Dune - Denis Villeneuve to direct!

[yashiro]

Brolin was an awful casting choice too to be honest.

[Harsin]

He’s no P.Stew that’s for sure.

 

[probotector]

5 hours ago, yashiro said:

Brolin was an awful casting choice too to be honest.

yeah maybe but it eid have been interesting seeing him and Ferguson in a few scenes.

 

Also like how badass they made Duncan. Like when he takes out a few Harks to steal the thopter, there are a few more left, who just walk away and let him have it rather than fight 🤣

[monkeydog]

Brolin and Stewart are both far too handsome to play Gurney.  He should be played by Bob Hoskins.

[grounded_dreams]

Adored the film, big fan of Villeneuve since seeing Polytechnique, and could tell the potential he had. The production and sound design was incredible. Rebecca Ferguson acted everyone off the screen, whenever she was in a scene.

Started to read the book, but can tell already its going to get complicated with remembering the links between the families and characters. Does anyone have a decent family/character tree map, a diagram that could help, for me to refer to it. Remember using one when reading the A Song of Ice and Fire book series (also when watching the Dark TV show) and really helped.

[Uncle Mike]

I saw this last night. I was the only person in our group that enjoyed it. I am also the only person in that group who's read Dune.

 

I think it had problems for sure - I think it works a lot better if you remember reading the book, for one. There's simultaneously too much exposition and not enough. The Emperor's plan to give them Arrakis and then slaughter them makes no sense in this film whatsoever - it's sort of explained in the margins, but not enough that it comes over. You're clearly supposed to like Duncan and Gurney, but then don't really spend any time with them to mourn their loss. We haven't even seen a spacing guild person. The Fremen sand-walk looked silly. They have the tussle with the Fremen on meeting them, and Stilgard (spelling? Is that not the Knightmare person?) talks about the weirding way but it's not mentioned at all elsewhere. I can only assume that, despite the length, there's a bunch of more explanation on the editing room floor, not that I'm lobbying for an even longer cut. Dr Kynes' role seems oddly truncated.

 

And it's stuck (obviously) trying to adapt the book, and include the scenes the fans want, but with a need to differentiate and separate itself from (I thought) Lynch's version, and makes some odd choices. For example, you're getting a lot of the emotion through Rebecca Ferguson, who's supposed to have a supernatural level of Bene Gesserit control over her emotions and body language and therefore isn't the one that should be trembling and sobbing etc. The Fear mantra is oddly de-emphasised.

 

But then there's flashes of its own story that I quite liked. Paul's flash of defiance during the Gom Jabbar, his horror at seeing his own path in the desert. There's a more terrifying child messiah here than previous films.

 

Caught between fan service and articulating it for non-fans, I wonder if an uncompromised version is even possible.

[Tomdominer]

47 minutes ago, Uncle Mike said:

The Emperor's plan to give them Arrakis and then slaughter them makes no sense in this film whatsoever.

 

Completely disagree with this. I thought it made the whole political movement parts simple and clear to understand. The Emperor is threatened by Atreides, as their house is well liked throughout the galaxy, so is handing them a poison chalice, while working with the harkonnens to wipe them out. I've read the book and watched the Lynch movie, and didn't understand his motivation half as clearly as it was laid out here.

[Stopharage]

24 minutes ago, Tomdominer said:

 

Completely disagree with this. I thought it made the whole political movement parts simply and clear to understand. The Emperor is threatened by Atreides, as their house is well liked throughout the galaxy, so is handing them a poison chalice, while working with the harkonnens to wipe them out. I've read the book and watched the Lynch movie, and didn't understand his motivation half as clearly as it was laid out here.

I think the Emperor's plan is pretty obvious and laid out fairly clearly. Even my wife - who spent half the film eating monkey nuts and the other half saying 'isn't that the actor from...' - understood it. She's normally my barometer for plot comprehension. 

 

I'm really glad that a sequel has been greenlit. Villeneuve did a great job of simplifying the novel without dumbing it down. Visually arresting without resorting to countless set-pieces and explosions. With any film based on a beloved book, there's always going to be a balance between what to include/focus on and what to sideline/jettison, within the time constraints given. 

[MardiganX]

I'm going to see this on Saturday at the IMAX nearest me. I've been back to the cinema since lockdown was relaxed to see Free Guy, Suicide Squad and Shang-Chi but this, THIS is the big one. I've seen the original movie and really enjoyed it but never read any of the books and dont intend to so everything on screen come Saturday afternoon will be my Dune world perspective and that suits me perfectly. 

 

It was never really in doubt that this getting was Part 2 but still comforting to see that announced. 

[monkeydog]

Villeneuve and Zimmer have a chat about the film.

 

 

[probotector]

I really think what this film needed most was montages.

 

 

[KartoffelKopf]

Saw this in Imax last night and fuck me, it was LOUD! I enjoyed it for the most part but this is clearly not a text that can be done justice in a 2.5 hour movie (or even two movies). I've never read Dune but it all felt rushed as fuck. The political machinations were clear but none of it really carried any weight. Except for Paul and Jessica's relationship, which felt real, characters seemed to float in and out and I didn't really care about any of them. Compared to the 10 hours we got to get to know the set up of Westeros and all the various factions and Houses in season 1 of GoT, this felt lightweight and a missed opportunity. This may feel better on a second viewing at home, as was the case for me with BR2049. I was so overwhelmed by the IMAX spectacle I missed some of the nuance and now I consider it a masterpiece.

 

Visually though, this was astonishing. Maybe the best use of visual effects I've seen in any film, everything just felt like I could reach in and touch it.

[Thor]

Hmmm, I would not call BR2049 masterpiece, and for me Dune is a significantly better film than it. Yes, Dune proceeds at a brisk pace, but that's a good thing in any movie that's more than two hours long. Though admittedly, I wouldn't have minded a little more exposition in the early parts to get to know some of the characters more, especially Gurney and Duncan. 

[KartoffelKopf]

Momoa was great, gave the film some much needed humanity and humour amongst all po-faced treachery. Would loved to have seen more of him. Skarsgård was also fantastic, he was loving every minute of it and the prosthetics were incredible.

[Uncle Mike]

I think if it were me trying to adapt Dune, I'd just start it at the point where Paul and the main detachment land on Arrakis and relocate a lot of the events prior to that to be happening on Arrakis (maybe the odd flashback, but really does any of it need to take place on Caladan? I understand that deserts are dry and hot already.) You'd get a better sense of pace and time to bed in with the Atreides people then, I reckon. As it is, they spend like 40 minutes swanning around in the rain at home, then the deployment onto Arrakis and its consequences are raced through.

[Davros sock drawer]

Personally I’d have done a trilogy, if not a series.

 

Spoiler

Much more time spent on establishing the characters of both main families in film 1, and main plot threads being the mystery of who is behind the attack on Paul, and how The Trap is being prepared by the Emperor (who you’d actually see) and the Harkonnens.

 

End of film 1 Cliff-hanger is Yueh’s betrayal 

 

End of film 2 is Paul taking the Water of Life 

Film 3 is the war against the Harkonnens

 

That would have given a rich whodunnit mystery for film 1, an ESB style desperate escape/it’s all gone Pete Tong middle film, and an action packed “revenge” finale. All with enough room to get the more interesting characters and sub-plots in.

 

I’d also want Kynes re-established as a main character with the Liet/Kynes reveal intact. That was another huge disappointment.

 

[SpagMasterSwift]

Yeah, but then you wouldn't have that wonderful little moment with Paul at the rock pool.

[monkeydog]

15 minutes ago, Davros sock drawer said:

Personally I’d have done a trilogy, if not a series.

 

If I was doing a trilogy I'm not quite sure where I'd end part 1, but part 3 would be Dune Messiah.

[Pob]

1 minute ago, monkeydog said:

 

If I was doing a trilogy I'm not quite sure where I'd end part 1, but part 3 would be Dune Messiah.

That is what Villeneuve wants to do 

[FishyFish]

I've not read the novels, saw the David Lynch version on video back in the 80s, and haven't seen the mini-series. I thought this was excellent.

 

I suspect, a'la Game of Thrones or something, that I'm missing subtleties and deeper understanding of the characters, motivations, and the wider events surrounding things, but nothing that I found confusing at all. My main disappointment is that it's now a two-year wait until part 2.

[Harsin]

Early costume test for part 5.

 

[Jamie John]

I saw this today after not having read the novel (to my shame, although I'm determined to give it another go now).

 

I thought it was an audio-visual tour de force with some stunning imagery - not even Nolan can match Villeneuve when it comes to creating a sense of scale. The visual effects and costume design were also deeply impressive. I was entirely convinced we were looking at an alien planet and culture.

 

Regarding the narrative, however, I must admit to drifting off in the first third and resting my eyes in a couple of places (i was pretty tired, and it was dark - don't judge me). I felt a bit like I was wading through proper noun soup at times, exacerbated by not being able to properly hear what people were saying when things were kicking off. I was very much on board for the excellent second and third acts, however. And I agree that Ferguson stole most scenes she was in. I'll also say that it's quite a dark film in places, visually - as well as struggling to hear certain dialogue I was also squinting a bit in some scenes to make out what was going on. Maybe it was just the screening I went to.

 

Anyway, one I'm definitely going to get in 4K and watch again. Maybe with subtitles, this time, and once I've read the book. On a first viewing, I didn't think it was as good as Arrival or BR2049, but it came pretty close. Zimmer's score (if you can call it that - the near-constant noise he produces all the way through, anyway) is pretty damn special. I want to see it again.

 

4.5/5

[RossW]

I saw this tonight. Absolutely stunning and I was gripped start to finish. Think I may go watch it again.

 

I do think it could have been a bit longer

 

 

 

 

[Hanzo the Razor]

19 hours ago, Harsin said:

Early costume test for part 5.

 

 

Bono's lost the fucking plot.

[Chadruharazzeb]

I had to abandon this after 40 mins as I could barely tell what anyone was saying. My own fault for getting the high seas version, I guess. 

[Davros sock drawer]

13 minutes ago, Chadruharazzeb said:

I had to abandon this after 40 mins as I could barely tell what anyone was saying. My own fault for getting the high seas version, I guess. 

 

No different at the cinema. At one point I was tempted to ask someone at the Curzon if there was a fault. 

[Thor]

Amusing. At home I heard everything just fine.

[Pob]

I asked my friend after we came out of the cinema whether he managed to follow all the dialogue, as I felt it might be hard to pick up on the many important made-up terms., and as usual with Zimmer-scored films, stuff can easily get lost in the soundscape. In particular I thought the crucial bit in the tent when Paul describes his vision of the holy war was easy to miss.

 

He said he was fine with it, though. I think the use of subtitles for other languages and signing was a good way to communicate some of the vocabulary.

[IcEBuRN]

Sounded fine for me, and I didn't even use headphones, just a boggo 2.1 logitech PC system. 

 

Soundtrack was fine, deffo no Man of Steel or Interstellar though. But I think we're just a bit spoiled but that guy's genius.

[Stevie]

1 hour and 8 minutes in and these are my thoughts:

 

• Some bad CGI at times
• Ship design is pretty poor at times
• The Dune universe is supposed to be unrecognisable from today, yet it screams "made in 2021" at times
• Costume design is pretty nice
• At times it feels like a movie made for television
• Atreides are Greek, but in the movie they seem to have Spanish roots  
• Atreides sigil is that of a hawk, yet in the movie it seems to be  the bull (I may be wrong)
• Ornitopter looks lovely, but pilots are pushing buttons like it was 1999
• Bagpipes? (really?)
• Person touches earpiece like he was a secret agent, 20000 years before this story takes place
• At times it tries to look like a 1970's sci-fi
• Umbrella bought from amazon
• Sand worms are awesome
• Soundtrack excellent

edit:

 

• Sardaukar...lol this is a Marvel movie.