Movies: Dune: Part Two

[x Tame Impala]

Recently re-watched the first movie and have 10x more appreciation for it. I've seen it a few times already but having now seen part 2 twice, part 1 is a lot more enthralling.

So I actually saw the movie. Liked it but I kind of want to go into some of my thoughts as a guy who loves the books, likes the Lynch version, and wanted to drill down on what this hits and misses with the source material (on it's own merits the movie is great, but as an adaptation there are some stuff which I would call missed opportunities or just decisions that I kind of wish went the other way).

Spoiler

So I think DV's Dune is... afraid? unwilling? isn't interested in? the absolute batshit weirdness of the Dune saga. It's a series where the son of a prescient emperor decides to become a gigantic, nigh-immortal worm to guide humanity into the future. It's a series where the ultimate main character is a guy who dies off screen in the first book but keeps coming back as a clone who continues to die in more and more interesting ways over thousands of years, and defeats the plots of the Bene Gesserit (or their eventual offshoot) by being really good at sex. Despite playing with *some* weirdness, DV's Dune feels way too normal.

Okay he made Geidi Prime and the Harkonnens stylized in interesting ways, and I think he played really well with the visuals of the film. And I don't hate his solution to Alia. But the spice - so central to the books - feels like it could be replaced with unobtanium pretty easily. The lack of the Spacing Guild at the end, using their limited ability to see the future and realize how bent over the barrel Paul had them makes me sad. The lack of digging into just how f***ing weird Mentats are (and that Paul was trained as a Mentat). And the lack of the weirding way.

DV's movie is really good, and it's a consistent vision and honestly getting that budget probably depended on making some trade offs on the weird shit. But I love the weird shit. The weird shit is the best part of Lynch's incredibly flawed adaptation. Honestly the best part of the Dune series is describing the batshit plot to other people when they ask what it's about. And a lot of that is missing and it makes me a little sad.

From someone who hasn't read the books and has only seen Villenueve's films, I'm not sure getting any more weird would translate to a huge audience. There's already so much to keep track of and learn.

 

[The Macho King]

Recently re-watched the first movie and have 10x more appreciation for it. I've seen it a few times already but having now seen part 2 twice, part 1 is a lot more enthralling.



From someone who hasn't read the books and has only seen Villenueve's films, I'm not sure getting any more weird would translate to a huge audience. There's already so much to keep track of and learn.

I get it. Like I said I really liked the film we got. I just long for the adaptation of Dune that exists in the ether that completely embraces the weirdness.

 

[Osprey]

I get it. Like I said I really liked the film we got. I just long for the adaptation of Dune that exists in the ether that completely embraces the weirdness.

Like Alejandro Jodorowsky's planned version?

 

[HanSolo]

Surprised no one bumped this. I have my doubts on the possibility of doing a good adaptation of Messiah, but I also had doubts about doing a good adaptation of Dune, so...

edit: X embeds are so inconsistent. Dune Messiah has entered initial production

 

[Osprey]

edit: X embeds are so inconsistent.

Embedding won't work with X/Twitter if you use the "Insert link" button. You need to paste the URL into your post (remembering to changing "x.com" to "twitter.com" first) and the board will do the rest. You can fix your post by editing out the URL tags around the link.

 

[sdf]

Dulle

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Dulle

Forget Siskel and Ebert, everybody, a new master of reviewing movies has taken the stage.

 

[Hasbro]

I thought this was the Fremen Walk.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Recently re-watched the first movie and have 10x more appreciation for it. I've seen it a few times already but having now seen part 2 twice, part 1 is a lot more enthralling.



From someone who hasn't read the books and has only seen Villenueve's films, I'm not sure getting any more weird would translate to a huge audience. There's already so much to keep track of and learn.

Yes.I have not read the books and I came to the conclusion that the spectator/wide audience are bombarded about heritage, characters, politics, faction, religion, war, love, world building and even vengeance If you add all the weirdiness you would only grasp the attention of the hardcore fanbase and lose everybody else. Only way you could manage to do that would be in a TV series with low budget as the hardcore dune fanbase is not really like marvel or starwars in term of numbers over many seasons.

Overall, I would say be happy that the studios accepted to do 3 movies out of it because even with all the positive reviews it is not a massive blockbuster success.

 

[Cas]

Yes.I have not read the books and I came to the conclusion that the spectator/wide audience are bombarded about heritage, characters, politics, faction, religion, war, love, world building and even vengeance If you add all the weirdiness you would only grasp the attention of the hardcore fanbase and lose everybody else. Only way you could manage to do that would be in a TV series with low budget as the hardcore dune fanbase is not really like marvel or starwars in term of numbers over many seasons.

Dune is my favorite novel, and a formative influence in my life, and I agree entirely. The plot and the key characterization is already long enough - we don't need to focus on all sorts of things that are only critical when you add in all of the details, just hyperfocus on the main plot.

 

[Bounces R Way]

 

[The Macho King]

Overall, I would say be happy that the studios accepted to do 3 movies out of it because even with all the positive reviews it is not a massive blockbuster success.

700 million for a 3 hour movie that plays a little with philosophy and politics... That has to be a massive success. Like I'm sure there's some Hollywood accounting that says "it doesn't make a profit until it clears 500 million" or whatever but the chances of that not being total bullshit is approximately 0.01%. Hell they're probably factoring in the bath they had to take on the first film releasing during Covid in their profitability figures.

Anyway if they don't do all the way to God Emperor they're f***ing cowards.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

700 million for a 3 hour movie that plays a little with philosophy and politics... That has to be a massive success. Like I'm sure there's some Hollywood accounting that says "it doesn't make a profit until it clears 500 million" or whatever but the chances of that not being total bullshit is approximately 0.01%. Hell they're probably factoring in the bath they had to take on the first film releasing during Covid in their profitability figures.

Anyway if they don't do all the way to God Emperor they're f***ing cowards.

You see it now, but they had to finance these movies. There is always a risk to lose it all.

Look at other movies this year, Argylle, Madame Web, they lost so much money.

There was a huge risk with Dune especially to finance two part. I believe, in the end, they chose the right director for it.

 

[quickeyg]

Dune Part 1 and Dune Part 2 I attended at the cinema - not complaining one bit. They didn't check my bag for the sparkling water hehehe (Super saver) Looking forward to Dune Part 3: Messiah.

Also, I think the director Denis is under pressure to deliver (He has delivered)

 

[S E P H]

I finished this over the weekend and it is a beast of a movie, I've liked both parts so much I actually went out and bought the O.G. novel. I don't think I have any plans to read more of the series because 20+ sequel sci-fi/fantasy series books are not my cup of tea (I cannot watch or read any of the House of Thrones stuff as well), but as a stand-alone book, I am really looking forward to it as I did with Ender's Game. Surprised that they decided to make a third one, but hey, I am all for it! My only concern though is that I have not seen either in the theatres, which is what I want to do, but not for a close to 3-hour movie, so hopefully, Messiah will not be as long as this one was.

 

[Osprey]

I finished this over the weekend and it is a beast of a movie, I've liked both parts so much I actually went out and bought the O.G. novel. I don't think I have any plans to read more of the series because 20+ sequel sci-fi/fantasy series books are not my cup of tea (I cannot watch or read any of the House of Thrones stuff as well), but as a stand-alone book, I am really looking forward to it as I did with Ender's Game. Surprised that they decided to make a third one, but hey, I am all for it! My only concern though is that I have not seen either in the theatres, which is what I want to do, but not for a close to 3-hour movie, so hopefully, Messiah will not be as long as this one was.

FWIW, there are only 5 sequels, all written by the original author. Then, there are 18 prequels written by his son. I'd say that most fans consider the Dune series to be the original 6 books. If you like the first book, you might consider reading at least the next, Dune: Messiah, since it might be getting adapted, and then maybe stop or take it one book at a time until you lose interest.

 

[S E P H]

FWIW, there are only 5 sequels, all written by the original author. Then, there are 18 prequels written by his son. I'd say that most fans consider the Dune series to be the original 6 books. If you like the first book, you might consider reading at least the next, Dune: Messiah, since it might be getting adapted, and then maybe stop or take it one book at a time until you lose interest.

Oh I totally will! I am open to reading more than one book in the series if it is great and continues the storyline properly. Some of the past sci-fi/fantasy books I have read though have not really convinced me to want to read more. These include LOTR, Hyperion, The Hunger Games, and Ender's Game. Not that I hated any of the movies, but I tried to read The Silmarillion and Fellowship after reading The Hobbit, but it was impossible as it is so hard to follow the characters in these books. Likewise, with Ender's Game, I felt that I got the jist of everything after reading that standalone novel and I wasn't too interested nor cared about the alien war after reading that one (bloody good book though).