Yeah, that's kind of along my same thinking. Makes sense.

Duncan Idaho said:

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A few gripes.
1) I didn't feel like they made it clear enough that Jessica was his concubine. I know he said "I should have married you" but I felt like that was too late.
Does that really have any impact on the story, though?How would that have affected the movie in any significant way?
2)also didn't like the line about "I hardly know, its only been a few weeks. As a BG she would know the second she was pregnant because she would have allowed the pregnancy to occur.
It's just a quick, organic, shorthand way of reminding the audience that Paul is special.
3)the worm rider wasn't at the same level as everything else.


Things I loved.
1)Casting was absolutely perfect. No one was off. I mean it was perfect.
2)world building was absolutely perfect. The 'thopters amazing. The sheilds, the architecture, everything.
3)the Sardaukar were better than the book.

Other thoughts
1)the reverend mother's in the rain reminded me too much of those inflatable T-Rex costumes.
2)wanted more of the down time at Arrakeen
3)not sure how I felt about the Tleilaxu spider thing.
Watch Villeneuve's first "mainstream" movie, Enemy. Dude has a thing for big spiders.

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Red Five said:

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I originally was planning to just watch it at home, but decided to do it up right and saw it on IMAX. Incredible audio/visual experience I thought. I don't know that, having seen it in that format, I can imagine streaming this movie. That was an amazing experience.

I agree with a lot of the points people have made, but the main thing for me is that I desperately did not want this movie to end. I could have sat through another 3 hours of this easily.

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They were gripes.not complaints.

The concubine thing adds to Leto's character. It adds to the fact that he isn't like other royalty. He never married for power or position. But he gave his illegitimate child his title and birthright.

The pregnancy thing takes away some of the power/mysticism of the BG. I just would have preferred her say "how can you know that? I am only weeks along"

That's pretty cool, re: the birthright thing.

Max Power said:

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Watched tonight and it was great, does not disappoint. I couldn't believe the movie was 2.5 hours, it flew by. There are some divergences but it's way more faithful to the book than Lynch's.

I'd say casting was close to perfect. I was suspect of Chalamet, but I thought he did a great job. Momoa was straight up awesome as Duncan Idaho. Rebecca Ferguson is in the argument for most beautiful woman on the planet, I lose focus when she's on screen. Sarsgaard is a presence as the baron, totally takes over any scene he's in.

They nailed the aesthetics. Visually stunning, sound, and score all work together. The only reason it's not up with Blade Runner 2049 and Mad Max Fury Road is that it's too dark, at least it was in my theater. Perhaps others had a different experience but it was too dim IMO, wish it was brighter and clearer.

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Right there with you on every front.

Re: the dim picture, the one thing HBO Max has over the theater is the brightness. The default version of the movie does indeed seem to be quite a bit brighter than the the projected version.

Loved it. What a gorgeous movie.

I barely know implied she hasn't known for very long, that's how I took it.

What Duncan Idaho said above was spot on for me.

Best casting I've seen in a long time.

Movie was a little dark in some places. Don't know if it was my theatre or just dark scenes. My theatre was way too loud. I like big sound, but it gave me a pounding headache.

Unorthodox score which I really liked. I got a Planet of the Apes vibe throughout.

I've read the books several times. Movie is close enough to make fan boys happy. Movie abandons the last half of the book. I guess it will be part of Dune 2. I was worried they were going to try and wrap up everything in a rushed final 15 minutes.

This is definitely something you'll want to see on big screen.

Really good movie overall.

I'm not a fan of the script for the Baron. All other adaptations have him as a mastermind. "Plans within plans". He is trying to unseat the emperor...and his plan nearly works. The vendetta against atreides was just icing on the cake.

I don't see how anything in this movie negates that, or stops it from happening in the next movie.

birdman said:

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I've read the books several times. Movie is close enough to make fan boys happy. Movie abandons the last half of the book. I guess it will be part of Dune 2. I was worried they were going to try and wrap up everything in a rushed final 15 minutes.

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This was always planned as part 1 of a 2 films covering the 1st book.

wangus12 said:

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birdman said:

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I've read the books several times. Movie is close enough to make fan boys happy. Movie abandons the last half of the book. I guess it will be part of Dune 2. I was worried they were going to try and wrap up everything in a rushed final 15 minutes.

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This was always planned as part 1 of a 2 films covering the 1st book.

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I didn't realize it. I basically went in cold on purpose.

Did they film them all at once like LOTR?

Unfortunately no. I'm not sure why either. Sounds like WB is waiting on this one's performance before greenlighting part 2. TC sounds optimistic that it'll happen and the director and cast seem to be pushing for it

AliasMan02 said:

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Something I figured wouldn't be in the movie, which it wasn't, is the dinner party in Arakeen. It's maybe my favorite scene in the book. The movie was already risking being too talky for general audiences so I get why they didn't include it, but I would love to see that cast go at it in the supercharged political battle. The politics in Dune makes Game of Thrones look like Mister Rogers and it's a shame this format doesn't really allow for that. Dune would be an incredible HBO series.

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I wouldn't go that far; politics in both are like a character unto itself. Dune's politics are definitely foreign and uber complex - they need to be explained but are always lurking in every decision. It's obvious Frank borrowed from many cultures to develop the world and politics and gummed them all together in a exotic but plausible future of mankind. (Scientifically and politically, perhaps not spiritually with the sci-fi stuff like the QH and Weirding way)

GoT politics is intricate but also more in your face and understood; deriving from medieval concepts with which most are familiar.

Quote:

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the box scene was amazing. It really showed TC's talent.

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Agreed. The original movie was cliched, showing a burning hand image as to what Paul was experiencing. In this far superior scene, they leave it up to the viewer to determine exactly what Paul is going through.

Just watched it on HBO Max and it was greatness. The whole thing was visually a treat, from the thopters to the great interpretation of shield technology (the blue/red glow let you follow exactly what was happening, but didn't seem to cheesy or video game-y). It may have just been my imagination, but I also liked how the design of the Guild heighliners that took them to Arrakis presaged the imagery of the sandworms. I don't think they really nailed the blue-in-blue eyes effect; it should've been darker, but I expect that (kind of like them not always wearing their masks in the desert) was a stylistic choice to allow the audience to better see the characters' features. I also thought I caught a couple of instances where some of the Fremen characters didn't have that effect, but that could've been my imagination.

The action scenes were great - they moved quickly, but you could (thanks in part to the shield design) tell what was happening. Even in the non-shield fights, they didn't fall victim to shaky cam-itis. The Jamis fight specifically was great. Told a great story within the fight, and not choreographed so much they looked like they were dancing.

The casting was almost uniformly perfect across the board. Chalamet was a great Paul, and Oscar Isaacs did an excellent job as Leto. If I had to nitpick, it's that they didn't give David Dastmalchian enough to do as Piter de Vries; the Piter in the Lynch film was able to get across better how twisted the character actually is. I did really like how they visualized Mentat calculations with the eyes rolling back, and they nailed the look of Thufir Hawat. Javier Bardem didn't have a lot of scenes as Stilgar, but he made the most of them (though his voice oddly reminded me of Peter Stormare, almost to the point of distraction).

The only casting choice that didn't really work for me was Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Liet Kynes. I didn't mind the gender or race swap, which doesn't really change the character, but, much more than any of the other speaking characters, she seemed like she was reading lines rather than playing a character.

Saw it IMAX. Loved it. Just wish theater was more full. I am nervous they don't make the 2nd one.

Took me a bit to get used to how they pronounced Harkonnen. That just me? I had always pronounced it differently in my head. I forget how they pronounced it in Lynch's version.

Hopefully this gets greenlit to cover the whole series...as an artistic gift to humanity if not for anything else.

I just rewatched the first trailer, and it's interesting that none of the dialogue between Paul and Gaius Mohiam, from :50 to 1:20, made into the final cut of the movie. It feels like this dialogue not only could have helped just a tiny bit, but also maybe even hints at a cut scene or two on Caladan? (For the record, Villeneuve says there is no director's cut. This is it.)

MOHAIM
You have proven that you can rule yourself. Now you must learn to rule others. Something none of your ancestors learned.

PAUL
My father rules an entire planet.

MOHAIM
He's losing it.

PAUL
He's getting a richer one.

MOHAIM
He'll lose that one too.
(then)
Arrakis is a death trap.

Claude! said:

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Just watched it on HBO Max and it was greatness. The whole thing was visually a treat, from the thopters to the great interpretation of shield technology (the blue/red glow let you follow exactly what was happening, but didn't seem to cheesy or video game-y). It may have just been my imagination, but I also liked how the design of the Guild heighliners that took them to Arrakis presaged the imagery of the sandworms. I don't think they really nailed the blue-in-blue eyes effect; it should've been darker, but I expect that (kind of like them not always wearing their masks in the desert) was a stylistic choice to allow the audience to better see the characters' features. I also thought I caught a couple of instances where some of the Fremen characters didn't have that effect, but that could've been my imagination.

The action scenes were great - they moved quickly, but you could (thanks in part to the shield design) tell what was happening. Even in the non-shield fights, they didn't fall victim to shaky cam-itis. The Jamis fight specifically was great. Told a great story within the fight, and not choreographed so much they looked like they were dancing.

The casting was almost uniformly perfect across the board. Chalamet was a great Paul, and Oscar Isaacs did an excellent job as Leto. If I had to nitpick, it's that they didn't give David Dastmalchian enough to do as Piter de Vries; the Piter in the Lynch film was able to get across better how twisted the character actually is. I did really like how they visualized Mentat calculations with the eyes rolling back, and they nailed the look of Thufir Hawat. Javier Bardem didn't have a lot of scenes as Stilgar, but he made the most of them (though his voice oddly reminded me of Peter Stormare, almost to the point of distraction).

The only casting choice that didn't really work for me was Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Liet Kynes. I didn't mind the gender or race swap, which doesn't really change the character, but, much more than any of the other speaking characters, she seemed like she was reading lines rather than playing a character.

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I actually thought she was good in the role.

I think something that is going to be difficult, that I didnt realize until I saw the movies, was all the Fremen (and anyone who has eyes that have gone full blue) are basically acting with one of their arms tied behind their back.

I had not really thought about how much emotion/intent can be portrayed with just your eyes in a scene.

Hopefully that makes sense

No director's cut, but is there a chance for an extended version like LOTR?