Saw it but got fecked over by my local cinema who played it on the smaller screen rather than the main screen (no idea wtf they were showing on that one). I think the visuals are a big part of its appeal, without that it fell pretty flat. None in our group of 4 gave it higher than a 7.
Film Dune
- Thread starter duffer
- Start date
It was good but I expected more after Villeneuve’s previous films. As a cinematic experience, Dune was a little too much in love with wide shots of Wadi Rum. As for the underlying story itself, while admittedly I have never read the book, I think the best sci fi makes you think about the human condition in a new light (like Blade Runner or Solaris). This film just seemed like standard hero quest with sledgehammer subtle parallels to the Americans in Iraq. Anyway, it was better than Lynch’s version and interesting enough to make me want to see the sequel.
Do you feel like you could name some things?
I’m wondering about the Villeneuve “super ultra mega thereisnoonewholovesdunemorerhani fan” self-proclamation and the “well then what does such a fan sacrifice/leave out” thing.
I felt like there was a lot of great stuff between them landing on Arrakis and the eventual attack. The welcome banquet, Thuffir suspecting Jessica, drunk Idaho, Jessica confronting Thuffir (would have been a great scene), almost everything with Yeuh, lots of Piter-Baron stuff, baliset, the role of mentats in general.
The Yeuh scenes were missed the most for me since we barely get to know him in the movie before his betrayal. But I get it's an impossible task fitting it all in.
The Yeuh scenes were missed the most for me since we barely get to know him in the movie before his betrayal. But I get it's an impossible task fitting it all in.
You should read the book, the reason why Dune and it's sequels are or where largely considered unfilmable is they are mostly about ideas and talking.
That is if half man/half worm hybrid god pontificating on life and the burden of leadership is your cup of tea.
Just watched it and totally agree with this opinion. Visuals and art design were fantastic. Solid 8/10 for me.
I wonder how that could be handled in a movie if they ever reach the fourth book.
Sounds like a heck of a lot of important stuff.
On the plus side, it’s probably going to be the mother (ha) of all director’s cuts.
This movie was excellent. They did a great job of getting a complex plot laid out in a manner that viewers can follow easily even if they didn't read the book. Pretty much every technical aspect of this film was top notch: the production design (sets, ships), casting, music, special FX, all of it was excellent. The only reason someone would not like this film is if the story just doesn't appeal to them, which they would know if they had read (or tried to read and stopped) the book(s). In terms of sci-fi for adults, it's almost unparalleled.
I was thrilled to see a film version that finally - at long last - gets the grandeur and scale and mythic qualities of the story right.
I was thrilled to see a film version that finally - at long last - gets the grandeur and scale and mythic qualities of the story right.
Seen this now (thanks to all the hype) and I speak as someone who had very little knowledge of the book or the previous film/TV adaptations.
Plus points: Overall, I thought it was great. Visually stunning as many have pointed out. It’s one of those films where literally every frame could be a beautiful painting.
Performances were all strong.
Minus points: I do think it was a bit slow at times in terms of the pacing and it could have been edited more. It just dragged a bit at times.
Also, I’m not sure about the casting of the lead. His performance was good but he looked so weedy, I couldn’t buy that he was the guy who’s supposed to save the universe (or that he was able to best much bigger people in hand to hand combat as much as he did). I know he’s supposed to be a kid but not every teen is built like a twiglet. Especially as we’re supposed to believe that this is a kid who has been trained since birth in body and mind. I’d be interested to know what the novel description of the character is like.
Another casting thing was his mother. She didn’t look old enough to be his mother.
The other negatives I had were nothing to do with the film itself really but more to do with the underlying story. I looked online about the book after seeing the film and I understand that Frank Herbert’s original inspiration was Lawrence of Arabia, which makes the novel and film kind of a ‘Lawrence of Arabia in Space’ type of thing. Which means that the ‘white saviour’ narrative of that story has been transplanted wholesale into this film. Which is annoying, I hate that trope. Says a lot about the film that I still liked it despite that aspect.
Plus points: Overall, I thought it was great. Visually stunning as many have pointed out. It’s one of those films where literally every frame could be a beautiful painting.
Performances were all strong.
Minus points: I do think it was a bit slow at times in terms of the pacing and it could have been edited more. It just dragged a bit at times.
Also, I’m not sure about the casting of the lead. His performance was good but he looked so weedy, I couldn’t buy that he was the guy who’s supposed to save the universe (or that he was able to best much bigger people in hand to hand combat as much as he did). I know he’s supposed to be a kid but not every teen is built like a twiglet. Especially as we’re supposed to believe that this is a kid who has been trained since birth in body and mind. I’d be interested to know what the novel description of the character is like.
Another casting thing was his mother. She didn’t look old enough to be his mother.
The other negatives I had were nothing to do with the film itself really but more to do with the underlying story. I looked online about the book after seeing the film and I understand that Frank Herbert’s original inspiration was Lawrence of Arabia, which makes the novel and film kind of a ‘Lawrence of Arabia in Space’ type of thing. Which means that the ‘white saviour’ narrative of that story has been transplanted wholesale into this film. Which is annoying, I hate that trope. Says a lot about the film that I still liked it despite that aspect.
(A) He's supposed to be on the verge of manhood. He's also been trained by the two greatest warriors in the known Imperium (Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck). The leader of the Sardaukar even mentions that the Atreides forces are the best fighting force there is (next to the Sardaukar, presumably). Paul has trained almost every day of his life in hand to hand combat. No telling how far the stories will go (there were 6 original books), but Paul needs to age about 10 years by the end of the first one, so the actor needed to look weedy in this one. That's one benefit of them not starting the next one until next year, the actors will all be 2 to 3 years older than they were in this one.
(B) The actress is 38, she's supposed to be the mother of a 15 year-old Paul at the beginning.
(C) Think of it more like oil beneath the sands of a bunch of nomadic desert tribes, and how the European powers carved up the territories for themselves. Herbert was also subverting that by having the Bene
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She's 38.
Ah ok. Well he doesn’t look 15 so that’s where the problem is re him and his mother. He looks like a skinny 20-something. In films they always cast people in their 20s to play teens and I don’t know why. Maybe because teens can’t generally act as well?
Even as someone who is supposed to be 15, I personally wouldn’t have cast this actor (though as I said, I think his acting was decent). There’s many teenagers that don’t look that weedy.
I get your point about it being an indictment of imperialism but at the end of the day it’s still a white guy saving the brown people. A true indictment of imperialism should always centre on one of the oppressed people being the hero IMO, rather than one of the oppressors.
I don’t want to get into it too much because I don’t want to spoil the story for whenever the next film comes out (which I will watch) but that’s what it looks like to me at the moment.
See above
Well, she’s only 13(?) years older than him in real life so your point is fine.
As for the white savior trope, that’s not necessarily what’s going on here. It Is difficult to talk about without spoilers like you said, so you’ll just have to trust me I guess. I know how it might look without more context, and you’re far from the only one to bring this up so it is completely understandable.
It was odd and kinda funny every time her name came up, lady Jessica.
I find this really surprising.
I thought Jessica to be the best bit of casting in the movie and easily plausible as Paul's mother.
Isn't it supposed to be a
corruption arc? I've seen people compare Paul's arc to that of Daenerys from got/asoiaf but I haven't read Dune myself so I can't fairly compare it
I'm going to be seeing it over the weekend and with the overwhelmingly positive reaction I've seen so far but some negative reactions here and from people I know I'm very curious how I'm gonna like it as someone who usually isn't a sci-fi fan.
I didn't mind the casting tbh. Just the name was very off-putting, Lady Jessica of Arakis. Also, the name Duncan Idaho.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that (just to be safe). I just wanted to comment on the trope so that people wouldn’t be dissuaded from enjoying the movie for the wrong reasons.
Enjoy the visuals, I have read the books and really enjoyed it. My wife and son have not but both enjoyed it and the plot. I reminded them the story payoff will really come in the second movie. They picked as good a place to end it considering there was no really good concluding part to stop the story. Having survived two horrible adaptions of the book, this one was much better, but the books would be impossible to get every detail. In many ways it is comparable to Lord of the Rings in that Jackson left parts of the books out, but he chose well what to leave out.
Fair enough.
Someone said it was a very long music video so I'm curious to see how that turns out. But good to know that "regular folks" also enjoyed it. And yea, you're always gonna have to leave stuff out and a screen has a very different way of telling a story than a book so you have to take that into account. I'm looking forward to it though as someone who generally isn't a movie-person this is one of the first movies in years that's made me wanna go see it in theatres. So we'll see how that goes when Sunday comes around and if I regret spending the 15 bucks or not :')
Thanks, I’ll get the rest of the story first and then maybe I’ll see it differently. Perhaps I’ll get round to reading the book as well, though sci-if novels are not especially my thing.
It is really a class struggle book that takes place on another planet. It is not a typical Sci Fi book.
Fantastic film, it's a proper cinematic experience, you have to see it on the big screen for that reason. Beautifully shot, alien in all the right places, great sound design, pacing was deliberate, and carried me along. I've read the book but a lot time ago and I can't see how anyone could have adapted it better. My wife who has very mainstream tastes and hasn't read the book, also loved it. It's a film you have to see if you like cinema.
Isn’t dune just a glorified version of the film tremors?
Every film is ultimately a glorified version of a Kevin Bacon film.
Loved the film. Been looking forward to it since I saw that Villeneuve was directing it. Loved the book and now never thought it could be properly reproduced in film, but I'm glad to be proven wrong. A few complexities are missing, but it's pretty accurate (that said, it's been a few years since I read it) and I can't wait for the next one.
It has been 30 years since I read the books, I gave up after the third book but the first was incredible. Hard to believe he wrote 15 books in the series. Friends that slogged through them said it got really bad. I am planning on buying the audiobook for the first book and listen to and from work.
They made the Atreides' security seem completely incompetent, rather than the Harkonnen seeming very clever/evil. Also the movie make it seem like they were destroyed about the second night after they arrived.
These were the two standout issues in an otherwise excellent adaptation. I'm hoping for an extended cut on blu-ray.
My main issue, which is only a slight one in a otherwise good adaption, is the first major showpiece action scene. Felt it was alittle rushed and the CGI looked abit naff at times during that sequence.
Question for the book readers.
I see there are 6 different Dune books by the author. But are they all part of one mega arc or some are offshoots/ prequels etc
(like 7 main Song of Ice and Fire books and 3/4 other books in that world by GRRM)
I see there are 6 different Dune books by the author. But are they all part of one mega arc or some are offshoots/ prequels etc
(like 7 main Song of Ice and Fire books and 3/4 other books in that world by GRRM)
You wouldn't need to keep reading all six to get to the end of it all like Song of Ice. I would say the first three are almost like a trilogy of their own. And if you enjoyed those you should read four, which is very different/divisive but worth a read. The last two aren't really worth it imo.
Oh you sweet summer child.
The north hopes...
dreams of winter