# Dune (Film) Post-release thread (open spoilers from film) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 22, 2021, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991 "2021-10-22T09:11:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/161 "2021-10-26T22:08:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Do the books ever give dimensions for either the harvesters or the worms, other than “Big. Up to 400m long. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/162 "2021-10-26T22:21:51Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Up to 400m long. IIRC that is what they also stated in the HBO Max film. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/163 "2021-10-26T23:46:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > The Harkonnens are cartoonishly evil and Lynch portrayed them that way. Kenneth McMillan’s over-the-top portrayal of the Baron was spot-on I thought. I’ve come to like the 1984 _Dune_ movie. It is not a good movie but I like it the same way I like the _Flash Gordon_ movie. It’s just…kinda nuts yet great and bad at the same time (_Flash Gordon_, an objectively bad movie, is just really, really great). That said, Stellan Skarsgard is fantastic as the Baron in this version. Sooooo menacing and not overplayed at all. Legit scary guy and, moreso, because he exudes intelligence combined with his malevolence. Skarsgard was definitely channeling Brando’s Colonel Kurtz from _Apocalypse Now_. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/164 "2021-10-27T00:09:45Z")
Lets not forget the Baron from the novel was described as drugging, raping and murdering his sex slaves, and complained that he would have to just send Paul Atreides to die in the desert instead of being allowed to rape him. He’s depraved as well as evil. I agree Skarsgard did a great job, but I think the 1984 movie was actually closer to the original character. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/165 "2021-10-27T00:17:52Z")
Maybe the worms can get so big because they are supported by the sand the way whales get supported by water? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/166 "2021-10-27T00:40:45Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > think the 1984 movie was actually closer to the original character. Of course, the Lynch movie was also a big old hunk of cheese. In some ways that’s amusing, but that doesn’t make it good. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/167 "2021-10-27T00:41:49Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Skarsgard was definitely channeling Brando’s Colonel Kurtz from _Apocalypse Now_ . Oh yeah I noticed that too. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/168 "2021-10-27T01:20:40Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > Well, because the worms [spoiler] I don’t think anyone knows that at the time of Dune. Well, anyone in a position to kill a worm. Liet Keynes knew, but kept it a secret. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/169 "2021-10-27T01:30:09Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I don’t think anyone knows that at the time of Dune. Well, anyone in a position to kill a worm. Liet Keynes knew, but kept it a secret. The didn’t? I had no idea. I thought they knew it the whole time, but I believe you. ---
**Author:** ![FelixF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/felixf/32/7703_2.png) [@FelixF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FelixF)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/170 "2021-10-27T01:58:01Z")
Having read Dune - first three books as I remember long ago when I was a kid and having seen the terrible Lynch movie as a kid, I loved this version. Saw it in the theater (2D) and it worked well. I can’t see a better rendition being done really. > [@Acsenray](#): > > Make up some other term. Or even translate it to English, “little mouse” or some such. It would even be a benefit to aiding people unfamiliar with the story to give them fewer vocabulary words to learn. So you basically want another story, not the actual book. 🙄 Oh and for your info, the desert people Herbert was inspiring parts of Fremen on were and are not Arabs, so your arch “use real Arabs” is actually committing more of an error than he is. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The Fremen aren’t the good guys. They’re all just different flavor of bad guys. They’re a different flavor of people. Not bad guys, but rather like all of humanity, having been manipulated by the Bene Gesserit planning and the imperial system. It’s not simple White Hat Black Hat set-up. And [sequel if green lit!](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/26/dune-sequel-greenlit-by-legendary-and-warner-bros.html) > [@Pleonast](#): > > I don’t like the idea of taking away similarities between fictional protagonists and real-world non-white peoples. Agreed. The author of the book made those very specific choices - not accidental and part of his message. If one doesn’t like that as the story, well then don’t watch the film. Making the direct call to the cultural melanges, I always thought it was a kind of call out to both American ideas and Middle Eastern culture as a kind of interesting cultural critique. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The Fremen are the worst aspects of a street gang crossed with the Mujahideen. They have combat to the death for routine matters, they think of themselves as the one true “right” people, they consider fighting as the only indicator of strength (or rightness), they’re closed-minded to anything different than “the way it is”, and worse of all, they’ll kill you for simply walking through their neighborhood What? Their set-up is that of a bunch of people who have sent around a **century** avoiding a genocidal dictatorship that literally hunts them down from the sky (the Harkonnen) like sub-human animals. It’s bizarre - you think a century (more actually probably) of being hunted marginalized people, they’re not going to be Kumbaya… Weirdo reading of their situation ---
**Author:** ![FelixF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/felixf/32/7703_2.png) [@FelixF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FelixF)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/171 "2021-10-27T02:01:08Z")
Agreed, Chalamet was perfect as Paul. Obviously some people want to have … Dune that is not in fact Dune but totally a different movie (and different book) for reasons… ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/172 "2021-10-27T02:02:40Z")
I read something recently (sorry, no cite, I forget where) that Villeneuve explicitly toned down the Baron’s profound depravity. He did not think audiences today would tolerate it. So, he made the Baron more menacing. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/173 "2021-10-27T02:08:28Z")
They definitely knew the worms were important in making spice which is why they never killed them. As big as they were all you need to do is lure a worm around and then go nuts on it with rockets and lasers. As big as they are the Empire certainly had the wherewithal to kill one. And, they are trivially easy to lure where you want them. The empire knew full well not to kill them (and is why they put up with a worm eating expensive harvesters and people on occasion). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/174 "2021-10-27T02:22:56Z")
I saw this movie on Saturday and The French Dispatch on Sunday and Timothée Chalamet is in both. Weirdly, both films included joking references to his lack of muscles. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/175 "2021-10-27T02:54:23Z")
> [@FelixF](#): > > So you basically want another story, not the actual book. > [@FelixF](#): > > Obviously some people want to have … Dune that is not in fact Dune but totally a different movie (and different book) for reasons… > [@FelixF](#): > > If one doesn’t like that as the story, well then don’t watch the film. Again, this is silly. Adaptations always change things for many reasons—to suit a new medium, to suit a new interpretation, to suit a new audience. Changing even big things isn’t making it “another story.” Changing little things like terminology here and there is nowhere near it. Seriously, do you not understand what adaptation is? When you tell a story again, you often change things. Some things you change for X reason, some things you change for Y reason. No serious artist slavishly accept every minor detail of the original. This attitude that if one changes even the smallest detail for what (I argue) are good reasons, then “oh you don’t even want Dune” is a supremely unserious attitude. “I don’t like this bit here” is a perfectly valid reason to change something in an adaptation and is something that adapters routinely do. Are you really not aware of this? > [@FelixF](#): > > It’s bizarre - you think a century (more actually probably) of being hunted marginalized people, they’re not going to be Kumbaya… It’s not “kumbaya” to judge people regarding their acts of cruelty against others. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/176 "2021-10-27T13:19:14Z")
The second movie now has the green light - hooray! > **[Warner Bros. sets 'Dune' sequel for 2023 after strong box office opening |...](https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/26/media/dune-part-two-release-date/index.html)** > > The Dune story continues. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/177 "2021-10-27T14:38:57Z")
Screen Rant has an interesting take. > **[Dune 2021 Finally Understands That Paul's Not The Hero](https://screenrant.com/dune-movie-paul-atreides-antihero-books-understand-good/)** > > Dune shows the dark consequences of his actions. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/178 "2021-10-27T14:44:33Z")
Wait, What? I know that I missed a whole bunch of stuff in what was to me a confusing (and simultaneously slow) movie. But what I saw was pretty much Paul as the protagonist hero. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/179 "2021-10-27T14:48:44Z")
He was the protagonist, but it was clear that he struggled with the decision to join the Fremen, knowing what it would cost the Universe. However, _the moment when he made the decision_ (when he interrupted Jessica requesting Stilgar to get them off-planet), should have been done with more weight, ie, that he knew his decision to go to Sietch Tabr effectively condemned billions by shifting the path of history. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991/180 "2021-10-27T14:53:37Z")
Am I supposed to have figured this out without having read the book? I don’t recall destroying the universe in the 1990’s video game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-film-post-release-thread-open-spoilers-from-film/952991.md?page=10)