Premier Rock Forum

Dune II by Denis Villeneuve.

Absolutely not crap from me, and I can't wait to see it again.

I'll spare a few spoilery things (but jesus, I'll assume a message board frequented by a bunch of rock dorks would have a nearly 95% rate of having read the book), but nearly a homerun from me. Might be after I see it again, who knows.

Astoundingly vibrant and non-corny special effects. Maybe the abysmal MCU shit has broken my brain, but I was SHOCKED at how great it looked. Nothing looked even remotely goofy or forced, including the sandworm riding.

Looking forward to seeing it this week. Thanks for the reminder.

Fantastic with a few quibbles.

Obviously a gloriously made film. Great acting, with a few hammy moments. Zendaya was a highlight.

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.

I don’t often say this, but both films need about 30 minutes more.

The cliffhanger ending was unexpected.

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.

Gramsci wrote: Sat Mar 09, 2024 9:44 am The cliffhanger ending was unexpected.

I have a huge beef with this (having never seen it). They did the same thing with the otherwise excellent animated Spiderverse sequel.

I know with streaming and budgets a lot of TV is more like film. That's great. They should not make film more like TV. A cliff hanger is a cheap way to keep people moving between TV episodes. A film should have a contained narrative with an appropriate resolution. The challenge to franchise work is finding contained narratives within grander ones. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is utter garbage because they abandoned these principles.

losthighway wrote: Sat Mar 09, 2024 11:44 am A film should have a contained narrative with an appropriate resolution.

Sending a pint your way.

I'm not the target audience for high concept, baroque-ish fantasy-world-building sci-fi. I did try the first book at a younger age when I skimmed the sci-fi cannon and thought it sucked.

That said, I thought they got the first film right, esp w/ pacing and sense of epic scale.

The sequel went wrong; it dragged yet it felt rushed (esp the last hour, frantically cramming in new plot points / characters). 90 mins in and we meet the new aryan skinhead villain - he's the meanest yet! - too bad we've got so little screen time to see WHY he's such a bastard. The last knife fight has zero tension as a result... amateurish mistakes like that all throughout...

Zendaya was comically awful, the same petulant frown in EVERY scene, seemingly ZERO emotional range, no ability to convey the romance 'tween her and the twink (who wasn't great but just about managed).

Thumbs down from me.

Gramsci wrote: Sat Mar 09, 2024 9:44 am Zendaya was a highlight.

Not sure about that but her character is effectively the only voice of sanity by the end, so you certainly sympathise with Chani. This seems like a bit of a departure from the book given what happens next.

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.

This is Herbert's fault. Having been the sprawling epic with intertwining plots you end up with the Agatha Christie ending: clunkily get everyone into one room and tie things up.

Personally I could happily have skipped the whole Giedi Prime Harkonnen section, which strongly reminded me of an edgy perfume advert. However I thought it was pretty great otherwise, though switching off your brain is advised of course.

It is weird how much I like the Lynch version now: it feels more alien (somewhat helped by being utterly baffling), has an arguably better soundtrack, and doesn't make the Fremen blatantly space-Taliban (which admittedly is in the source).

As with the first, a PowerPoint presentation of the novel which whittles away everything that could confuse a moviegoer who had not read it.

As a fan of the novel, a lot of the whittling hurt. And Christopher Walken as an Emperor who lives in a modest house on Cape Cod was an underwhelming choice.

But overall a huge success.

The last word on DUNE? I hope not. I kinda wish it would be like A STAR IS BORN: something that is taken for a fresh run around the park every twenty+ years or so.

But a damn sight better than the Lynch and SyFy Channel versions. Worth seeing on a big screen.

I liked it but had a few issues.

It made it seen like it takes place over an especially active summer vacation as opposed to a few years. Makes the transition from normal Paul to Super Human Ultra Man seem a bit rushed. Also made no room for Alia to be born, and thus kill the emperor as a lil baby. Bummed me out.

Emperor was underwhelming and seemed to be just along for the ride with his daughter and the witches taking the drivers seat, which isn't completely unfounded but he was a little too vague to the whole thing to me. He seemed as confused about the plot of Dune as most people watching.

Beast Rabban was a bumbling dolt and wasn't remotely threatening. His death fight might as well been the shoot the guy with the sword from Indiana Jones.

I liked Fayd but his band sucks. His drummer is overrated and the Guitar is boring as fuck. The Arena fight was dump and looked like watching Gladiator on a broken tv. I actually liked the visuals of that section but the battle itself was silly and felt kinda "Made for TV"

The shot of the 3 nikes flying through the air looked like it was animated in Flash or something. Just terrible work. I don't think ICBM's fly in perfect formation like that.

Saw it in Imax, the every closeup of the Florence Pugh you could see huge quality issues with her costuming. A ton of cosplay looking stitching and goofy handmade looking crap compared to a lot of the other costumes. The Emperor was pretty bad too. If this was a choice, I'm not sure why they tried to make the most powerful people in the universe appear the most KMart.

The entire film came to a halt exactly where Lynch's Dune does as stated above. I blame pacing. If you are trying to slam the idea that the story is taking place over summer vacation and not over a length of years, you hit this speed bump where you just have to take a breath and cope with "Ok, I guess there has been a lot of character growth. Lets wrap this up! Drink that worm jizz and hulk out!!!"

not a single shot of a mutated, pussy-mouthed guild navigator. Not one. Bullshit.

No Pugs.

7/10.