Dune

Exclusive: Dune 2 Has Been Given The Green Light (Giant Freaking Robot)

Let the boredom... continue!

Still need to watch this, despite the desire to read the book once again for the Nth time before.

I had way low expectations but was really amazed by this. The visuals and atmosphere fit the story so well, and it's mature and mystical. I'm excited for the next part and currently plowing through the book(s). 

via Twitter:

but anyway got tickets to see it tomorrow and not *hyped* but looking forward to it.

Dune was super fucking good, if you know the book.

for the average movie-goer, i could see some of them walking away feeling a bit empty/confused/unhappy/etc. it's only half the story (which is really only 1/3rd of the trilogy....which is really only half the full series ). and the story that's there isn't adequately weighted unless you're thinking well past the screen, or already familiar with the subtext/context/consequences/etc. honestly for the non-Dune (book) fans i'd suggest maybe reading a good summary of the book or watching some videos explaining the complexity of what's happening in the text before watching the film.

music and visuals were fucking great. i was okay with the dialogue and casting and acting, mostly good/really good choices. actress playing Rebecca did really well, but i wonder if they played up her vulnerability too much. not 100% sure about the editing...honestly it occasionally felt rushed (but that's probably mostly okay) and some of the plot points didn't land right because of the rushed first half-ish (Yueh in particular). they did a really surprising job of capturing the feelings of scale when it mattered, which was just great, but at times they lost sight of the smaller 'real life' stuff because of that. kinda bummed about a few things we didn't see but the second part is supposedly unofficially being given the greenlight so there'll be more to explore then i guess.

only real complaint is that it should've been a limited tv series instead. but the IMAX experience was surprisingly enjoyable so i'm not really complaining.

  On 10/24/2021 at 2:13 AM, auxien said:

Dune was super fucking good, if you know the book.

for the average movie-goer, i could see some of them walking away feeling a bit empty/confused/unhappy/etc. it's only half the story (which is really only 1/3rd of the trilogy....which is really only half the full series ). and the story that's there isn't adequately weighted unless you're thinking well past the screen, or already familiar with the subtext/context/consequences/etc. honestly for the non-Dune (book) fans i'd suggest maybe reading a good summary of the book or watching some videos explaining the complexity of what's happening in the text before watching the film.

As someone who has never read or seen Dune 1984, I think it was pretty straightforward. The movie had that energy the first Matrix film has where each scene just flows naturally into the next scene all the way to the end of the movie with no boring scenes at all.... well the end of the movie in that sandstorm I did start feeling a tiny bit bored due to the way the scenes were shot. And the callback felt forced there (just let yourself become one with the storm or whatever bit), but besides that film was solid.

That said, it still felt as if it only covered the first third of the book (guessing here). It feels like we aren't far into the story at all. It feels like the end of act 1 of the three act structure where the 'hero' is just now starting his journey to get buff enough in act two before coming back to beat the villain in act 3 with his muscles. I assumed there were going to be three movie, and was surprised to see the next one will have covered the first book.

Oh. WTF was the black liquid the House Harkonnen dude was swimming in. Seems like he could breathe in it and didn't need to surface for air. And that scene with the assassin in the wall was confusing. He was in the wall for 6 weeks? what? It was hard to tell what was going on due to the dialogue being hard to understand there. It looked like he had been dead for days when they found him in the wall, but apparently they had just then discovered him?

i liked it. some great sound design in it as well. looking forward to 2023 or whenever the next one comes out. 

  On 10/24/2021 at 2:42 AM, Brisbot said:

each scene just flows naturally into the next scene all the way to the end

agreed there, i kinda thought maybe it felt that way to me just because i knew what was likely happening next. i just felt some was a little rushed, but that's not unexpected.

  On 10/24/2021 at 2:42 AM, Brisbot said:

And the callback felt forced there (just let yourself become one with the storm or whatever bit)

yeah, and they spent a little too much time the seeing Chani in the future dreams stuff. i think that follows the book at that point, but it seemed like maybe they did it one time too many. small whine obv.

  On 10/24/2021 at 2:42 AM, Brisbot said:

It feels like the end of act 1 of the three act structure

you may be right? i don't have a copy of the book to check on where they fall in the story length, but i believe it's about half-ish or maybe less through? i see what you're saying with the hero's journey plot pacing tho. it felt a pretty good place to stop this film nonetheless. i imagine the next one's supposed narrative focus on Chani may help them slightly condense the story of the rest of book one, following her slightly outside perspective reacting to the story as things rise/fall. but also she's just a pretty important part of the second half of the book so i may be just wildly speculating on that guess.

  On 10/24/2021 at 2:42 AM, Brisbot said:

WTF was the black liquid the House Harkonnen dude was swimming in.

haha without the book i can't check but searching a bit someone online said it's a Salusian mudpot, but can't confirm at all. could just be some idiot referencing some random bit of Dune lore idk. it sure looked cool tho didn't it

it was obviously healing him and looked really gross and cool.

anyway a few other things:

• the Baron was really cool/creepy, the floating really was cool, but all the Harkonnen stuff did seem a little too 'evil! villains! bad guys!' 
• the CG was generally really well done.
• i was kinda disappointed they didn't do any thought voiceovers. that is seriously key in the pacing and meting of information of the book and i think it might've worked for the film. 

what was with all the brooding? it was like every character refused to make eye contact, or stared at the ground. desaturating the desert colors was also a huge mistake IMO, the Arabian desert is a beautiful sight to behold , especially at dawn or dusk, that was all lost.

  On 10/25/2021 at 1:56 PM, Rubin Farr said:

, the Arabian desert is a beautiful sight to behold , especially at dawn or dusk, that was all lost.

Yes it is, but it's not meant to be the Arabian desert

  On 10/25/2021 at 3:16 PM, Soloman Tump said:

Yes it is, but it's not meant to be the Arabian desert

Yes I know, but Arrakis was inspired by Iraq and Arabia both in aesthetic, and culture. it was good to see more of an Islamic influence than shown in the Lynch version.

  On 10/24/2021 at 2:52 AM, ignatius said:

i liked it. some great sound design in it as well. looking forward to 2023 or whenever the next one comes out. 

Yeah I woke up this morning thinking "I REALLY wanna sample that huge formant-y bass voice at the very beginning, find out how to make it, and start a new genre with sounds like that.
 

  On 10/24/2021 at 3:20 PM, auxien said:

yeah, and they spent a little too much time the seeing Chani in the future dreams stuff. i think that follows the book at that point, but it seemed like maybe they did it one time too many. small whine obv.

That's true. There is so little of her actually in the movie, but in a way that makes sense. It is probably best to work on making her a fleshed out character in the sequel.

Btw I realized the 'Storm' bit was basically his Luke Skywalker " don't use our technology to shoot and instead use our story's magic system to do so". That explains why people kept saying it's going to be the new Star Wars. Probably subconsiously picked up on that from that part... also all the sand. 

 

  Quote

you may be right? i don't have a copy of the book to check on where they fall in the story length, but i believe it's about half-ish or maybe less through? i see what you're saying with the hero's journey plot pacing tho. it felt a pretty good place to stop this film nonetheless.

Yeah it had to stop somewhere. That said, that could mean the next movie has much more material to shine if Denis can get the pacing right. So the choice will end up being a good one.

  Quote

• the Baron was really cool/creepy, the floating really was cool, but all the Harkonnen stuff did seem a little too 'evil! villains! bad guys!' 

Yeah, I wish that that 'snake levitation' thing was actually his whole body. Was a bit disappointed when I saw that he is just a normal human. 

Also, Denis definitely was going for Colonel Kurtz from Apocolypse Now. Similar voice and mannerisms. He keeps taking things that worked in classic films and remixes it for Dune.

  On 10/25/2021 at 1:56 PM, Rubin Farr said:

what was with all the brooding? it was like every character refused to make eye contact, or stared at the ground. desaturating the desert colors was also a huge mistake IMO, the Arabian desert is a beautiful sight to behold , especially at dawn or dusk, that was all lost.

Yeah. The way the movie was shot was a lot of fun to watch, but so many scenes started with showing you parts of the characters for 10 seconds before showing them to you. The Brooding I think was to create constant tension everywhere. That their house was fucked from the moment the Emperor "gave them" them planet, and everyone knows it. So everything is intense. I do think that they over-did it, but with how much Denis chose to do it, it easily could have fallen flat and felt pretentious after a while.

  On 10/24/2021 at 3:20 PM, auxien said:

i was kinda disappointed they didn't do any thought voiceovers. that is seriously key in the pacing and meting of information of the book and i think it might've worked for the film. 

Oh yeah. I started reading Dune last night, and at one point Paul says that he is convinced that his hand was ash when putting it in that Gom whatever box. In the film there is a very quick flash of a charred hand in that moment. I think it would have been more effective to spell it out more with his thoughts instead of being an easter egg for the readers.

I have watched this four times by now, I've managed to make my Sci fi-hating S/O watch it (she loved it), I think it's one of the greatest films in recent times. What an achievement. It gets even better when you read the book and Leto knows what he's getting into... 

  On 10/26/2021 at 7:38 PM, chim said:

I have watched this four times by now, I've managed to make my Sci fi-hating S/O watch it (she loved it), I think it's one of the greatest films in recent times. What an achievement. It gets even better when you read the book and Leto knows what he's getting into... 

Yeah they didn't do the best job at showing that Leto knew he was screwed from the first time you see him on screen. Though the movie does follow Paul who didn't really catch on for a while which is why I think the movie is slow at spelling it out. The audience realizes it as Paul does. 

  On 10/26/2021 at 3:12 AM, Brisbot said:

Oh yeah. I started reading Dune last night, and at one point Paul says that he is convinced that his hand was ash when putting it in that Gom whatever box. In the film there is a very quick flash of a charred hand in that moment. I think it would have been more effective to spell it out more with his thoughts instead of being an easter egg for the readers.

but also when he pulled his hand out of the box, he looks at it and is surprised that its fine. i think it was articulated fine.

10.20.23

^good news!

but where are you getting the October 2023 date from? am i missing that somewhere?

  On 10/25/2021 at 1:56 PM, Rubin Farr said:

what was with all the brooding? it was like every character refused to make eye contact, or stared at the ground. 

https://www.avclub.com/denis-villeneuve-is-getting-his-dune-sequel-in-october-1847938901

  On 10/27/2021 at 12:08 AM, Enthusiast said:

Expand  

Gurney: "I am smiling" 

  On 10/27/2021 at 12:08 AM, Enthusiast said:

Expand  

Meet the Dunes