I didn't love it. Didn't hate it. Ultimately I think it was too mainstream a movie for how deeply weird the source material is?
(I think Dune adaptations either need to be this-was-written-in-the-60s-probably-while-on-drugs bonkers or lean a lot harder into the political allegory in order to be satisfying. Either I want to see what the director thinks a Guild Navigator looks like* or I want to be hit over the head with how the word "Arrakis" sounds an awful lot like the word "Iraq." And this movie just gave me, like, the plot of the book with the sexism and politics toned down in a pretty half-assed way.)
(I also am concerned that Chalomet will not be able to
pull off Paul 2.0 in the sequel. At the point this movie ends, Paul's journey is mostly following his mom around while people say "Are you absolutely sure this naive teenager with the gorgeous eyelashes is the Messiah? Like...really?" but almost as soon as the next movie begins he's going to need to start giving off "I am destined to rule the universe" vibes.
)
*And it's not like Villeneuve is new to showing audiences mysterious creatures who live in tanks and can see through time and space so WHAT THE HELL DIRECTOR OF ARRIVAL WHERE IS MY GUILD NAVIGATOR.
I am concerned about that, too, but I’m interested to see how it goes. I never really pictured Paul as such a fluffy bunny but I kinda like the effect so far.
I am assuming, I guess, that this movie is easing us into the universe and the next one will get much weirder. We’ll see.
Two specific things did disappoint me.
I have always been fascinated by the
arrhythmic walking since I first read the book decades ago and the little bit we got to see was not at all satisfying (although referring to the "bookfilm" (or filmbook or whatever) did make me think "oh, yeah, Herbert did use terms like that"
and smile.
I kept waiting, in
the last fight, for the moment when Paul realized he had to abandon his fighting-with-shields training and it never happened. The fight scenes in general I didn't love and I can't put my finger on why. They weren't quite impossible to follow the way they can be but they weren't beautiful and expressing character the way I really like my fight scenes to be, but maybe that is asking too much?
Mm, have thought of a couple more. When we meet
Shadout Mapes I recognized the name enough to think, oh, this should be good and then we didn't get much of her before she dies so that didn't seem right
and I didn't love the spice visions
But really, "I didn't hate it" feels like a real win at this point?
I'm pretty sure I also remember that fight
being naked in the book. Something something when-its-a-ritual-fight-to-the-death-we-let-our-bodys-water-just-sweat-into-the-sand something something. Or maybe just "without stillsuits". Whatever. MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR NAKED HAND TO HAND FIGHTING, VILLENEUVE.
OH AND
given the way the last two years of real life have gone, I was mentally shouting at all the Fremen to put their fucking masks on!! I get that in a movie it's nice to see actors' faces but it was driving me maaaaaaad.
RIGHT?!?
I had forgotten that about the fight but now that you say it, yes, that sounds right. Missed opportunity for sure!
Haven't seen the latest
Dune
movie.
Are you talking about
the fight with Jamis
?
If so, quick look-up:
Jamis: "...clad in loincloth and some tight fabric over his feet...."
Paul: "...clad in the fighting trunks he'd worn under his stilsuit."
fyi, Esquire has a generally favorable article about Dune ... illustrated, for some reason, by clips from the David Lynch version
That is the review I needed see, if only for the plot summaries
My boss, who saw Dune over the weekend (and liked it) said that he'd heard the second part had been OK'd.
