I thought the first one was fineish but nowhere as good as Blade Runner 2049.

I just watched about 85 minutes of the Dune II and it didn't click with me at all. It felt from the beginning like film was cut from something else, characters felt very much like a cosmic drama characters (in a bad way), the chemistry between the main dude and the desert lady was on pair with the Batman-Catwoman from then the emo Batman film and all in all I was just focusing on all the things I don't like instead of enjoying the ride.

Oh, and the fucking crane shot when the two love birds first kissed, I've actually laughed, hello Micheal Bay, was that you? And was that you behind the action scenes too, as action scenes seemed to lack any sort of coherence, like the assault at the harvester (first sword fights with the bad guys, then Take Down The Helicopter with a Machine Gun Modern Warfare™ Submission and after that main characters somehow instantly gained accessed to portable laser super weapon, which destroyed the harvester in 0.5 seconds.

And the main character tried to jump onto a worm, seemingly failed, was falling for about 15 seconds next to moving worm (so that implies he was at its side. I think), managed to break his fall by hooking onto the worm, looked around to find he is at the top of the worm? And how did they manage to get dozens of people on top of the worm 5 minutes after that? And what happens when the worm dives into the sand which was shown multiple times in the film?

And the super angry wrester guy who ordered the helicopters to fire at a random rock formation after he was told the search devices lost track of the protagonist whom he was tracking (because he was so angry, I thought), then ordered everyone to land at the top of said rock formation (because he has totally lost it in his anger, I thought) and started shouting main character's name (to show he is a full on psycho now I though).. only to find that he actually was within his voice range from the protagonist was just going straight at him? Was he a super genius? Or was using the force from the other film?

Dunno, CRAP.


PS: I can still gladly watch any scene Rebecca Ferguson is in, no matter the film, though.

Crap for the reasons exposed.

Rewatched both of them over a couple of nights and my wife saw them for the first time. She HATED the first one, she said it felt like a 2.5 hour trailer which on this viewing didn't feel wrong. Part II does relax a little bit, though it's really hard to get a sense for how much time actually passes over the course of both films. Feel like it's only a couple of months, when I know it's supposed to be years.

Never read the book(s), but I found the Lynch Dune beautiful and absolutely nonsensical; the version they tried to make in the 70s would have been 12 hours and horrible. This is probably about as good as you could do it and make it palatable to a huge audience.

Took some mushrooms and watched it in the cinema. 10/10 would recommend.
(Though I could have been facing the wrong way and I'd have had a great time)

Have not read the books. I saw Dune II once, in the theater after watching Dune a couple times at home. I remember it as an awesome film visually, but also that the second half seemed like an abrupt shift for the main character guy. I probably should read the book(s).

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Sat Mar 09, 2024 10:42 am

Gramsci wrote: Sat Mar 09, 2024 9:44 am Obviously a gloriously made film.

...

The “but” was pacing. The third act felt a little rushed and suffered the same “what the fuck is going on” problem as the Lynch film. I knew what was going on and still felt it a run to the finish.

Then that ain't a gloriously made film.

Fine spectacle, no question about that.

It’s funny, after the initial sugar rush of a spectacular sci-fi film I’m starting to lean more into the comments from the above Crap voters. I don’t think it’s crap but think it should have probably been a prestige tv show with one season per book. The “felt like a 2.5 hour trailer” comment isn’t wrong. And the continuity / internal logic issues are real… why did they put themselves at risk with the harvester when they just shoot it later… how do other people get on the worms… the Lynch film kind of explains this with some show don’t tell. This film does that with the “why don’t the worm dive…” the irritated area under the scales shot, but I knew that from the books and it wasn’t that obvious.

I loved the films as visual spectacle but on reflection they’re not particularly deep unless you have the books front loaded.

I was nonplussed by the first one in the cinema, but it's since grown on me, and I liked the sequel from first viewing. The performances are almost universally on point (with the exception of the execrable Zendaya who comes close to undercutting everything), especially Ferguson and Bardem, both of whom are perfect. Only secondary-source familiarity with the books ie I know he becomes a murderous genocidal despot etc, but these films are working great for me so far.

You know what I'd do if I had a cinema? Two Dunes at the same time.

I wonder if they'll get to Leto transforming into a worm by Dune XII. CGI sand trout coming at ya...