Dune (Film) Post-release thread (open spoilers from film)

I agree with this. I saw the film in IMAX yesterday (theater was at least 3/4 full). I realized early in the movie that things I remembered from the book were quite often inner monologues or narration. In a film, which has to be “show not tell” in order to be successful, the filmmakers need to come up with ingenious character moments that can provide insight into those inner dialogues we can’t hear.

Some other random observations:

I’d buy a non-refundable ticket to the second movie right now, just on the hope that it gets made. I can think of only one other movie I saw this year that I came out of the theater with the same thought.

The filmmakers did a great job of realizing the the world of Dune. While it wasn’t exactly what I envisioned while reading the book, it fit together in the ways Herbert had described.

As others have mentioned, I kept an eye out for Feyd Rautha, but I don’t think he was in any scenes. Am I right in my recollection that Feyd isn’t really in that many scenes in the book, and they tend to be mostly in the parts after the spot where the movie ended?

Overall, I think this movie manages to achieve what previous versions haven’t. They filmed the book (largely).

I thought it was gorgeous, fairly well acted, well done, but a little slow. There were some scenes of ships taking off that could have been slimmed to make it into a 2 hour movie instead of the 2:30 it turned out.

Ornithopters, while cool, are a really dumb vehicle to use on a planet with frequent sand storms. They just looked too delicate to me.

I’d like to see the second half.

The second book is even worse, the psychic powers/fulfilling prophecy thing is even more pronounced.

From what I remember about the 3rd and 4th books the fantasy parts are toned down so it’s more science fiction than science fantasy. I never got past the 4th book; not because I didn’t want to read anymore, I just never got around to it.

Feyd isn’t really in the first half of the book at all, other than his uncle referring to “beautiful Feyd”.

I think many of us remember him more prominently because Sting was so memorable in the Lynch version.

Remember what Clarke said about how any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? Well, by correlation, any sufficiently futuristic science fiction is indistinguishable from fantasy. There’s a vanishing point where the two sibling subgenres of Science Fiction and Fantasy meet. Vance’s The Dying Earth, Wolfe’s The New Sun and Zelazny’s Creatures of Light and Darkness all live there; Dune isn’t quite at that point, but it’s pretty close. Personally, that’s one thing I’ve always liked about it.

I really liked it. I could see how it could be confusing for new comers but my only experience with Dune is the game Dune Imperium (which was a tie in to this movie that came out last year when it was supposed to be released), a comic adaptation of the first third of the story I read a year or so ago, a few failed attempts at watching the Lynch version and just general Nerd osmosis over the years and I followed it just fine.

I’ll concede that my assumption that people previously unfamiliar with Dune might be lost could very well be arrogance on my part.

I really would not call it arrogance. IMO ‘Will the film be accessible to people who did not read the book?’ is a very valid concern with Dune.

It’s my number one concern with the movie and I kind of got into it with my review above. It’s a great movie, but the opening hour is kind of a slog if you don’t know the book and just when things get really interesting, it’s over.

All the best stuff is in the second section of the movie and they haven’t even turned the cameras on to film one scene yet.

I liked it–visually quite stunning and shai-hulud looks awesome, but I was conscious the entire time I was watching it just how much I was filling in gaps with my knowledge of the book. Which meant that the movie turned out to be a gorgeous nothingburger, really, just a lot of go here fighty fighty go there fighty fighty run this way run that way fighty fighty blah blah ooh ornithopters looking like dragonflies, neat!

I’m afraid we STILL don’t have a proper adaptation of Dune and think we won’t until someone forks over a budget like this one to do the (at minimum) 10 part limited series adaptation. I mean, the ecology of Arrakis is a huge part of the energy and mystery of the book and the slow discovery of just HOW weird it all is comprises a gigantic percentage of why the book has such a hold on so many even fifty plus years down the line. And a lot of people don’t take into consideration that Dune, Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune were originally one huge megabook that got broken up into three due to publishing constraints so until we have all three adapted as one big epic tale it will never get told properly.

I’d be fine with using the current version’s world building and the look of things though, it seems to respect the huge scope of Arrakis pretty well. Costuming is good too.

Probably “Hyperion” and “Snow Crash”.

A slight correction; Dune Messiah is book 2. God Emperor of Dune is the fourth book and the last one I read.

Even so I’d think they’d have introduced the character in this movie so viewers of the second movie aren’t wondering where the hell that guy just came from (assuming they mean to have him in the second movie which is uncertain).

You’re right, derrrrr. Hand me the stupid hat!

Even with Dune Messiah being inserted where it goes, is it true that it was publishing constraints(like Lord of the Rings) that broke it up?

He planned them and wrote a bit of them, but they were written after the success of Dune, which surprised him.

I don’t think we’ll ever get a straight answer on that but when you read the books it’s pretty clear they’re very much of a piece. I mean, the ending of Dune is like, WTF, nothing is settled it’s just “Okay, this marriage will fix it, done!” and the actual resolution of the story is further along from there. I just think that stylistically you’re not gonna get a good telling of the Dune saga without going into the other two books. That’s where the resolution and ending really are.

To be fair in my mind the first 3 books kind of bleed together. In particular I sometimes forget what events were in the first and second book.

They do, at that, but the two following books are the ones that have the payoff of discovering what happens ecologically when you pursue a religious vision that’s in direct conflict with the complicated biosphere of the planet you and everyone else relies on. That’s really the heart of the entire story, along with the personal corollary of what happens when regular people accept a religious mantle and what that does to them as people–and as A people. It’s all a big cautionary tale of “be careful what you wish for, lest you get it” disguised as a tale of political intrigue and war.

IIRC, the payoff for the first book

Summary

is the triumph of the Atreides family (and the Fremen) over the emperor and the Harkonnens

.

Maybe it’s just me but it seemed a bit flat and always has. Especially when you go on and find out what a hollow “victory” it all was, in the end.