movies

I saw it on the fan-first premier on the 25th. I also posted this in the Dune community, but here’s my review:

Amazing adaptation of the second half of the book. As expected, the cinematography, set design, and music are all beautiful. I was skeptical when Denis said a large focus of the film would be the love story, but was pleasantly surprised they were able to pull off a believable romance between Paul and Chani while trying to fit everything else in this huge story. Stilgar was amazing. The Giedi Prime scenes were gorgeous. I think they also pulled of Alia well, which is understandable since it's kinda hard to have a child character like in the books translated into film without making it cartoonish.

Now for my (minor) criticisms:

We all know how dense the book is, and even with only half the book remaining for this film and almost 3 hours, certain parts still felt rushed; which is understandable because there is only so much you can cram into a movie.

For example, the time Paul and Jessica spent in Sietch Tabr felt so quick, without having a reference/barometer to let audiences know how long it took for them to turn the Fremen to their side and Paul and Chani's relationship to develop. This took years in the book, and book readers will obviously know that, but I feel like non-readers will complain how "fast" it happened. It also doesn't help that since they cut child Alia in this version, this means all the events in the film happened in less than 9 months, which is pretty short for someone to integrate into a planet's native population, train in their ways, and rise up as a messianic figure for an entire planet.

The final big battle also felt rushed. I know it was generally glossed over in the book, but it would have been great if the film took a few more minutes to show some battles before Paul reaches the emperor. Gurney and Rabban's fight scene should've also been a little longer, given Gurney had to emphasize the scar Rabban gave him, which was kinda implying there was a big fight scene ahead.

While I love Christopher Walken, the emperor in this film had barely anything to work with such that you could've cast any other decent actor and it wouldn't have mattered. I was hoping for something special from Walken's portrayal given how unique of an actor he is.

All that being said, it was an amazing film and I was pretty satisfied. It needed 30 more minutes to flesh out the events more, but I understand you can't make a 3.5 hour movie without making general audiences bored. Now on to Messiah to complete a trilogy!