Movie Dune

Remove this Banner Ad

crafty_bernardo said:
Denis Villeneuve is the best director of our generation.
Click to expand...
I've been saying it for the past few years, the guy makes flawless films.

I knew Star Wars was in trouble when they announced JJ Abrams as the director of the first film, just as much as I knew Dune would be amazing when they announced DV as the director.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Chief said:
Important question: when is the best time for a toilet break?
Click to expand...
I lasted till about 1 hour in when ...
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen has a Gladiator like scene where he dispatches a few Atreides prisoners. Then goes into a hand in box bene gesserit scene thing, which I missed.
That first part probabaly gives you several minutes and probably one of the less siginificant scenes of the movie.
Oh ... SUPERB MOVIE !
 
Pretty nearly flawless execution.

Maybe the tighter story of Part One has me rating that a little higher, but there isn't anything in Part Two that didn't really work for me. Keen to see them both back to back.

Timmy rose to the occasion. Dunno if you could cast again that he's the automatic first pick to play Paul, but he's done a good job with it.

And shoutout Javier Barden for being just an absolute lad throughout. Needed that.

Your turn George Miller.
 
GrommoT said:
I lasted till about 1 hour in when ...
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen has a Gladiator like scene where he dispatches a few Atreides prisoners. Then goes into a hand in box bene gesserit scene thing, which I missed.
That first part probabaly gives you several minutes and probably one of the less siginificant scenes of the movie.
Oh ... SUPERB MOVIE !
Click to expand...
What? That's one of the best scenes of the film.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Chief said:
Important question: when is the best time for a toilet break?
Click to expand...
Cinemas in Switzerland stop all movies half way through for an intermission. Tripped me out the first time I went to see one here, I thought there was an evacuation or something going on.

I saw Part 2 in IMAX tonight. It seems like I might be in the minority but I think I preferred part one. Don't get me wrong, it's a great film. I just think for me at times the story seemed to jump around without any flow, and some characters such as Feyd-Rautha and the emperor were under-utilised and not really fleshed out. Characters also seemed to change personality almost completely from one scene to the next. I also am not much of a Zendaya fan, I think character wise Chani was a bit of a weak link. She doesn't sell it to me as being much of a warrior, she looked like a child at times to be honest. Maybe the costumes just looked a bit big on her. Anyway, very minor argument as on the whole I really enjoyed it.
7.5/10.

Also, Hans Zimmer is a genius.
 
HugeJohnson said:
I just think for me at times the story seemed to jump around without any flow, and some characters such as Feyd-Rautha and the emperor were under-utilised and not really fleshed out.
Click to expand...

Probably why Jordowoski version was slatted to be a 14 hour epic.

Compromises had to made for a movie adaptation. If it was a TV series, then the time would have been made to develop all the characters featured in the book.

Doctor Wellington Yueh, Piter De Vries, Thufir Hawat were all underdone in Part 1. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was used sparingly.
 
ibd77 said:
Probably why Jordowoski version was slatted to be a 14 hour epic.

Compromises had to made for a movie adaptation. If it was a TV series, then the time would have been made to develop all the characters featured in the book.

Doctor Wellington Yueh, Piter De Vries, Thufir Hawat were all underdone in Part 1. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was used sparingly.
Click to expand...
The fairest critcism i've seen is how underplayed Liet Kynes and the Arrakis restoration movement is. They basically completely ignored it to make the story simpler but it does tend towards it being more of your classic prophesized hero story leading under-autonomous followers without that element of the story.
 
ibd77 said:
Keep in mind that this universe inspired the creation of Star Wars and Game of Thrones.
Click to expand...
Kinda amazing really its influence you can see in quite a few absolute pillars of genre IP that came after. SW and GoT as you said, I'd even say Avatar and Matrix too.

Got my IMAX ticket but not seeing it till end of March unfortunately. Still, will be worth the wait, Villeneuve absolutely crushing it lately.
 
ibd77 said:
Probably why Jordowoski version was slatted to be a 14 hour epic.

Compromises had to made for a movie adaptation. If it was a TV series, then the time would have been made to develop all the characters featured in the book.

Doctor Wellington Yueh, Piter De Vries, Thufir Hawat were all underdone in Part 1. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was used sparingly.
Click to expand...

Thufir Hawat appears in the first movie for about five minutes and there's half a second of him in the second movie. The reduction in his on-screen role is my biggest bugbear with Villeneuve's adaptation of the book, since Hawat is a major character in the book, in the sense that he is Duke Leto's most trusted and experienced adviser and also is subverted into serving the Baron after the death of Piter de Vries.

I was also not a fan of the change in the role that Chani played in the film compared to the book. Zendaya is a competent actor but wasn't given a great deal to work with by Villeneuve, compared to how Herbert made her character central to the rise of Paul-Maud'Dib. Perhaps Villeneuve thought that the recognition that the male leaders were in love with their concubines not their wives (remember that Jessica was never married to Leto and Paul married Irulan for political purposes, i.e., to consolidate his grip on the throne). Chani's decision to turn her back on Paul because he wanted to marry Irulan in the film is just very difficult to accept.

Also, was not a fan of Villeneuve's decision to split the Fremen into fanatics and atheists. In the book, the Fremen are all united by the vision of Pardot Kynes and his son Liet Kynes into turning Dune into a paradise of a planet and they all accept the work of the Missionaria Protectiva, but we had this somewhat silly subplot of Jessica scheming to turn the non-believers into fanatics notwithstanding Paul's initial misapprehension about embracing his prescient dreams. Yes, in the novel, Paul does have misapprehensions in the fashion depicted in the film, but it is resolved differently.

I was waiting for the reveal that Chani is Liet Kynes' daughter, but I don't recall it happening in the first part and certainly didn't happen in the second part. As a minor quibble, fairly certain that in the novel, Chani was not a Fedaykin, let alone its leader. She certainly did not abandon (or threaten to abandon) Paul in the novel.

Thirdly, I was not enamoured with the decision by Villeneuve to have the remaining Great Houses so quickly reject the message sent by Gurney on behalf of Paul. I suspect it's to set up the potential third Dune movie that is supposedly in the works, but it also renders somewhat pointless Paul's decision to marry Irulan in the first place.

I can also understand the reasons why Villeneuve decided not to show Alia beyond a fetus. In the novel, however, Alia is the Atreides who kills the Baron, not Paul, which then becomes ironic since in a sequel (Children of Dune, from recollection), Alia is then possessed by the memory of the Baron.

It was interesting that Lady Margot Fenring made an appearance and we got the scene where she seduces Feyd-Rautha, but we did not see Count Hasimir Fenring (who is a failed Kwisatz Haderach).

I watched the movie in Gold Class on the weekend. Enjoyed it. It didn't feel too long and there was plenty of action to keep the casual fan entertained. Really enjoyed Javier Bardem as Stilgar. He stole the show every time he was on the screen. I also thought Timothee Chalamat portrayed Paul very well. Would have liked to have seen more of the Emperor, but the scenes on Giedi Prime were fantastic, with the infrared sun making it a very stark environment and the fireworks being more implosions than explosions.
 
Do not click on this link if you have not seen the movies, but it contains speculation about where Villeneuve may take the potential third Dune film and addresses some of the points I have listed in my spoilers-protected comment.

www.denofgeek.com

Dune 3: What Happens Next in Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah

Denis Villeneuve has big plans for the next adaptation of Frank Herbert's work, laying the seeds of Dune Messiah in Dune: Part Two.
www.denofgeek.com www.denofgeek.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top