Just saw Dune Part II.
“Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the universe, he must prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.”
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, again, this director knows how to use visual and sound cues to build a convincing world that house this epic story by Frank Herbert. Greig Fraser as cinematographer going so hard and good, the worlds conveyed so nicely and the movie feels epic thanks to this man. Loosely using Lawrence of Arabia and Middle East oil crisis as inspiration, the novel series got many adaptations, notably the funky 1984 version starring Sting. The 2020s version is more novel accurate thanks to Villeneuve’s passion for the lore and commitment to the vision of Paul Atreides.
Yes, you need to watch Part 1 first.
This movie is definitely more political and Bene Gesserit, the mysterious female seers/sisterhood in the Imperium got more details this time compared to the first movie. This time, the movie got chance to expand and put in more details as who there are and why they are important in the galactic politics of the great houses such as Harkonnen and Atreides not forgetting the House Corrino, the current ruler of the Imperium.
The main cast did a stellar job in conveying the characters from Javier Bardem to Timothée Chalamet; I can buy their presence as the story demands. I have to admit that I am not used to Christopher Walken as the Padasiah Emperor but actually he is suitable, in conveying little quirkiness of the vain but torn emperor. The new Harkonnen character, Feyd Rautha Harkonnen starring Austin Butler brings in a fresh villainy into the story where he is a fresh threat to Paul. He is trying so hard too hard to be like the Baron, to be honest. But he is still OK. Another important Bene Gesserit sister, Margot Fenning, starring Lea Seydoux needs more details here, shame that she is only shown briefly in the movie.
Novel fans will be happy as this movie is closest it can be to the faithful adaptation. Spectacular visions of the world like Gedi Prime of Harkonnen to the endless dunes of Arrakis are well told. Battle scenes are great if you can ignore some tactical inconsistencies especially the Fremen tactics.
The Harkonnen soldiers reminds me of conscripts of Red Alert, machine-like and inflexible while the quiet yet trained professionalism of Saudukar in every moment caught in splendid details. The Fremen fight in very agile, precise and fast style, showing why they are the deadliest fighter in Dune universe, surpassing even the famous Saudukars.
I personally felt the movie should be 3 parts to put in more details into the Dune universe like the importance of Navigator Guild, why Arrakis spice is so critical to the Imperium and the Emperor himself. But I can only dream. There are definitely parts in this movie felt like rushed through.
The movie final message talks about the dangers of cult worshipping and heroism without question - a point that many people should heed nowadays. And role of religion as meme and how fast it can spread.
Go watch it in big cinema as it is meant to be. If you can, go full IMAX experience. Make sure you go to toilet first before the movie too.
A 9 out of 10 from me.
Liked the books very much, like the 1984 David Lynch movie (even if it’s a different thing than the books), can’t find anything on the new ones. Nice showcase of CGI and generic sci-fi though. Otherwise - not my cup of spice melange.
What I never understood is why we needed another film version after the television mini series that was perfectly acceptable.
This is actually the 3rd adaptation of Dune.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert's_Dune
The TV version was 4h 25m, the directors cut DVD 4h 55m.
The new film versions combine for 5h 21m.
Better CGI, as the miniseries only benefited from 2000s technology? Better quality? More epic? You could say the same about adapting books to movies, why have a movie adaptation when you have your own imagination while reading the books…
I don’t understand this argument.
First, it assumes everybody has seen and would like earlier adaptations (I’m going to say something sacrilegious in that while I find the earlier Dune film interesting, I don’t actually like it, beyond a couple of cool casting choices).
It also seems to act like a newer adaptation somehow nullifies the earlier ones, which it doesn’t. You can still like the older ones.
There were earlier adaptations of The Lord of The Rings, but I’m very happy PJ made his trilogy.
And I don’t really understand what the runtime comparison about?
The first film version was problematic for a variety of different reasons. Lynch as the director, studio interference, etc. etc.
The TV version had none of those problems, and spread across three nights, gave a more complete adaptation.
The two new films combined are barely longer than the mini series, so you can’t say it’s a more complete version.
I’ve literally never heard that there was a mini series before your comment.
It was honestly pretty good. Low budget sometimes, but a good adaptation.
I haven’t seen the mini series since it came out, but I remember it being kind of cheesy and mid -quality.
It’s not like Dune already had a Lord of the Rings quality movie. This new one seems to be that.
