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Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
Last thirty minutes were boring. A rando appears and challenges Timothee Chalamet but like he's not a threat.
Interesting... In the book, this is a pretty major turning point for the character and the story, but a good chunk of that comes in the denouement afterwards, whereas the film uses it as a cutoff point so a lot of the implications and takeaways won't really gel for the movie-only audience. Without seeing the consequences unfold, I can definitely see how it would feel like it came out of nowhere at the end there. Specifically, the way he's referred to as a "friend" in Paul's prior vision of him will come back into play.

To try and keep further comment movie-only-specific, I don't think Jamis (the rando) was meant to be a "threat" with his challenge, he wasn't some Necron showing up last-minute so there would be a "boss." In one of the visions Paul has shortly before that scene, a voice says he'd meet a friend, follow the friend, and it shows Jamis saying "come with me, friend, and I'll teach you the ways of the desert." You do see a moment of recognition (and maybe a brief flashback? can't remember) as Paul recognizes the "friend" from the vision challenging his mother and decides to "follow" him - that's when he steps forward to offer to fight on Jessica's behalf. And true to the vision, Jamis teaches him the way of the desert. Paul's never had to kill a man; he's used to fighting until someone yields and they all shake hands and walk away, but the Fremen don't do like that, and the desert is a harsh, lethal place. It also marks the beginning of his transition to becoming one of them, like Stilgar suggested and Paul repeated as much. The conflict isn't ever about "will this guy kill Paul?? Is he in danger??" it's about a fork, a turning point in the road they're on, and after this Paul realizes that his road "leads into the desert."
 

Daikaiju

Rated Ages 6+
(He, Him)
Dune 2: Melange Bugaloo*


*sometimes I wonder how that director feels about his legacy being a proto meme.
 
I really enjoyed the last 30 minutes, although maybe my enjoyment was informed by having read the book and some of the sequels.

I did think that the very last two lines were a little too on the nose and felt a bit too much like doing marketing, relative to the tone of the rest of the movie. I wonder if the ending moments might have been more confident if the sequel was 100% officially greenlit before release. Or if, like Villeneuve originally wanted, they had done parts 1 and 2 simultaneously.

Maybe it would have ended like that in any case, but personally I do wish it had ended on basically anything other than "This is only the beginning."
 

conchobhar

What's Shenmue?
More in Dune news: Denis Villeneuve wants to make at least three Dune movies.

Villeneuve told EW earlier this year that he would like to make "at least three" Dune films.

The new Dune film covers the first half of Herbert's original novel, and Dune: Part Two will tackle the rest. But Villeneuve believes that adapting Dune Messiah on top of that is important to conveying the full saga of Paul Atreides.

"I always envisioned three movies," Villeneuve says. "It's not that I want to do a franchise, but this is Dune, and Dune is a huge story. In order to honor it, I think you would need at least three movies. That would be the dream. To follow Paul Atreides and his full arc would be nice."

"Herbert wrote six books, and the more he was writing, the more it was getting psychedelic," Villeneuve says. "So I don't know how some of them could be adapted. One thing at a time. If I ever have the chance to do Dune: Part Two and Dune Messiah, I'm blessed."

I have been saying for years that Messiah is critical to understanding Dune's themes (and completing Paul's arc), so it's very exciting to hear that Villeneuve thinks the same! It's all just wishful thinking at this point but I really hope this pair of movies does well enough to make Messiah a real possibility.
 

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
I could see ending at Messiah, since that mainly covers Paul's arc, but I think it would be hard to do Messiah without including Children too, since that covers the culmination of the events that Paul set in motion but couldn't bring himself to finish; while Paul's personal characterization is covered by Messiah, without the context of Leto II picking up where he left off and carrying the ball to the endzone it misses out on some depth. I suppose you could say that it also misses out without the further context of God Emperor, since that's where we see the actual details of what happened and its aftermath instead of vague prophecy, but you could write that into Messiah and Children well enough to convey the full stakes. (It might already be there, I read those two 18 years ago (jesus christ) and there are at least hints to its nature in Dune as well.)
 
I think Children should be a goal, and could be good endpoint.
A perfect world would have God-Emperor

Doing the Kralizec plot thread of Heretics to Sandworms is more fraught, because despite all the sligs, futars, and sex domination, it's very straight forward, and greatest hits at that point
 

Positronic Brain

Out Of Warranty
(He/him)
Would rather not see Brian's books adapted, thanks
Unfortuntely, if the trilogy gets done and it sells, then this becomes inevitable, as these books, precisely because of their mediocrity, are much more filmable and "blockbustery" than God Emperor, Heretics and Chapterhouse will ever be.

I just hope the first of those films gets titled "Dune it All Before"
 

conchobhar

What's Shenmue?
I could see ending at Messiah, since that mainly covers Paul's arc, but I think it would be hard to do Messiah without including Children too, since that covers the culmination of the events that Paul set in motion but couldn't bring himself to finish; while Paul's personal characterization is covered by Messiah, without the context of Leto II picking up where he left off and carrying the ball to the endzone it misses out on some depth. I suppose you could say that it also misses out without the further context of God Emperor, since that's where we see the actual details of what happened and its aftermath instead of vague prophecy, but you could write that into Messiah and Children well enough to convey the full stakes. (It might already be there, I read those two 18 years ago (jesus christ) and there are at least hints to its nature in Dune as well.)
The first four books make a great set, but I think Dune and Dune Messiah form the core of it, because they're the two most closely related— both in story and in theme. Because of that. it's the Dune sequel that's most explicit about the nature of power, revolution and unintended consequences, since we get to see the effect on Paul. Children takes these themes further (as does God-Emperor, and each sequel after), but I feel like someone could stop after Dune Messiah and still come away with a pretty good understanding of Frank Herbert's overall thesis— all the novels after that add more complexity and nuance to his vision, but don't upend it.
 

Adrenaline

Post Reader
(He/Him)
Watched this at home after theater plans fell through. I liked it a lot. It's basically what I was hoping for with Denis Villeneuve directing a big budget adaptation of a novel I really like with a great cast. It didn't transcend that, but that's okay. It felt like a faithful adaptation of the events of the novel, translated aesthetically to a modern style. Both the Lynch and Villeneuve Baron Harkonnens seem more over the top and alien to me than the book version. I can see how more of a traditional schemer doesn't fit with Villeneuve's goals for how it all should feel. I also missed some of the political angle of the story, but there's only so much of that you can really fit in without killing the pace, even with taking two and a half hours to cover the first half or so of the book.
 

Exposition Owl

more posts about buildings and food
(he/him/his)
I saw this last night, and I really liked it, too. I absolutely loved the visual design--it seemed as though they were trying hard to make this look as little like Star Wars as they could, and I think that worked brilliantly. So many of the designs seemed like almost pure geometric shapes, where Star Wars would cover everything with little greebly bits. It gave me the sense of a tremendously old civilization, in which every design had been perfected and shaved down to its purest essence hundreds or even thousands of years earlier. It also really came across (to me, at least; I'm not sure that people who hadn't read the books would see this) that, unlike other science fiction cultures that we've seen on screen, the Imperium combines highly advanced technology with a nearly complete lack of electronic computers. It's really striking to see future technology with hardly any screens or keyboards.
 

Positronic Brain

Out Of Warranty
(He/him)
It's really striking to see future technology with hardly any screens or keyboards.
Yep. In Dune, AI and advanced electronics are forbidden (machines rebelled, mankind barely survived and learned its lesson) - that's why the spice is so critical: in a nutshell, it boosts your cognition, allowing specially trained people (the Navigator's Guild) do the calculations to 'fold' space. Without spice, space travels is impossible in this universe.
 

Felicia

Power is fleeting, love is eternal
(She/Her)
Not to mention the Mentats, humans trained to be extremely good at making calculations with their brains. Which was shown only very briefly (but effectively, in my opinion) in the film.
 
I saw Dune last night. I liked it a lot.

The screening of Dune I went to was almost full.

I watched the David Lynch Dune in middle school and found it hard to follow. It maybe because I was in middle school when I saw the Lynch Dune, but I thought this version of Dune was way easier to follow.

I really like the way Denis Villeneuve handles big budget fx. Just like Blade Runner 2049, the fx in Dune are handled with care and don't feel as fake or cartoonish as most big budget fx movies. The worlds and ships felt grounded to me.

I liked the visual design of the different houses and freemen. It was pretty easy to keep track of the various factions.

Couple of spoiler questions. I have not read any Dune books.
1. When Leto Atreides releases the poison is Baron Harkonnen killed? Was he regenerated from death in that black pool or did he escape the poison by floating up?
2. What was that spider creature that was shown for like 30 seconds?
 

Positronic Brain

Out Of Warranty
(He/him)
Both questions are changes made for the movie

1. He escaped but got hurt and that ooze healed him, In the book Leto mistakes the Baron's mentat for him so the assassination fails.
2. Beats me. It's not in the book. Something to show the Harkonnen are evil, I'd say.
 

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
I finally watched this and thought it was really good. Basically everything I knew about Dune the franchise happened in this movie. I was struck by a lot of story similarities between this and Morrowind. Which is pretty cool, I love Morrowind, and I would be really surprised if the writers for that game did not take some inspiration from the Dune books.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
I finally watched this and thought it was really good.

Same! Partner and I enjoyed it quite a lot. I haven't read the books since I was a teenager, which felt like about the right level of vague memory to help me keep the plot and background machinations straights without worrying about any details that were different.

The way Villenueve teased but never gave us worm. riding is a bit cruel.

There was actually a random glimpse of it for about two seconds during the denouement right at the end.
 

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
Yeah, I'm stoked. I'll be in the theaters again for this one.

Still shakin' my damn head at bald Feyd though.
 
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