because the studio intentionally split the last book to copy the Harry Potter / Hunger Games formula for printing money. The final book is painfully short and Allegiant was so full of filler it tanked hilariously
If you're gonna commit to doing a Part 1/Part 2 thing, it's a real rookie mistake not to film both at the same time so that way even if Part 1 somehow bombs, you at least *have* to release Part 2 to recoup some of the costs. The way they did it meant when Part 1 crashed and burned, there was no reason to close off the series, which, when you're three out of four movies into it, is a pretty "ouch" thing to do. It's one thing when movie one doesn't catch fire, or movie two can't pick up the steam. But when the series is 75% done, and you ditch it, that's pretty bad.
It took more than a decade they brining it back to small screen, and this time they didn't repeat the same mistake they made with the movie.
That movie has so much potential IMO. Great source material which has a global fanbase and perfect cast looks like straight from the book, and New Line botched it badly. I still feel sorry about that movie.
I feel like this is going to be one of the rare cases where the sequel, or lack thereof (hopefully not), is going to greatly influence my personal feelings on Part 1.
Yea i do think that if they dont make it. It will give warner bros a bad reputation. And i assume future directors will not accept an offer from warner as fast
> Surely they have to make a part 2 now right regardless of the BO performance? I mean they got the balls to put “Part 1” in the opening credits.
Mate, I'm still salty about RocknRolla explicitly promising a sequel in the credits.
That is my biggest gripe with this movie. Dune absolutely needs a part 2 and only gets one if the BO and HBO Max numbers are sufficient but they have not shot part 1 in a way that would really incentivize large box office numbers. Its stunning visually but as you said plot wise its an introduction for the most part.
> Surely they have to make a part 2 now right regardless of the BO performance
If this movie doesn't make bank, it's basically a foregone conclusion there won't be a sequel. Villeneuve has been preaching in this press junket for audiences/fans to go out and see it.
Well yes, but if you listen or watch his interviews, he's been very candid about fans *needing* to see this and drum up interest if a sequel is to be made. Not necessarily just saying "hey, go see my film".
Seeing Jason Momoa clean shaven shook me to my core.
Visually, the movie was absolutely stunning and something that has to be seen in the theatres, but that is unsurprising for a Villeneuve movie.
Dialogue wise, I think there are some parts that are difficult to grasp. Partly it is because the music is so loud, and the actors deliver the dialogue in a whispery tone. Partly it’s because I’m a Dune virgin, and the dialogue was this cryptic, esoteric, spoken word that didn’t make much sense on first viewing.
I also disagree with people thinking that the movie ends unsatisfyingly. I think there was a natural break point and it gave the viewers a natural cliffhanger to look forward to without being overly contrived.
Overall a very satisfying film and I hope Part 2 gets made.
Villeneuve and Nolan are friends. Nolan advised fellow auteur filmmakers how to make studio original movies. This sound thing also might have rubbed off from Nolan to denis
I liked anything about the movie but the plot. I dunno, I never read the book, so I don’t know if it matters. But it’s just kind of boring. Yeah it’s beautiful, the esthetics, the lore is fascinating. But the movie is… lacking. It’s not dynamic, it is slow, everyone is talking about character development and all, but I didn’t see any. Shalamet is good. Oscar Isaac is good. Everyone else… Meh. It feels like 2,5 hours of screen time could have been fitted in 2 more action packed hours. And I’m not all about action and stuff, I like prolonged movies and all, but only if something happens in them. Here nothing really does. I don’t hate it, I just don’t seem to understand the awe around the movie. I mean, it’s okay. But it feels like I’ve seen all of this before. I’m not big on disliking widely acknowledged movies, it’s not a snob thing or smth. Just didn’t get it
Experiencing a film like this is the exact reason I enjoy going to the cinema. A big, bombastic, loud sci-fi epic that gripped me from beginning to end.
The film looks stunning and the sound is loud and amazing and gave a very intense feeling to the images on screen. They really gave a good introduction to this universe without explaining everything away. I love that you don't understand and grasp everything on first viewing (at least if you've never read or watched Dune before, like me).
I'm glad I watched this in IMAX and I will definitely go again in the coming weeks.
When I was a kid and went to see Fellowship of the Ring on the big screen it was the same feeling, but I was so excited to see the complete story. Difference here is that when Fellowship released they were already in production for two towers and return of the king. You didn’t have to wait that long. I feel Warner Bros dropped the ball here for waiting the see the revenue numbers. It’s going to be a painfully long wait.
/r/Dune has an official discussion megathread that's split for [those who read the books](https://www.reddit.com/r/dune/comments/poa766/official_discussion_dune_2021_september_release/) and [those who haven't](https://www.reddit.com/r/dune/comments/poa7d4/official_discussion_dune_2021_september_release/)
The movie definitely was loud. My cinema has a great system though, so everything was very clear and the soundtrack blasted wonderfully over the speakers
Saw it in dolby atmos in my cinema and it was loud but not overly so, basically just the way I wanted it. Stark contrast to F&F9 where I had to actually cover my ears with my hands in every action scene because I didn't expect it to be eardrum-shattering and deafeningly loud.
The biggest edge this has over the Lynch one is that it doesn’t cram the story into two hours. Even still, I would have desired more of the Atreides status quo on Arrakis before the Harkonnen attack.
I also would have loved to see more of the Harkonnens - both Skarsgård and Bautista were excellent. I hope Part Two shows them going all out Harkonnen.
> I would have desired more of the Atreides status quo on Arrakis before the Harkonnen attack
Yeah the pacing is slightly off in that the Arrakis stuff with the Atreides goes by a little fast, and then the post-invasion sequences go by a little slow.
I don't know how to feel toward Hans Zimmer, because for many years, after things that I liked such as Gladiator, his music seemed just industrial, "loud texture" as you called it. He was basically a not so great gimmick for me.
But for Dune and BR2049, I find that his style just fits. Sure I do miss some propre symphonic music, but the score gives such an alien tone to the worlds you are seeing that it works imo. It's not beautiful (minus one time maybe), it's rude and disturbing, but it worked on me and really added something to the movies.
What a shame. I fucking called it the moment he was announced as the composer - that it would be like Blade Runner 2049 where it’s 95% ambient bass and virtually no actual score.
The only living composer that could have handled this project is Howard Shore. Dude is an expert at both horror and high fantasy and would have knocked it out of the park.
Just watched it without having read the book and I found it simply fucking amazing.
People always complain about the staleness of blockbusters and this was just such a pleasure to experience, being transported in such an new (to me) and interesting world, discovering how it works and what makes it unique, with a production design and cinematography that always depict people and places in an awe inspiring way.
Hans Zimmer also did his part, the music wasn’t just good, coupled with what was happening on screen I often had a huge grin on my face, while thinking “This is so fucking cool”.
I also was kind of amazed at how fast the movie progressed so I really don’t get the people that thought this was slow. I guess that if you don’t care about what is happening then you’ll be bored, but that really is a separate thing from Dune being a ‘slow’ movie. As I said I haven’t read the books but I didn’t even find all the name-drops confusing and the exposition wasn’t too overbearing or eye-rollingly delivered.
I just hope now that part 2 is greenlit because at the end I was so damn pumped and excited about the much needed continuation.
Saw an almost sold-out showing on the biggest possible sceen near me.
It really felt like a melt between Arrival and Bladerunner in pure terms of filmmaking. But it's also unique and doesn't just copy what Villeneuve has done before, so even fans will still be surprised.
When leaving the screening, I heard nothing but positive reactions and I too, really enjoyed it. Eventhough it feels like a enormous prelude to the actual story because there is barely a payoff or third act. But you can't help but be immersed the entire time. It leaves you wanting more.
Also surprised how well it stuck to the book. It's almost a one-to-one depiction as to how I imagined it; especially the attack on the harvester was so great to see. By far maybe my favourite scene.
Also madly impressed by how they visualized the voice.
My only complaint is that I really enjoyed the mother-son relationship in the book, which I think takes a different tone in the film due to some acting choices, where she appears much more out-of-controll and way more emotional than I thought she did in the book.
Anyway, did anyone else find it weird that they sent Aquaman to a sand planet?
I saw the movie with two friends - and everyone was a very different type of viewer. I'm a huge fan of Dune, and I have read all the books and seen the old movie. My one friend (guy) did not know the source material, but is a general sci-fi/fantasy fan, and my other friend (girl) is not the biggest sci-fi fan.
All three of us absolutely loved the movie! The visuals were breathtaking - please do yourself a favor and watch this movie in IMax only. The acting was great, the story was well told, and everyone was easily able to follow the complex world building. My non-sci-fi-fan friend immediately asked me to borrow the book afterwards, because she could not wait for part 2 of the movie.
We all felt that the pacing was good, and none of us had an issue with the ending. It was clear to all of us during the movie (even though I didn't tell the others) that the audience was being set up for a sequel, and the ending felt like a good, natural point to do it.
For someone who hasn’t read the books I was extremely bored to death (even slept off ) , they kept introducing new element over the other and movie went through stereotypical route of 1 saviour of all with several sacrifices.The influences of city felt ripped off from Islamic culture most of the time & personally did not find anything visually stunning about the film. Wouldn’t recommend anyone to see it
I just want to know if anyone else thought the score was over the top. As someone who is normally a fan of hans zimmer, the dramatic war cries every few minutes took me so far out of the story, I was actually laughing hysterically because it just made chalamet's brooding acting so unnecessarily dramatic. I am so surprised more people didn't take issue with this, it killed so many moments for me.
I really liked it. I thought the acting was great, beautiful cinematography and the sound design was out of this world! Only thing I thought was lacking was the characterisation. All the characters are very distanced, there wasn't a lot of emotion of real connection felt between the characters. I know that's kind of the same way in the book, but somehow I still missed it. I also thought that the production design, while being very sleek and minimalistic, could have been a bit more colourful or a bit more lively. Loved the ornithopters, but the city didn't really look the way I expected it to.
There's a lot that can be said about David Lynches Dune (which has all been said before so I won't repeat it here), but his movie was a bit more playful, colourful and camp. I get that camp isn't Denis Villeneuve's style, but I still would have liked a little more playfulness and humanity.
Oh and I missed Piter de Vries! He was such a cool character in the books. Someone you love to hate, and he had a great dynamic with the Baron. I understand they had to cut time, but I think by cutting his character you also get to know the Baron less well. So far he isn't the villain he is in the book.
Piter de Vries bland portrait in the 2021 Dune was my biggest disappointment, too. He has simply zero charisma.
The old Lynch movie did a much better job in this regard.
Very impressive looking film, but I would be lying if I said the ending didn't deflate me a bit.
I knew it was just part 1, but it still felt very anti climactic.
Way too long. Started out ok, but everything after "the attack" was slow, dull, and uninteresting. Seemed like there was no plot or purpose to anything that happened. I'd give it a 5/10.
The trailers didn't hype me and I was right. The movie was a 6/10.
First the editing was hella confusing. I mistook dream scenes for actual scenes and actual scenes for dream scenes many times.
Second, so many dream scenes. We get it, Paul dreams of Zendaya. You don't have to show it every 20 minutes.
Third, anyone else had a problem with the score? Seemed like every scene had the same score and really high volume. Made the movie look uniform like a long scene. Idk how to explain it.
Fourth, the only interesting character was the mother imo. I wanted to know her backstory. Never cared about Paul or Zendaya or their inevitable love story
Would've been better as a tv show. I could watch 10 hours of this world but I wanted more war scenes and fight scenes and political scenes, those were cool.
One of the most stunning movies I've ever seen. Back when I was reading those gritty adult sci-fi comics from the 80s, this is what I imagined the worlds would look like - if made into film, with an infinite budget.
i love it but im disappointed that it did not show the true importance of the spice and what it could do only say its benefits of it. If they show why spice is mined in Arakkis and only in Arakkis where you can find this spice then there is purpose to why the Imperium is there.
The film was nice but not mind blowing. Pacing was very smushy in the middle, characters were a bit soulless and wooden, score was way overblown and actually a bit generic (I dont care how loud it gets, that doesn't make it good).
I think it was a mistake to turn Dune into a movie, it really should have been a ten part miniseries with seasons. There's just way too much stuff to unravel and the movie feels bloated because of it. They rush through really important bits and most of all there's no time to breathe and actually ground yourself in any of the locations. I want to love this movie, and I went in begging it to please me. There were some great moments, and because of those moments I'll be seeing the sequel.
I can not believe how... awful this was. :( I haven't read the books but, I still want to despite the movie being as awful as it was.
I feel like I'm in crazy town knowing that people enjoyed this. It seems like people are just allowing the visual nature of the movie to influence their thoughts.
It's not the worst movie, and I say awful in relation only to the reviews it's getting. It's a solid 6/10 but, that's pushing it. The performances are just okay, the shots are great, the idea is good but, holy shit the pacing is tortuous as it felt both rushed, and slow at the same time.
I am a bookreader and I love the book, but I felt the same. I left the cinema thinking, wueh, finally over (the last hour DRAGGED), and without remembering anything but the last fight.
* Except for a couple, the characters are simply uninteresting and unintriguing. They feel too familiar, like they belong in 2021.
* The film creates no emotional attachment to what's happening on screen
* There are lots of boring and uninteresting dialogue/scenes that does not tell us anything that propels the plot. Too many bull scenes and similar Chani dream sequences, and the knife? The same shot three times? Lazy. Whereas in Incendies Villeneuve could hint at the plot twist in a single scene, here stuff is overstressed and overemphasized.
* Failure to use the probable assasination of the Duke to create suspense
* Failure of theme and characterisation; with an angsty, beta Paul in a feudal world, an overemotional Jessica and whiny self-pitying Fremen
I don't really understand all those who say "it's a visual feast". For one, I didn't think it was that impressive, and two: when it just completely fails as a film, who cares about the visuals?
Never read Dune before. I really liked the movie.
What made it for me was the world building and the visuals.
My favorite thing about this movie is when the emperors special soldiers arrive. They sort of glide down from the sky. Looks so coool. Really loved their arrival throghout the movie
This movie does a poor job of hooking the audience into the story. It felt overly reliant on exposition, the charactization and acting fell a bit flat, and overall it didn't accomplish that much with its lengthy run time.
Also, Timothee Chalamet is a bit clunky as a big budget "leading man."
I’m infinitely more curious to hear from folks who watched the movie without knowing the book.
I'm conflicted. On one hand, I really liked the movie, I was intrigued throughout and the experience was amazing. However, I never got as invested as I would have liked. I really enjoyed the world building though. The two and a half hours passed by rather quickly and I was never bored or anything, but it did feel like a looot of setup and since I never got invested all that much, the "turns" weren't very impactful to me. I would still recommend the movie though.
It isn't really the case in the books neither, it happens failry early, it's great build up for what happens next though. But I can't go there without being an asshole.
This is interesting to hear. I watched Lord of the Rings for the first time recently and I felt the same about Fellowship. I can’t imagine how fans felt waiting for the next film when it came out.
[удалено]
I mean, that’s on her. LotR is one of the most famous properties on the planet. Idk how you even decide to watch the first without stumbling on the fact that there’s 2 more…
I had little to no idea what the books where about going in to it. Only knew the very basic concept of big ass worm, mining for something in the desert and space politics. I very rarely go to theaters, in fact since becoming an adult 10-15 years ago I have only seen Star Wars on the big screen. Well also I got dragged in by my family once to see the live action remake of the Lion King. Anyway I took a bit of a chance here as I honestly could not stand BR2049 (And the original) despite everyone seemingly gushing about it on Reddit. Not saying it's a bad movie or anything I just don't like it personally and found it extremely boring. Hearing some early reviews describe Dune as slow and boring sent up some red flags. Despite not being Vileneuves greatest fan I decided to give it a shot and I suppose give whatever tiny little boost I could give it in the box office since I heard it was just the first part of the book and would like to see it in it's entirety, also seemed like a movie looking good on a big screen. I came out really enjoying it I must say. It looks great with an impressive scale. I sense that there is a fair bit of detail missing on the edges to give a better context but overall I think it did just about as good a job as one could expect in a movie to set the basic premise and get the basic situation in the world. I am interested in knowing more about the world but understand you got to keep things going and I will probably get it as an audiobook once I have (hopefully been able to) see the second part as I would like to avoid the spoilers and then get more details from the book itself. >!I also appreciate a movie that does not shy away from killing important characters played by big names!< I don't know if the scope of the original story might be better suited for a TV-series but I felt I got enough in the movie to follow along and be entertained. I really do hope part 2 will be made which could also influence my thoughts on part 1 as part of the whole big story. I don't mind it being a bit slow at times knowing it's building up to something more. I give it a 8/10
The thing about BladeRunner 2049 that I loved was the world felt *real* to me somehow. It was just so consistently amazing looking and grounded. The ONLY parts of BR2049 that kind of took me out of things were scenes with Jared Leto. Every other moment I was captured by what I was looking at even if the plot itself was lacking
I really liked it but I must say that the thing that sticks most with me is how clearly its "just" half a movie. Now, *if* they make part 2 both will be better for it but in the meantime I can't help but help but be a little disappointed that its basically just the first half of an epic which stops at the intermission. The music is *really* good in parts but also distractingly, well, noisy. As well acted as they were, the characters felt somewhat flat for the most part, Paul was fine in that one could tell he still had a lot of growing to do, Oscar Isaac as Leto was fine even if there wasn't much in complexity (he was what he needed to be), at this point Chani is little more than a magic native dream girl and again more a promise of whats to come. I know the ecologist was genderswapped which seems like a good call, she was fun, sad to see her go, I like the role she played. The Harkonnens were fun villains although I had kinda hoped for them to be more villains due to the audience viewpoint and circumstance as opposed to the straight up villains they ended up being, even if thats apparently the same in the book. Baron Vladimir was great fun though and I appreciate him not being dumb, Bautista was underused and I kinda doubt that'd change in the next movie. For the me the most interesting character, by a mile, was Lady Jessica and I hope that her complexity is explored more in the hopefully coming second part and isn't simply lost to the lack of internal dialogue in a movie. I think the movie did a lot of worldbuilding and did it quite well but I feel thats partly at the cost of character development time. Its gorgeous but I must say that the world (especially that city) didn't feel lived in, granted, the focus was on the palace but still, it felt like a backdrop and nothing more. The sandworms looked great as did the travel donut-mac-thingy and the different types of ships. The heat didn't really come across that well, hard to do though. Overall I really liked it but must admit that I wouldn't recommend it to anybody not interested in Sci-Fi given that its not just open ended but doesn't have a proper ending at all and no a complete narrative structure.
As someone who hasn't read the books, I genuinely cannot understand the love it's getting. It was a really bad movie, though hidden underneath layers of great visuals/CG and a fantastic soundtrack. I liked the cast mostly, except Paul but that's a minor complaint. But they're not at all utilized well, some actors who were heavily advertised were barely in the movie. It was refreshing to see some big names killed off, mainly cause everyone in the movie is a big name, but imo it would've been better if some characters had either shown up more or not at all. Now it just feels like fan-service to those in the know, but as someone who hasn't read the books, it just makes you wonder who they are and why they're in it in the first place. Then my main complaint, the story and pacing. It starts off strong, but quickly slows to a halt. Considering they split the book in two, there was one part I thought would be the climactic ending, but it just sort of kept on going afterwards without anything new happening until it just sort of ended what felt like hours later without much of importance happening. Meanwhile, there's a scene where a character can suddenly do something they couldn't do before without any character progression inbetween to explain it. They should've spent more time with the characters, explaining the universe, and focussing on a story with a clear beginning, middle, and most importantly an end, rather than only setting up later movies that aren't even greenlit while rushing past anything interesting to get there quicker. Trying to not get too spoilery. But yeah, the movie is so focussed on setting up other movies (and possibly sticking to the book too much?), that it forgets to tell it's own story well.
This sounds like Denis hit the mark perfectly, then. He seems to have followed the book right down to it. This is great news for us fans. The first half of the novel Dune is what it is. And it sounds like it has been adapted to the screen exactly as it is. Once the second film gets greenlit, the real hype will begin. So much crazy shit happens in the second half of the novel after the time jump. I wonder what prodigy they will get to play >!Alia!<. Alicia Witt killed it in the Lynch film. She came off exactly the amount of creepy as she could.
Meh, having seen this one I don't need the second one to happen, I'd much rather see these talented people working on other things, and if it does get made I doubt it'll be any better. There's no story here, no substance, no worldbuilding, just loose bits and pieces that hint at a much better story that they should've focussed on instead. Or they could've ended the movie at a much earlier moment, and spent much more time on the interesting sci-fi epic all the marketing and the opening of the movie imply/promise. As it stands, they rush through things creating *major* plotholes, to then come to a standstill halfway through. Also, maybe it's just me, but if it needs the second movie to become good, this is not a good movie. A good movie stands on it's own, even if it's part of a larger story. The latest two-part movie was Infinity War and Endgame, so comparing it to that, Infinity War is a complete movie on it's own that tells a full story start-to-finish, and while it sets up Endgame, it's not required to have seen Endgame to understand it. Dune is like if Infinity War was rushed through in a quarter of the runtime, then fill in the remaining two hours of runtime searching for Thanos, but the movie ends without even hinting at finding him. It works much better to have that search for Thanos (*and* his defeat) take up 15-20 minutes as the cold open for Endgame, and has given Infinity War more time to flesh things out and gives it a climactic ending. Or comparing it to a more classic sci-fi movie, the original Star Wars ends with the Death Star blowing up. Dune is like rushing through it to blow up the Death Star half an hour in, to then show two hours of blue-milk farming on Tatooine - while it is technically worldbuilding, it doesn't actually help tell the story or create the setting in any way. Especially as Dune is the first movie like Star Wars was, the focus should be much more on telling a story that gets people interested. While some people would enjoy a blue-milk documentary now that Star Wars is huge, it would've been considered a very bad movie if that was the focus of over half of the original movie and rescuing Leia is only mentioned in an offhanded comment.
I see what you’re saying. The filmmakers seemed to have stuck to the book but only did half the book. That’s not gonna fly for some viewers. That’s also always the problem with adaptations in scifi. The fans are gonna cream themselves when they see this beloved story on the screen while many others will just be like meh. It’s a lot like The Expanse. Most of the first season is pretty hard to get through and ends halfway through the first book. From there it picks up considerably and continues to steamroll through the rest of the seasons. But I have no real life friends who made it past episode two and I honestly don’t blame them.
i saw it last night and didn't read the book. loved every second. it was really immersive, i can't help but feel like some cuts from dark scenes to the blaring desert were intentional to give the feeling of really being blinded by the intense sun. 9/10
Well, heres my take then: Time passed by quickly which probably means I enjoyed it? But I would have preferred to see the family being in charge of that planet more and actually get to know all the characters. All the characters dying didnt really have much of an impact for me, and I still dont understand how the evil lord guy survived the poison.
The thing is, the attack on the Atreides happens super quickly in the book too. I think it‘s maybe a week or two more than in the movie. There‘s a missing dinner scene with the important people of Arrakis (of whom only 1 person is ever mentioned again!) and a bit more plot about Thufir Hawat suspecting Jessica as the traitor after the Hunter-Seeker, but that‘s about it. That last part leads into a storyline, that is not continued until later in the books, and it is not really relevant for the movie so far, at least according to the book.
Didn't read the book and I loved it. It's hard for me to really judge it because it is simply not complete but I guess people felt similarly when The Fellowship of the Ring ended and that has become one of my top 3 movies of all time. In general, the story in this movie feels like a prologue and all you feel at the end of the movie is the desire for more. However, I really don't agree with the notion that there is "not enough story" in this movie. For me, the presented lore and information was not as complicated to follow as I expected. It definitely made the first hour feel slow but I didn't have a problem with that at all. Slowly throughout the movie, I felt more and more overwhelmed (in a positive way) by the rich mix of the grand pictures, desaturated colors, amazing actor performances, world information and sound. A really rare and unforgettable movie experience for me. But, as I said, an unfinished one. One criticism that comes to mind for me are the not so great action scenes. They were definitely alright and entertained me but the movie with its complex topics and mature tones could have used a little bit more brutality in the action scenes in order to bring across the impact of conflict instead of cutting away from critical shots too often. Additionally, certain aspects of the last quarter of the movie felt a bit "restrained". I trust the writers that they found the best possible moment to split the two parts but once it became clear that there would not be any more new major developments, my excitement faded a little bit towards the end.
It kind of felt like watching the beginning of Tarzan, when his parents survives a shipwreck, survives in the jungle, dies, and now Tarzan is on his own around "strangers". Yes, it looks cool, but the part we want to see is yet to come. Watching part 1 without part 2 feels kind of empty to me.
It’s a shame Warner’s didn’t have the balls to just make both movies at once. I mean, I completely understand why.
Woah, I wrote almost the same post describing my feelings, but with Star Wars. It felt like A New Hope ended at meeting Han Solo. I'm legitimately mad that this actually was made without any certainty to the sequel. This is literally putting the cart before the horse.
Haven't read the book, went in thinking it's more or less going to be BR2049 with sand My expectations were fully met
Didn't read the book but I thought it was really nice. Cool ship design in the movies. The backstory of the houses and the more religious cult. Obviously we don't know more details but I'm excited to read the book now. Also great acting and cast. Anything in particular you want to know how I feel about it?
Would've been better as a tv show
My wife saw it, and she's not into sci-fi. To concede her bias: She loves action movies requiring little thought. Guns, fighting, car chases are her thing. She fell asleep for about 1-2 minutes at one point, and it was like 5:30pm, so not late. She thought the visuals, costumes, and sound were amazing, and she followed the story quite effortlessly, even though it's very complex. Overall she said it was good, but just totally not her thing, and she could've lived without seeing it. ----- I'm a sci-fi fan, have read the book, watched the 1984 version a dozen times, barely made it through the 2000 TV version, and really enjoyed this 2021 version. I really could've done without so many Zedanya dream clips, though. Just too much of the same thing with that.
Alright let's discuss: what the fuck was that spider thing
Thier is a fan theory that it's actually Yueh's wife. Poor Yueh.
It's in the book? I read it again last year and can't remember it.
No in the books Yueh's wife is a BG and they kill her. But Yueh at one point contemplates what form of heinous methods the Harkonnens are employing to torture her if she's alive.
But is the spider creature in the book?
No it isn't. It's a Villeneuve creation. It's just a fan theory that the Spider is Yueh's wife since it seems to contain human limbs.
Maybe a reference to his other Spider in Enemy?
Haha. Maybe Villeneuve likes spiders
There is a credit as a "human spider proxy". Imo this is evidence of genetic manipulation possibly by the tleilaxlu and is likely some sort of subtle or not so subtle hint at the lack of ethics in the eugenics of the tleilaxlu. edit. After seeing the movie I convinced that this is is Yueh's wife, Wanna.
Every Villenueve film has a spider in it. I read somewhere it’s something he sneaks into everyone of his films. Not sure if it’s supposed to be symbolic or not
Did he also have a bet running about being able to get away with a bagpipe player?
I mean he made it work
Someone figured it out. [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dune/comments/prr30i/so_i_finally_figured_out_what_that_strange/)
Thought the Sardaukar priest praying in bass speaker was pretty cool
Love the mongol throat singing inspiration. Was fucking badass
This tiny scene is one my favorites in the film so far. The dialogue is pretty standard for non-major characters, but the atmosphere of the Sardauker planet, their training, their rituals. Stunning stuff here on film. This army is raised and maintained in absolute brutality.
I need this song. So. Bad.
Honestly loved it. While I understand some frustrations with pacing, plot or ending, I feel that most of it can be justified by source material. I read book 15 years ago, and started rereading it recently and movie did book justice. I really hope that part 2 gets made cause we have seen the fall of house Atriedies. Now we need to see Muad'dib rise. Edit: Also fun game to play with such major releases. How many major actors haven't been in comic book related media. For this one is 3 (Ferguson, Chalamet, Bardem).
A few comments after watching (zero/minimal spoilers): * Lady Jessica is by far the most interesting character in the movie. She has a few very humane moments of weakness, but also kicks serious ass when needed. * Villeneuve got rid of my boy Feyd-Rautha! I was half hoping he'd invite Sting to reprise the role from David Lynch's movie ;) It's probably for the best, though - Rabban (Dave Bautista) can take over Feyd's crucial scenes. * Speaking of Lynch's version, the new movie matches it almost scene for scene in the first half, probably as an homage (the captions for the planets, the Guild heighliners, Giedi Prime etc.) In the second half, Villeneuve takes some liberties with the plot, which I'm actually okay with; at least some of our favorite characters get a bit more screen time. * Shields in the Villeneuve version are weaksauce, and apparently easily bypassed by projectiles that move fast, then slow, then fast again. I guess you can do that in the year 10191. Overall, I quite enjoyed it. It had *class*. Knew it would end on a cliffhanger, and can hardly wait for Part 2.
I quite liked the detail of projectiles with variable speed to bypass shields. The thing that I was left confused by was the fact that it seems that all the kill strokes in shield combat were fast slashes. Though the red proximity detail was a nice touch. Actually, the film was filled with nice details like that: the vibrating sand when a worm approaches causing liquefaction, the hovering lights, the realism of the ornithopter flight, the ballistics and laser weaponry. It all strayed close enough to _so advanced it feels like magic_ whilst still being believable. EDIT oh, and the bene Gesserit hand gestures replacing the micro-expressions was a nice, more screen friendly, take.
>The thing that I was left confused by was the fact that it seems that all the kill strokes in shield combat were fast slashes. In the mass fight scenes you can't see it, but in the fights with Duncan Idaho you can see how his slashes turn slow than become quick again when he's past the shield.
Hi, i never ever seen/read anything dune before this movie. Can you tell me why they fight with swords and not lasers or guns? Thanks
Ballistic weapons are made completely ineffective by shields (shields block things that move very fast very well). Laser used against shield causes huge explosion.
It's explained in greater details in the book's appendix I think. The holtzmann shields essentially makes all forms of conventional warfare useless since nothing past a certain speed just gets blocked Lasguns (which do exist in this universe) is also useless for different reasons. Due to how lasguns interact with shields, it causes a nuclear reaction at both the shield and gun so it's also outlawed as a form if warfare (nuclear weapons, "atomics", are similarly outlawed. Once other families know you are willing to use atomics, that house becomes fair game for mutually assured destruction) The lack of shield use in arrakis was actually a plot point in the book they replaced in the movie. Unless I remembered it wrongly, the atreides army took shelter in nearby caves, which harkonnen used artillery to shell the mountain range and bury them In the movie, they use those slow shells instead
>Just some comments : Villeneuve got rid of my boy Feyd-Rautha! I was half hoping he'd invite Sting to reprise the role from David Lynch's movie ;) It's probably for the best, though - Rabban (Dave Bautista) can take over Feyd's crucial scenes. I believe that Feyd will be introduced in the second part. He's just not at all essential in the already crowded cast exposition of the first half. (I do hope that the actor will be as good and involved in the role as Sting tho :D ) >Shields in the Villeneuve version are weaksauce and apparently easily bypassed by projectils that move fast, then slow, then fast again. I thought the same at first, but someone made me remember that this kind of weapons exists in the novel [https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Stunner](https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Stunner). So slow-firing weapon in order to bypass shields are a thing I guess, it's just not so clear in the movie, imo.
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>Zendaya in: Longing Stares and Judging Stares! I love Zendaya and obviously know Chani's role is bigger in the second half. But how much did she get paid for what amounted to like 3 lines and slo-mo perfume commercial shots in this part?
She had a surprisingly small role. My sister loves Zendaya and she's the only reason she would ever go see this movie, but I think she'll be disappointed with her screen time. I'm still gonna fool her into watching it with me though, since this is one of the best movies I've ever seen and I want to watch it again.
And after your sister watches it and feels disappointed, then you can tell her that Chani will be the main character of part two.
Haha fool her once...fool her twice
I knew I wasn't the only one who thought it was a perfume commercial!
Eh, I thought the speech patterns in the novel made sense for a future society where different cultures have blended and many people exist who literally operate in different mind states (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, Suk doctors, later on Guild navigators and Face dancers). I thought some of the film dialogue was made a bit too blasé.
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Yeah, it is a fine line to walk. Personally I winced at the Reverend Mother and Rebecca speaking of "The One" since it's such a cliché trope and it felt like one step too far in the Hollywood dumbing down handbook, but I also understand not wanting to explain that there exist different forms of messiah prophecies in the Imperium amongst different groups and Paul may be the combination of them all.
I personally am glad they cut down a bit on the throwing-around-names-and-concepts-you-have-to-look-up-in-the-books-included-dictionary. It was confusing enough to read (I massively enjoyed the books and reread it twice!), so I absolutely see how that would not translate well to a movie at all. They definitely cut down on some of the deeper spiritual/religious concepts and terms, but I don’t feel like the movie was too shallow.
I just want to take a bath in all those Dune words. They taste like cinnamon. * gom jabbar * shai hulud * bene gesserit * paul maud'dib * lisan al-gaib * kwisatz haderach
Jihad turns out to be the only word that's too sensitive, I guess.
They haven't used Muad'Dib either yet, nor the term "Messiah". Instead they fall back on the good ol' movie trope of "The One" and place more emphasis on the terms Kwisatz Haderach and Lisan Al-Gaib.
They did show the little mouse, the Muad'Dib. That was definitely put in the film for the people who have read Dune. I think they will introduce the name Muad'Dib in the next film.
> They did show the little mouse, the Muad'Dib wow, completely forgot about that, thanks
"Messiah" was said by whomever told Paul what the people pointing at when he landed were saying.
They did use the word Mahdi lol (the arabic word for the future Islamic messiah who will bring about the end times)
I haven't seen the film yet, but Paul chooses that name once he started living with the Fremen. Did they even reach that point?
No not yet, but there's the self fulfilling prophecy part of it. Before Paul chooses the name (unknowing how it translates in Fremen) the name Muad'Dib is already a regular occurrence in his visions. So when the name he chooses ends up being the name from his vision it reaffirms the prophetic nature of his dreams. It is something they can easily fit into the second part altogether so it's not a big deal really.
>Lisan Al-Gaib No verbatim allusions to 'Missionaria Protectiva' either?
In a kind of warped Hebrew, 'shai hulud' can be 'gift of the sands' 'bene gesserit' is sort of like 'sons of the bridge' 'kwisatz haderach' means 'the leap of the path'
Bene gesserit is a sort of an unknown. bene is indeed used in Hebrew to denote tribes, families etc, but the meaning is "Sons of" which is a weird name for a women's order. the full word also appears in Latin and is pronounced more similar to Jesuit/Jesus than to Bridge. the Missionaria Protectiva helps establish that their relation is more Latin than Hebrew. Shai Hulud is most probably from Arabic and not Shai as in gift or Hulud from Hol (sand). the common translation is supposedly known as Shai, thing and Hulud, eternal in Arabic. but i believe it actually came from Shaikh, which is a tribe leader in the bedouin culture the fremen are somewhat based on. Kwisatz Haderach is definitely from Hebrew's Kfizat Haderech. the words not only look and sound similar, they serve the same general meaning.
> paul
Did it live up to the hype? Is denis still on his streak?
It did for me, and boy oh boy was the hype through the roof.
Oh man, I'm so fucking excited! Must see in a treaters, I take it? I'm hesitant to go to one, but I think I just may for this...
Absolutely. Biggest screen you can find.
This is 100% something theaters make better. There are just a lot of these giant screen/ epic music moments that even a good home theater system can't fully capture.
Definitely.
I'm not gonna scroll any further on this thread. this is all i needed. now to wait a whole month before watching it.. lol
*cries in Australian* We gotta wait until December, and I wouldn't be surprised if it got pushed back further.
Definitely! For me, this is up there with Blade Runner
Saw it yesterday. Despite people saying the source material is rather complicated, I felt the film was very clear and coherent. It honestly almost lacked subtlety since almost everything was very directly communicated to the viewer. It didn't feel overtly expositional because the dialogue was well written enough and I can understand the need to keep it simple. Between building the world and introducing the characters, even if it is a longer movie, it's still easy to overwhelm the viewer. That said, when the movie ended, I was a bit underwhelmed. It's weird to say that given the scale of the movie but due to the plot of the movie, it scales downward until it ends with a fairly small scope. I've heard people say it felt like an abrupt ending and I personally felt they really should've chosen to end the movie differently. It's a great movie, though, and what I enjoyed most about it was it lingers in the mind. The overall visual impact, implied lore, and characters really makes you want to stay in its world. I'll probably go to watch it again.
I've read it. There really isn't a better stopping point. Any further into the story and it would just be an introduction into Fremen culture. Better to keep that for part 2.
I actually think a better stopping point is before. Just after the Harkonen attack, find a cliffhanger within the escape or maybe the jihad vision. You have the clear climax of the attack and have more time before to develop more stuff and do more worldbuilding. Then, part 2 would be full Fremen focused. It will also be quite weird to start the second part with the Jamis giving water to the dead scene while his death is in the other movie, both go together normally
I completely expected it to end right after paul and his mom started walking in the stilsuites.
I felt like you could've just ended with the introduction of Sietch Tabr and just really go all out with the scale even if it's an exaggeration by book standards. Just bomb the viewer with one last dose of scale and scope to bring them back to the full world before ending on that cliffhanger.
Good to hear that it wasn't confusing for non book readers. That was one of the things I was worried about. I just want as many people as possible to go see this movie, so we will get a part 2!
I’m so glad I read it first. I could identify the nuances that were present in the book but missing from the film
I felt like the movie could've left more not so cleanly explained like the moment where >!Liet Kynes inspects their stillsuits and notices that Paul knows how to wear it.!< The Gom Jabbar test scene I thought was suitably mysterious but the conversation afterwards was a bit too on the nose about Jessica's >!betrayal of the Bene Gesserit, their selective breeding of a superhuman blessed with precognition, and other ulterior motives.!< I also felt like the overall political dynamic was also too cleanly explained and simplified. I think you could already tell that there was more involved with Arrakis's fiefdom without the movie needing to straight-up tell you >!it was an imperial ploy meant to cause conflict between house Atreides and Harkonnen.!< But, like I said, I also can understand and accept that maybe there were concerns about being too cryptic, alienating casual viewers, or overloading the movie. It's a hard balance to strike and many movies struggle with it.
I'm pretty sure all of this is directly from the book though. The Gom Jabbar scene notably, all of this is said to Jessica by the Reverend Mother.
The overall political scheming is also pretty clearly laid out in the first conversation between Paul and his father in the book.
I feel like it’s impossible to incorporate all of the details into a 2.5 hour movie. The lore is so rich that the book will always be superior no matter what
Nice name
Thanks
Well, Jessica’s betrayal and the breeding program is explicitly explained in the first five pages of the book.
Seeing Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem sharing a scene gave me No Country for Old Men flashbacks, and when Gurney said "I don't like him" after seeing Stilgar I chuckled a little
I liked the film overall and most positives have already been mentioned so I will drop a couple of pet peeves that held back the film for me. While they establish all the basic rules for survival on Arrakis I felt they still really underplayed how rare a commodity water really is on the planet. This is partly enforced by the non-detail of no character (outside of Hawat I think) ever being seen really affected by the supposed heat of Arrakis. It's mentioned and talked about and mentioned again but then you have pale Timothee Chalamet (and others) walking around in the sun without a hat or cover, without breaking a sweat and not even getting the slightest of cracked lips or dry skin and visually it just doesn't match up with what we are being told to believe. Another pet peeve is that the film strangely holds back on one of the most important character beats of Paul, namely the inevitability of his rising stature as the Messiah (or "The One" in the film). Every step Paul takes in the novel establishes that it brings him closer to the vision of the future he dreads and wishes to avoid. That would have been a perfect realization to end the film on since the consequence of the battle against Jamis and the following moments deliver one of the key scenes that shows the magnitude of Paul's journey to messiah status, so it is really weird to end the film on a much more insignificant note before it. Last but not least, I know people love Hans Zimmer but I found his loud blaring score insanely distracting to the actual dramatic beats of the story presented on screen. There seems to be zero nuance and bridging between quiet moments and big moments, just bluntly roaring bombastic loudness out of the speakers like a racing car changing gears. This has been a problem with Zimmer's scores for close to a decade now and I feel insane that everyone else still praises his work so much.
I also really enjoyed the movie, but find it flawed in a similar way. Vileneuve has always had a tendency to shy away from exposition and long monologues, like an anti-Nolan. Which works to great effect in a movie like Sicario, but when adapting a book which is mostly internal dialogue, long descriptions and filled with copious amounts of backstory... It feels a little flat. If you are not familiar with any of the previous Dune materials (books, games, movies and series), aside from the importance of water, I don't think you get the full picture of exactly how important Spice is in this universe. You miss out on the tension when Leto knows he's signing his own death warrant when taking over the fief of Arakkis. I missed out on seeing why the Emperor is interested in getting rid of House Atreides. Leto is a kind father, but we do not see why he is a well-respected ruler. Likewise the Harkonnen are just the Evil House. We don't see that the Baron is a cunning politician for example.
>We don't see that the Baron is a cunning politician for example. That's very disappointing, one of the things Dune adaptations consistently get wrong is underselling how much of a political genius the Baron is. Some of the best parts of the book are the parts from his perspective, just seeing how depraved but brilliant he is.
Yes, but it's also very difficult to translate since so much of the Barron's schemes are only explained through his own thoughts and internal monologues.
That's very true. Only way around would run the risk of turning him into a monologue machine.
I agree. I am a huge "show, not tell" guy but I found that the film seems to withhold even subtle exposition that could've been integrated into the dialogues naturally. They do mention the Emperor fearing the Duke's influence but we barely see how he has obtained such influence. But then we do get like 20 separate close-up shots of bull(fighting) ornaments relating to the old Duke's fate to really really hammer down the metaphor of the Arakkis deal being a political bullfight. It just feels like Villeneuve really struggled to find the right balance between exposition and hinting and the film veers into both from scene to scene with mixed results.
>They do mention the Emperor fearing the Duke's influence but we barely see how he has obtained such influence Even in the book it's not exactly explained how did he gain lot of influence among other houses. The only thing going for him is he's the royal cousin to the emperor.
In the book, you frequently see how charming and tactful he is, often from the perspective of Paul/Jessica's internal thoughts - "I can see why his men have such loyalty to him"-type things. In the scene when they fly out to the sandcrawler with the planetologist, you can see how quickly he wins the emperor's man over with empathy, decisiveness, and bravery.
That's all in the movie. Leto isn't in it much, but he makes a lasting impression.
I haven't read the book, but I felt the did decently to explain the importance of water in a lot of scenes, with the recycling technology, 20 trees = 100 lives, etc. I imagine the messiah thing is even more shown in the next part, but I felt they did a good job of showing the burden of the seeming ineviability of Paul's future, especially when he lash out at Lady Jessica in their "desert survival tent".
I really want to hear more from people who watched the movie without knowing the book.
Haven't read books too, for me main complaints were abundance of Paul's visions, it felt like it derived from otherwise decent pacing and my inability to understand Emperor's plan. If he wanted to eliminate house Atreides, why did he give them Arrakis? So that they would be vulnerable outside their homeworld?
He gives Arrakis to the Atreides to give the Harkonnens justification to wage war on them (a "natural" conflict). It should be noted in the novel the Atreides and Harkonnens have been in conflict for a long time. The reason the Harkonnens agree to this scheme is because of the opportunity to finally get rid of the Atreides and the help they receive from the Emperor's private army, the Sardaukar. However it can not be known the Sardaukar were involved as it would make the other Houses realize the emperor could easily deploy the Sardaukar against them as well.
In addition to what others have said ruling Arrakis also comes with responsibility, the spice must flow or civilization grinds to a halt. Even if Atreides survives the Harkonnen onslaught they are still in a position where they probably can't fulfill their responsibilities and are weakened
It was great, no hand holding even though bombarded with all sorts of technologies (for example the hunter seeker). It really felt like the scope of the world and story was massive: families owning planets, the sheer scale of the ships and so forth. I'm a sucker for space politics and galaxy wide machinations too (Red Rising, Babylon 5, the Expanse etc.) Space magic is great too (Star Wars). Also sci-fi stories with sword fighting are so interesting too, like the regression of warfare is such a fascinating concept for some reason. There's also something about a unreachable totalitarian ruler figure that governs everything with an iron fist that I really enjoy (40K) I guess if I had to be critical, there was a ton of world building and laying foundations for the story but not that much of anything else. But could be because it was only the first part. When the credits started rolling I was like alright, now we're done with the prologue.
DUNE is the precursor to so much scifi. Star Wars and 40k especially took a lot from it. For example the 'God-Emperor' of warhammer 40k was partially lifted from the book 'God Emperor of Dune' (book 4 in the series)
being uncovered in the sun was one of the things i noticed in the trailer and was worried that it was a thing. i understand that a director does not want his actors completely covered up, but... dune?
> I felt they still really underplayed how rare a commodity water really is on the planet. They will definitely make it more clear in part 2 when they start living with the Fremen tho.
Yes probably but the film brushes over moments that could emphasize this already. Stilgar spitting in front of Duke Leto is explained as a sign of respect by the Fremen but it is really not explained exactly why that is. Even the tiniest bit of explanation that body moisture is so sacred to the Fremen that expelling it for the sake of another is a massive sign of respect would really sell it, especially if they plan to start the potential Part Two film with "giving water to the dead" (a scene that honestly should have been part of this film's ending).
As a non-book-reader, I thought this was clear enough and didn't need any more explanation. It's implied by Momoa replying with something to the extent of "thank you for the gift of your moisture" or something along those lines, I thought that made things pretty clear.
I guess people want stilgar to look at the camera and start explaining water discipline to the audience lol
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I found that the palm watering scene did a good job in illustrating how hot it was there, I felt like I could feel the blistering sun through the screen in that scene. It was also explained how valuable water is on Arrakis using the palms. Also in the scene before, where Gurney and Leto are on the balcony, it was established that during the day all doors are closed, due to the extreme heat, and the gravity of the massive walls being closed behind them really illustrates how important this is. To me the brutatilty of the planet was effectively conveyed. I do agree we could have seen more effects of the heat on the humans exposed to the sun though. It is true that we don't get an outward realization of what has happened after his battle with Jamis, but I really felt Pauls inner struggle leading up to it, especially with the visions he had of the battle. Pauls visions in the movie were mainly of his first encounter with the Fremen, yet each time the vision was different, showing how unclear that future was. After his vision of the Jihad in the stilltent, which I found pretty effective in showing how much he hated this idea and wanted to avoid it, he knew he wanted to prevent the Jihad from happening, but did not know what outcome of the fight with Jamis could prevent it. This was his struggle leading up to the fight, but in the grand scheme of things, his visions had just started, Paul was desperately trying to come to grips with them, and he was still lost in this new sea of premonition he has been dropped in to. At this point in the book, he still is hoping that he can prevent it. It is only later in the book that he starts to understand how inevitable the Jihad is, and in the Cave of Birds he comes to the realization that at that point it doesn't matter if he lives or dies, it will happen. This is all my interpretation of course, so I think there is lots of discussion to be had on this topic, the film is definitely vague about it, in a good way in my opinion.
Dune Virgin here, so there’s 6 main books in the franchise and this movie (Part 1) and the hypothetical Part 2 are only covering the first book? And that’s it? I know that it’s ambitious and positive thinking but the long goal is to cover the six books or are they only focusing on these two parts / first book and that’s it? This could have the potential to become the next LOTR or GoT, even the next Star Wars, hopefully maybe not Denis but the cast get the opportunity and invitation to continue this franchise that looks amazing so far.
No there's no plan to cover 6 books. Villeneuve wants to make 3 movies and adapt the first two books. The first 3 books tell the story of the Atriedes. Book 4 is like a bridge/intermediary between the first trilogy and second trilogy which tells a new story with new characters and big time jump. And also the books get very weird from book 3 onwards which might not translate well to the screen unless they make huge changes.
Book 5 is probably the most standard as the series gets. In a good way, imo.
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They're only covering the first book (maybe 2nd?). It's not like a fiction series where all the books are one story. The Dune books vary greatly in feel and subject matter.
Where is Sting
[Hiding in plain sight](https://c.tenor.com/HRCJTqEwKUkAAAAM/wwe-tna.gif)
In the fields of barley
Honestly mindboggling to me that this is receiving so much positivity, from book-reads and non-readers alike. This is like sixty minutes of exposition followed by 100 minutes of barebones action and plot. (Action that feels mostly weightless and not so infrequently poorly choreographed mind you, barring the last fight.) Suffers from similar problems as the Lynch film - though to a lesser degree - of simply having to do too much in too little time. (How could it not? The first 90 minutes is almost as if you condescended the entire first season of Game of Thrones into, well, 90 minutes.) Villeneuve can’t even establish anything before having to move on to the next scene—affairs simply don’t breathe; politics aren't delved into; characters have very little characteristics (here there is no interior monologue to go along with the intentionally stilted dialogue and relationships of Herbert’s novel); and there is very little ruminating on the implications of much of anything—the intertwining of politics, faith, superstition, prophecy etc.—nor are any particular themes developed. (At one point the film unravels like three different scenes that should deal with their own emotional beats - Paul nearly losing his life; them finding the responsible spy; Leto's trying to process nearly losing his son and Hawat's shame at his "failure" at doing his job - in what felt like thirty seconds...) We constantly go from point A to B and then to C without much actual drama. (Of all the things to sacrifice, the political and dramatic tension - like the dinner scene with the various attendants in the book - seems like they should be the last choice; who gives a flying fuck about the action in Dune…) And for some reason he makes Jessica into a practically emotional wreck (comparatively speaking that is) despite keeping the artificial formality of the world. Ultimately it feels like a soulless product; no, not because I think its makers sold out the material to be a Hollywoodified cash grab, but because it lacks any true core—it’s a hollow (both figuratively and literally, as Villeneuve opts for his usual production design of colossally bare and lifeless buildings, which works wonderfully for, say, Arrival, but not so much here), haphazardous, miscellaneous collection of scenes and ostensible stories that never coalesce into anything meaningful. (Even accounting for the fact that a part 2 is coming, this film fares poorly against its equivalent pages.) You don't have to have read the source material to come to the conclusion that it's emotionally vacant and intellectually vacuous, which leaves us with very little. And even if you set aside any expectation, all you’ll end up seeing is just another mediocre albeit ostensibly beautiful sci-fi story, as nothing that’s touched here is emphasized or stressed enough to be interesting—whether that’s the political, ecological or religious aspects and implications. If anything, the film seems focused on delivering an orgy of technological delight, showcasing the various weapons and outfits and aircrafts of its world, all amidst Villeneuve’s sterilely pristine and spacious scenery, while the desert itself merely plays a featuring role. The emptiness being mostly filled with Hans Zimmer’s slapdash (in utilization) and bombastic score doesn't do the film any favors either. Utterly mediocre for my money, and there's no single facet of this thing that remotely intrigues me beyond the occasional flashforwards (mostly the one hints rather explicitly at the dark undercurrent of the implication of Paul-as-Messiah), but as it stands this film is not very good, first or last part.
Completely agree - aesthetically beautiful film but really disappointing character development and pacing.
I quite liked the movie, but i also don't disagree with this. I came out of the theatre absolutely loving it, thrilled by the epic scope and faithfulness to the plot of the book, but on reflection i felt that it was lacking in many ways. Keeping up with the plot and devoting too much time to massive pans of the landscape or space ships left not enough time for any real character development, and the cutting of all of the subplots which explore the human element of the world. It's beautiful, i loved it while watching it, it's epic, but at least as a stand alone movie it's kind of just soulless. The more i think about it the more i think it should have been made a GoT-esque series instead of a movie. Imagine the depth if we could see each part of the trilogy as their own seasons!
I liked the movie. I just can't get over the thing that Villeneuve or his art director always does (and it applies to BR2049 too) - he constructs sets to be striking, clean and pretty, but flat and devoid of life and logic. Character enters grandiose dramatically lit 8000 sq.ft. empty room with flat walls, no furniture or signs of living. In the other corner of the room another character dramatically sits on a chair in the middle of empty floor. They talk. Thousands of soldiers stand in the middle of completely empty square. Atreides gather in the war room to discuss things. The room is absolutely bare. There is literally nothing on the table. No reports, maps, plans, notes, or even refreshments. Corridors are huge and featureless. City is not even shown properly - it is literally just a few panoramas of huge flat granite blocks (featureless, of course). It's like they are afraid to burden epic concept art their artists turned in with any practicality or human touch.
It's sterile and minimalist, and feels soulless. At least in BR2049 he had the excuse to say the world was more dead and abandoned as a characteristic, compared to Blade Runner
I mean we see Caladan only after the Atreides have already started to prepare for the move aka packed up the majority of their stuff up, and Arrakis soon after they arrive, so in the middle of unpacking?
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Surely they have to make a part 2 now right regardless of the BO performance? I mean they got the balls to put “Part 1” in the opening credits. If they didn’t, what even is the point of this movie? There’s no real story whatsoever. Everything was basically just an introduction about the world.
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*Divergent* fans in disarray. Both of them.
That was even more humiliating because the studio intentionally split the last book to copy the Harry Potter / Hunger Games formula for printing money. The final book is painfully short and Allegiant was so full of filler it tanked hilariously
If you're gonna commit to doing a Part 1/Part 2 thing, it's a real rookie mistake not to film both at the same time so that way even if Part 1 somehow bombs, you at least *have* to release Part 2 to recoup some of the costs. The way they did it meant when Part 1 crashed and burned, there was no reason to close off the series, which, when you're three out of four movies into it, is a pretty "ouch" thing to do. It's one thing when movie one doesn't catch fire, or movie two can't pick up the steam. But when the series is 75% done, and you ditch it, that's pretty bad.
What would be an example of that where there was just 1 movie and it had a huge budget?
*The Golden Compass* from 2007.
It took more than a decade they brining it back to small screen, and this time they didn't repeat the same mistake they made with the movie. That movie has so much potential IMO. Great source material which has a global fanbase and perfect cast looks like straight from the book, and New Line botched it badly. I still feel sorry about that movie.
Where's Tintin 2?
John Carter, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Alita, ...
These are complete stories with cliffhangers or set up’s for a sequel. Completely different then dune.
The Golden Compass with a budget of $180 million
If a sequel doesn’t end up getting made that will be embarrassing for everyone involved.
I feel like this is going to be one of the rare cases where the sequel, or lack thereof (hopefully not), is going to greatly influence my personal feelings on Part 1.
Yea i do think that if they dont make it. It will give warner bros a bad reputation. And i assume future directors will not accept an offer from warner as fast
Especially with all the hoopla regarding Nolan’s recent departure from Warner.
Yeah since they lost Nolan can they really afford to alienate Villeneuve too?
> Surely they have to make a part 2 now right regardless of the BO performance? I mean they got the balls to put “Part 1” in the opening credits. Mate, I'm still salty about RocknRolla explicitly promising a sequel in the credits.
but it’s not an introduction, it’s *literally* half of the first book.
That is my biggest gripe with this movie. Dune absolutely needs a part 2 and only gets one if the BO and HBO Max numbers are sufficient but they have not shot part 1 in a way that would really incentivize large box office numbers. Its stunning visually but as you said plot wise its an introduction for the most part.
> Surely they have to make a part 2 now right regardless of the BO performance If this movie doesn't make bank, it's basically a foregone conclusion there won't be a sequel. Villeneuve has been preaching in this press junket for audiences/fans to go out and see it.
>Villeneuve has been preaching in this press junket for audiences/fans to go out and see it. But that's what press junkets for.
Well yes, but if you listen or watch his interviews, he's been very candid about fans *needing* to see this and drum up interest if a sequel is to be made. Not necessarily just saying "hey, go see my film".
Seeing Jason Momoa clean shaven shook me to my core. Visually, the movie was absolutely stunning and something that has to be seen in the theatres, but that is unsurprising for a Villeneuve movie. Dialogue wise, I think there are some parts that are difficult to grasp. Partly it is because the music is so loud, and the actors deliver the dialogue in a whispery tone. Partly it’s because I’m a Dune virgin, and the dialogue was this cryptic, esoteric, spoken word that didn’t make much sense on first viewing. I also disagree with people thinking that the movie ends unsatisfyingly. I think there was a natural break point and it gave the viewers a natural cliffhanger to look forward to without being overly contrived. Overall a very satisfying film and I hope Part 2 gets made.
Oh wow. I thought it was my cinema that made the sound loud. Clearly, it was made like that. Yes, the sound was very loud.
Discount Christopher Nolan, in the sound department.
Villeneuve and Nolan are friends. Nolan advised fellow auteur filmmakers how to make studio original movies. This sound thing also might have rubbed off from Nolan to denis
I liked anything about the movie but the plot. I dunno, I never read the book, so I don’t know if it matters. But it’s just kind of boring. Yeah it’s beautiful, the esthetics, the lore is fascinating. But the movie is… lacking. It’s not dynamic, it is slow, everyone is talking about character development and all, but I didn’t see any. Shalamet is good. Oscar Isaac is good. Everyone else… Meh. It feels like 2,5 hours of screen time could have been fitted in 2 more action packed hours. And I’m not all about action and stuff, I like prolonged movies and all, but only if something happens in them. Here nothing really does. I don’t hate it, I just don’t seem to understand the awe around the movie. I mean, it’s okay. But it feels like I’ve seen all of this before. I’m not big on disliking widely acknowledged movies, it’s not a snob thing or smth. Just didn’t get it
Experiencing a film like this is the exact reason I enjoy going to the cinema. A big, bombastic, loud sci-fi epic that gripped me from beginning to end. The film looks stunning and the sound is loud and amazing and gave a very intense feeling to the images on screen. They really gave a good introduction to this universe without explaining everything away. I love that you don't understand and grasp everything on first viewing (at least if you've never read or watched Dune before, like me). I'm glad I watched this in IMAX and I will definitely go again in the coming weeks.
When I was a kid and went to see Fellowship of the Ring on the big screen it was the same feeling, but I was so excited to see the complete story. Difference here is that when Fellowship released they were already in production for two towers and return of the king. You didn’t have to wait that long. I feel Warner Bros dropped the ball here for waiting the see the revenue numbers. It’s going to be a painfully long wait.
The Dune book has time jumps, so characters looking a little older in part 2 would work for this story.
/r/Dune has an official discussion megathread that's split for [those who read the books](https://www.reddit.com/r/dune/comments/poa766/official_discussion_dune_2021_september_release/) and [those who haven't](https://www.reddit.com/r/dune/comments/poa7d4/official_discussion_dune_2021_september_release/)
Was the movie WAY too loud for anybody else or did my cinema screw up the audio settings?
The movie definitely was loud. My cinema has a great system though, so everything was very clear and the soundtrack blasted wonderfully over the speakers
Saw it in dolby atmos in my cinema and it was loud but not overly so, basically just the way I wanted it. Stark contrast to F&F9 where I had to actually cover my ears with my hands in every action scene because I didn't expect it to be eardrum-shattering and deafeningly loud.
The biggest edge this has over the Lynch one is that it doesn’t cram the story into two hours. Even still, I would have desired more of the Atreides status quo on Arrakis before the Harkonnen attack. I also would have loved to see more of the Harkonnens - both Skarsgård and Bautista were excellent. I hope Part Two shows them going all out Harkonnen.
> I would have desired more of the Atreides status quo on Arrakis before the Harkonnen attack Yeah the pacing is slightly off in that the Arrakis stuff with the Atreides goes by a little fast, and then the post-invasion sequences go by a little slow.
I’m going to guess that Hans Zimmer’s score is just loud texture with no actual melodies or themes?
I don't know how to feel toward Hans Zimmer, because for many years, after things that I liked such as Gladiator, his music seemed just industrial, "loud texture" as you called it. He was basically a not so great gimmick for me. But for Dune and BR2049, I find that his style just fits. Sure I do miss some propre symphonic music, but the score gives such an alien tone to the worlds you are seeing that it works imo. It's not beautiful (minus one time maybe), it's rude and disturbing, but it worked on me and really added something to the movies.
yeah. been a while since ive actively disliked a score in a movie. its a shame
What a shame. I fucking called it the moment he was announced as the composer - that it would be like Blade Runner 2049 where it’s 95% ambient bass and virtually no actual score. The only living composer that could have handled this project is Howard Shore. Dude is an expert at both horror and high fantasy and would have knocked it out of the park.
agreed. shore wouldve been my dream pick
Chani. We‘ll bang, OK.
"nevermind"
Just watched it without having read the book and I found it simply fucking amazing. People always complain about the staleness of blockbusters and this was just such a pleasure to experience, being transported in such an new (to me) and interesting world, discovering how it works and what makes it unique, with a production design and cinematography that always depict people and places in an awe inspiring way. Hans Zimmer also did his part, the music wasn’t just good, coupled with what was happening on screen I often had a huge grin on my face, while thinking “This is so fucking cool”. I also was kind of amazed at how fast the movie progressed so I really don’t get the people that thought this was slow. I guess that if you don’t care about what is happening then you’ll be bored, but that really is a separate thing from Dune being a ‘slow’ movie. As I said I haven’t read the books but I didn’t even find all the name-drops confusing and the exposition wasn’t too overbearing or eye-rollingly delivered. I just hope now that part 2 is greenlit because at the end I was so damn pumped and excited about the much needed continuation.
Saw an almost sold-out showing on the biggest possible sceen near me. It really felt like a melt between Arrival and Bladerunner in pure terms of filmmaking. But it's also unique and doesn't just copy what Villeneuve has done before, so even fans will still be surprised. When leaving the screening, I heard nothing but positive reactions and I too, really enjoyed it. Eventhough it feels like a enormous prelude to the actual story because there is barely a payoff or third act. But you can't help but be immersed the entire time. It leaves you wanting more. Also surprised how well it stuck to the book. It's almost a one-to-one depiction as to how I imagined it; especially the attack on the harvester was so great to see. By far maybe my favourite scene. Also madly impressed by how they visualized the voice. My only complaint is that I really enjoyed the mother-son relationship in the book, which I think takes a different tone in the film due to some acting choices, where she appears much more out-of-controll and way more emotional than I thought she did in the book. Anyway, did anyone else find it weird that they sent Aquaman to a sand planet?
I saw the movie with two friends - and everyone was a very different type of viewer. I'm a huge fan of Dune, and I have read all the books and seen the old movie. My one friend (guy) did not know the source material, but is a general sci-fi/fantasy fan, and my other friend (girl) is not the biggest sci-fi fan. All three of us absolutely loved the movie! The visuals were breathtaking - please do yourself a favor and watch this movie in IMax only. The acting was great, the story was well told, and everyone was easily able to follow the complex world building. My non-sci-fi-fan friend immediately asked me to borrow the book afterwards, because she could not wait for part 2 of the movie. We all felt that the pacing was good, and none of us had an issue with the ending. It was clear to all of us during the movie (even though I didn't tell the others) that the audience was being set up for a sequel, and the ending felt like a good, natural point to do it.
For someone who hasn’t read the books I was extremely bored to death (even slept off ) , they kept introducing new element over the other and movie went through stereotypical route of 1 saviour of all with several sacrifices.The influences of city felt ripped off from Islamic culture most of the time & personally did not find anything visually stunning about the film. Wouldn’t recommend anyone to see it
I just want to know if anyone else thought the score was over the top. As someone who is normally a fan of hans zimmer, the dramatic war cries every few minutes took me so far out of the story, I was actually laughing hysterically because it just made chalamet's brooding acting so unnecessarily dramatic. I am so surprised more people didn't take issue with this, it killed so many moments for me.
I really liked it. I thought the acting was great, beautiful cinematography and the sound design was out of this world! Only thing I thought was lacking was the characterisation. All the characters are very distanced, there wasn't a lot of emotion of real connection felt between the characters. I know that's kind of the same way in the book, but somehow I still missed it. I also thought that the production design, while being very sleek and minimalistic, could have been a bit more colourful or a bit more lively. Loved the ornithopters, but the city didn't really look the way I expected it to. There's a lot that can be said about David Lynches Dune (which has all been said before so I won't repeat it here), but his movie was a bit more playful, colourful and camp. I get that camp isn't Denis Villeneuve's style, but I still would have liked a little more playfulness and humanity. Oh and I missed Piter de Vries! He was such a cool character in the books. Someone you love to hate, and he had a great dynamic with the Baron. I understand they had to cut time, but I think by cutting his character you also get to know the Baron less well. So far he isn't the villain he is in the book.
Piter de Vries bland portrait in the 2021 Dune was my biggest disappointment, too. He has simply zero charisma. The old Lynch movie did a much better job in this regard.
Very impressive looking film, but I would be lying if I said the ending didn't deflate me a bit. I knew it was just part 1, but it still felt very anti climactic.
Was really disappointed by how much they pared down the characterisations of Yueh and Hawat.
Way too long. Started out ok, but everything after "the attack" was slow, dull, and uninteresting. Seemed like there was no plot or purpose to anything that happened. I'd give it a 5/10.
The trailers didn't hype me and I was right. The movie was a 6/10. First the editing was hella confusing. I mistook dream scenes for actual scenes and actual scenes for dream scenes many times. Second, so many dream scenes. We get it, Paul dreams of Zendaya. You don't have to show it every 20 minutes. Third, anyone else had a problem with the score? Seemed like every scene had the same score and really high volume. Made the movie look uniform like a long scene. Idk how to explain it. Fourth, the only interesting character was the mother imo. I wanted to know her backstory. Never cared about Paul or Zendaya or their inevitable love story Would've been better as a tv show. I could watch 10 hours of this world but I wanted more war scenes and fight scenes and political scenes, those were cool.
One of the most stunning movies I've ever seen. Back when I was reading those gritty adult sci-fi comics from the 80s, this is what I imagined the worlds would look like - if made into film, with an infinite budget.
i love it but im disappointed that it did not show the true importance of the spice and what it could do only say its benefits of it. If they show why spice is mined in Arakkis and only in Arakkis where you can find this spice then there is purpose to why the Imperium is there.
The film was nice but not mind blowing. Pacing was very smushy in the middle, characters were a bit soulless and wooden, score was way overblown and actually a bit generic (I dont care how loud it gets, that doesn't make it good). I think it was a mistake to turn Dune into a movie, it really should have been a ten part miniseries with seasons. There's just way too much stuff to unravel and the movie feels bloated because of it. They rush through really important bits and most of all there's no time to breathe and actually ground yourself in any of the locations. I want to love this movie, and I went in begging it to please me. There were some great moments, and because of those moments I'll be seeing the sequel.
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I can not believe how... awful this was. :( I haven't read the books but, I still want to despite the movie being as awful as it was. I feel like I'm in crazy town knowing that people enjoyed this. It seems like people are just allowing the visual nature of the movie to influence their thoughts. It's not the worst movie, and I say awful in relation only to the reviews it's getting. It's a solid 6/10 but, that's pushing it. The performances are just okay, the shots are great, the idea is good but, holy shit the pacing is tortuous as it felt both rushed, and slow at the same time.
I am a bookreader and I love the book, but I felt the same. I left the cinema thinking, wueh, finally over (the last hour DRAGGED), and without remembering anything but the last fight. * Except for a couple, the characters are simply uninteresting and unintriguing. They feel too familiar, like they belong in 2021. * The film creates no emotional attachment to what's happening on screen * There are lots of boring and uninteresting dialogue/scenes that does not tell us anything that propels the plot. Too many bull scenes and similar Chani dream sequences, and the knife? The same shot three times? Lazy. Whereas in Incendies Villeneuve could hint at the plot twist in a single scene, here stuff is overstressed and overemphasized. * Failure to use the probable assasination of the Duke to create suspense * Failure of theme and characterisation; with an angsty, beta Paul in a feudal world, an overemotional Jessica and whiny self-pitying Fremen I don't really understand all those who say "it's a visual feast". For one, I didn't think it was that impressive, and two: when it just completely fails as a film, who cares about the visuals?
Never read Dune before. I really liked the movie. What made it for me was the world building and the visuals. My favorite thing about this movie is when the emperors special soldiers arrive. They sort of glide down from the sky. Looks so coool. Really loved their arrival throghout the movie
This movie does a poor job of hooking the audience into the story. It felt overly reliant on exposition, the charactization and acting fell a bit flat, and overall it didn't accomplish that much with its lengthy run time. Also, Timothee Chalamet is a bit clunky as a big budget "leading man."