Hokeyboy

Interesting take, but absolute horseshit. Nothing of the sort.

johnnysd

I was pretty excited for this and just rewatched the first one right before, but it did not really connect with me. I enjoyed the first one but this was probably a slightly negative overall grade. Don't really think it is a great movie. I have not read the books but thought the overall arc was super predictable and not all that interesting. "Arsenal of nuclear weapons" also sort of completely pulled me out of the story. I did not like Bardem becoming the comic relief. I still want to read the books some day but so many elements I could not suspend my belief for. I am SUPER lenient of visual effects but there were quite a few in this that were like really bad. A lot of really good too. Surprised by my reaction as the reviews were so great and I really liked the first one.

jpcamb

not sure this was mentioned before as there is no longer an adult talk section...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/03/m...rn-bucket.html

RocShemp

Given the first movie ditched Duncan Idaho's drunken outburst, or the hand Leto played in letting events transpire that led to that moment, there would be no setup for Gurney's suspicion of Jessica.

story

Mod Note: A little strong here.
It's just a movie, thanks.

redrum

Can’t believe i can still hear after Paul riding the worm for first time scene. Really good flick.

eXcentris

It's a fantastic blockbuster, and the craft and attention to detail are mind boggling. That said, this surely isn't "the best sci-fi film since The Matrix". A Washington Post reviewer had this title:"166 min of brilliant casting and sand". Which echos my main criticism of both films, that they are largely devoid of emotion except for Rebecca Ferguson. It's hard to have an emotional attachment to characters when you never see them in their daily lives. And by that I mean, where not everything is an epic life or death situation.

And someone described Feyd Rautha as "has knives, looks mad" which is basically it.

Why So Blu?

Feyd Rautha reminded me of Snake from The Professional: Golgo-13 anime from the early 1980's.

He spoke in a rasp and just had gums without teeth.

Nesbit

Watched part 1 for the first time Wednesday and went to go see this last night. Liked both quite a lot. Was a bit let down that there wasn’t a more definitive ending but that’s the book from what I’ve heard. Hopefully Messiah has more of one.

Nesbit

Question I think for book readers unless I missed an explanation in the movie - Do the people from house harkonnen take spice and if so why don’t their eyes glow blue ?

Why So Blu?

Where Dune Part 1 focused on spice and whatnot, Dune Part 2 focused on the religious aspect and how you can get ignorant people to follow you to the ends of the galaxy in the name of some imaginary higher power. Very apropos to how the world is today.

joe_b

For me, the book's ending is pretty definitive: Paul leads the Fremen to victory over House Harkonnen and exiles the Emperor who plotted his father's demise - setting himself up as religious figurehead in a war that could result in the death of millions in the process. Of course, there was more to explore there - but the story never demanded it. Many readers feel the subsequent books delivered diminished returns anyway.

Chani is the big difference to the ending of this film, as she now feels her people are being controlled through false prophecy and takes off in a huff to ride a worm after her love interest gets engaged to someone else. I don't remember any of that from the book. I wondered if Villeneuve was setting up a major character change there, but Paul does say "She'll come to understand." after sensing their inevitable future after he takes the Water of Life. Unless alterations are made to the ending of Messiah (and there shouldn't be if Warner Bros. wants to leave the door open to extend this beyond a trilogy), that film should leave viewers with more dangling threads than Dune: Part Two does.

It's mostly just the Fremen's eyes that turn blue because of the high concentration of spice in the deep desert. It's in the air, their food - everything they consume from birth. It happened to Paul and Jessica much faster after taking the Water of Life. The Great Houses consume small quantities of the spice to extend their lifespan, but I think they'd have to be hardcore junkies for the eyes to change color.

Nesbit

Thanks for the info! If Messiah doesn’t have a more definitive ending i hope Villeneuve reconsiders continuing on until there is one (if there is one in this series). Don’t want to see how lesser filmmakers or even ones who just aren’t right for it handle it.

joe_b

Not to get too spoilery, but the books start jumping ahead thousands of year after the third one. Herbert wrote six of them before he died, never finishing the series. His son Brian and a co-author tried to wrap it up years later with two more novels - but I think those tied in characters and plots from some Dune prequel books they'd written before that. So it gets convoluted.

I started reading the series from the beginning when Part One was in pre-production, but gave up halfway through book six because it became a bit of a chore to get through (plus I knew it wasn't a conclusive ending anyway). So I guess they could change some stuff to tie up Paul's story in a more final way with Messiah and ignore everything after if they choose. Still, there's some interesting stuff in Children of Dune that I hope Anya Taylor-Joy gets a chance to play out - but that story is a direct set up for some of the more esoteric elements in book four and beyond.

As for who could possibly take over if the studio wants more Dune and Villeneuve has had sufficient? Tough call. I doubt they'll ever attract another "auteur" director to this series, but they at least need someone with technical skill and visual flair. Joseph Kosinski, maybe?

Dr. DVD

I would actually like to see Guillermo Del Toro take on Children of Dune.

dex14

From what I've heard in discussion with Villeneuve... he worked from the perspective that Herbert wasn't happy with how people identified Paul as a hero in the traditional sense and Messiah was written as a reaction to that to drive home the point. So Villeneuve used the female character's to drive the point. Like this...

MrX

I saw it yesterday in IMAX and my ears are still ringing from parts of it

I liked it a lot. Thought Ferguson and Zendaya were really good.

The only part from the book that they left out that I would have liked to have seen was Alia shit talking the Baron, Mohiam and the Emperor before Paul attacks.

Josh-da-man

I'd like to see his take on Leto II in God Emperor.

But I'd rather not see him get involved with Dune because the guy's the king of vaporware.

Abob Teff

DUN3: Dune it some more!

Abob Teff

It was good, but I can’t add much that hasn’t been said on the positive front.

Funny you mention Luke Skywalker, as I thought this was a better Anakin prequel than the actual SW prequels. Then again, I though Baby Driver was a better Han Solo movie than Solo.

Part 2 was good, but I’m going the unpopular Infinity War/End Game route and saying Part 1 was better.

Sorry for the continuing AMC rants, but my showing didn’t get to see the first three minutes. The lens hung up or something and we just had a black screen through Florence Pugh’s intro. (Today I saw Zone of Interest — glad I knew that was supposed to be that way or I would have been pissed again.)

Why was Christopher Walken in this? Biggest mistake of the movie.

Spiderbite

Saw this today and loved it. While i agree with a lot of the criticisms, the whole thing just felt so damn epic, that it helped me easily overlook some of its minor faults.

That being said, if you are going to see this movie at the theater, see it on the biggest damn screen you can find. A buddy and I saw it on a LieMAX today and it looked so gorgeous. The sound was cranked so loud that I almost involuntarily shit my pants a few times.

Like the first movie, you can basically take a still out of any frame of this flick and place it on your wall. Just beautiful.

Mike86

Just saw it. I haven’t read the books so I’m not invested in the lore of the Dune universe. I don’t know what it is with these movies but something about them doesn’t quite click with me.

It feels like the movies assume that viewers know everything happening and don’t bother to flesh out the story for casual audience members.

Not that I didn’t enjoy it but I didn’t love it either. I feel like it was pretty good for the first hour or so where it was Paul and the Fremen. Once it cut to more with the Harkonnen is where I sort of lost some interest if I’m honest.

Bandoman

I just saw this yesterday and I loved it, I was riveted. It didn't seem like a long movie to me. But I understand those who haven't read the book being a bit lost. This is tough book to explain on the screen. A visually stunning movie.

RichC2

I never read the books but felt like the first movie took a rewatch to really grasp everything that was going on with the Bene Gesserit getting in the good graces with all the families and planting seeds of their "prophecy" throughout the universe and with the freman over numerous centuries.

A lot was just getting familiar with the names of the planets, rulers, and people and their weird ass names. Not sure that'll apply to Part 2 or not yet.

Nesbit

Can only speak for myself as a non book reader but I had no problem at all following along and it's not like I've never gotten lost in great movies before (anyone can get lost in a bad movie). It's the main reason I'm afraid of anyone else taking over the films at some point.