A noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy’s most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.
I thought I’d want to split this into two nights, but two and a half hours went faster than I recalled.
The Emperor plotline makes very little sense, unless it’s meant to serve as a warning to all the other houses.
I don’t think they pulled off a cohesive culture for the Atreides: they drew from multiple cultures, but pulled directly from them rather than integrating them — a Japanese tree inside their home on Caladan, Spanish bullfighting, Scottish bagpipes. To me, that felt worse than just adapting elements into something unified, but it could be intentional to remind us the Atreides are colonizers, or I suppose the filmmakers could be accused of cultural appropriation if they changed things? I think they’re more successful in creating the technology: tools like thumpers and the compass thing feel real, the projector technology is cool, and the way thopters fly seems to have been thought through.
Jessica is a badass, and I hope she gets more of a chance to use her power and skills in part two.
I’m still not sold on Gurney’s character. The intensity of the training scene is fantastic — and then there are weird moments insufficient to give him character, like awkwardly joking with his lord, then flipping his shit any time anyone else disrespects or even approaches him. My husband said he’s meant to be a bard but all his guitar scenes were removed. It’s also a shame he’s not given an on screen death — I wonder if it got cut. Or maybe he lives and I’ve forgotten in the twenty years since I read the book 😂
Some scenes in this movie are great, while others make me go huh, why did they keep that.
The Harkonnen sudden focus on exterminating the Fremen people feels like it comes out of nowhere.
Previously:
Re-watched Dune – November 2022
Re-watched Dune – July 2022
Watched Dune – October 2021
