IGX

Caught this on IMAX early realease on Sunday. I've never read the book or seen the prior films, except for Villeneuve's first, which I liked but wasn't crazy about.

If you're barely interested, I would recommend seeing on IMAX. I don't think I've ever gone to see the same movie in the theater twice, and will see this again.

Visually very impressive. I would avoid watching previews as they are very plot heavy. Story was extremely well told, only real weak spot is Zendaya kind of just runs around frowning a lot, but it's partly that the people around her are crushing it. The other leads are really bringing it compared to typical sci fi nerd films.

I'm not sure how much this will lose on the small screen, so would strongly recommend a theater viewing.

This was supposed to come out in I think November? Saw it this morning, after months of being hyped.

I loved the first installment by Dennis Villeneuve, watching it three times the week of it's release, and being totally sucked into the created world. I went on to read the book, which is now in my top-10 of all time/all genres, despite it's flaws.

So...Dune 2.

There is a percentage of this film, say 40%, that for me keeps the flavor of the first film. Timothee Chalamet continues to do a good job in the lead role of Paul Atreides, much of the visuals are stunning, and no one seems to do a bad job of acting.

The other 60%....

Problem #1: The CGI is much more obvious this time around.

Many shots are stunning, but there are sequences that look very fake. Personally, I want to feel immersed in a story. Copy pasting 10,000 people doesn't do that.

Problem #2: I didn't give a shit about the characters.

Which is weird, because I did in the first film.

The Baron, my favorite character from Part 1, and the book, is majorly side-lined. Fayd-Rautha, his replacement as a villain, is just kind of a garden-variety psycho. I didn't really care if that dude died, and didn't feel any narrative tension. The romantic relationship between the leads was going somewhere, and then it changes. The other leads, I also felt eh about.

Problem #3: The sound just beats you over the fucking head.

There were multiple lines spoken where I had no clue, because the score was cranked up to 11. My three friends and I all noticed this.

Off to see it again on Wednesday, as I promised another friend I would, but egads. Had plenty of eye-rolling and willing the damn thing to be over in Round 1.

Maybe skip IMAX second time around. I recall seeing the Dark Knight Rises in an IMAX theater and Bane was unintelligible because they cranked the bass up to 11.

I saw it a normal, albeit, nice theater. Same spot for showing 2. It's either a 5 minute drive to this spot or a 25+ minute drive plus paying for parking to go elsewhere. IMAX may have been better?

Watched it for the second time last night.

On the positive:

I was even more impressed with the visuals.

There’s a lot of stunning imagery, usually in the desert at golden hour: the dragonfly helicopters flying in formation; the Harkonnen troops floating up a rock wall; the moons passing in front of the setting sun; the rail gun in the helicopter is cool too. I hope the director and cinematographer continue teaming up.

On the negative:

Stuff just happens.

Paul’s eyes go back and forth from blue to brown to blue to brown. Why?

There’s an extended battle vs helicopters and a spice harvester, that finishes with these OP laser guns. Why didn’t the Fremen just use their OP guns to begin with?

Fayd-Rautha decides to shoot the fuck out of some random hillside. “Old-fashioned artillery. Brilliant.” says the Baron. Motherfucker just shot an arbitrary pile of rocks, that happened to contain Fremen. Brilliant?

Overall

In the first viewing, due to the reasons in my initial take above, I gave it a C. Re-watching, I give it a D+.

For me, this film is a great example of style over substance.

Let’s just spend a shit ton of money on making it look cool and hope for the best!

Had they invested equal effort in creating characters, motivations, and relationships that were gripping, this film would have been an A.

Saw it a second time and liked it.

Bram wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 3:29 pm
Paul’s eyes go back and forth from blue to brown to blue to brown. Why?

Lighting. This happens to all characters in the film.

There’s an extended battle vs helicopters and a spice harvester, that finishes with these OP laser guns. Why didn’t the Fremen just use their OP guns to begin with?

They are stationary and would be destroyed by the helicopter.

Fayd-Rautha decides to shoot the fuck out of some random hillside. “Old-fashioned artillery. Brilliant.” says the Baron. Motherfucker just shot an arbitrary pile of rocks, that happened to contain Fremen. Brilliant?

No this is the northern base. Bautista's initial contact with that structure is when he fires rockets from the copters and then lands and deploys infantry. He loses. This guy comes in and just does the "nuke it from orbit" approach, bypassing the typical Dune approach of guys duking it out with swords.

Yes, sword fighting when you have ranged weapons is dumb. But it's based on a book and there are some limitations there. Just a stupidly well-done movie for a Sci Fi film IMO.

I just rewatched the original. Well, not the original-original. Not the Kyle MacLachlan one. I've never even read the book. But the second that witch lady had Timothee Chalamet's character put his hand in that box ... fuck me if I'm not a masochist because I wanted to try it. Loved that 2021 Dune. Can't wait to see this one.

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 5:57 am

There’s an extended battle vs helicopters and a spice harvester, that finishes with these OP laser guns. Why didn’t the Fremen just use their OP guns to begin with?

They are stationary and would be destroyed by the helicopter.

The very next battle, they use the OP laser guns while the helicopters are circling.

Also how the fuck did they get twenty old and infirm, plus a witch basket, on and off the 60mph sandworms?

I mean shit looks cool, but there’s plenty of malarkey.

Fair point on blooping the Fremen base tho.

Hope you love it Ron Ron, the first was the shit.

I liked it a lot.

I'm a huge fan of the books and the David Lynch film too. (Only the six books Frank wrote and the Dune Encyclopedia.)

I really enjoyed both of the Villanueva films. The changes to the book were no problem. It was interesting to see the Fremen disagree over Paul.

I still prefer the 1984 film though. If you want to watch it the spicediver fan edit is the best version imho...

Oh yes, I forgot to tell you...the ornithopters were amazing in the new films.

A bit disappointed we didn't get to see any Guild Navigators. (Maybe in part 3)

It looks like they just wrote a shit-ton of books. I will read the first couple, but is there a point at which it goes Season 5 of Dexter?

Spells, there are only six books in the Dune series written by Frank Herbert. You can ignore all of the others.

Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse Dune

If you enjoy the first book, press on. Just be warned that Messiah is the weakest of the series. (Also the shortest.)

Enjoy.