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[Discussion thread] Dune: Part Two - Denis Villeneuve - 2024

⁨14⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Blaze@reddthat.com⁩ to ⁨movies@lemm.ee⁩

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dune_part_two

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune:_Part_Two

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  • zabadoh@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I watched this Saturday.

    There was so much good stuff artistically in this movie!

    The changes to the story worked really well, IMO, towards updating it for modern cynical sensibilities:

    I loved Zendaya’s portrayal of Chani and her girl friend calling out Paul and Jessica’s colonialist bullshit.

    Jessica’s “strange” behavior as a pregnant woman. I agree with others that having Jessica speak for Alia worked better than having a child actor like Lynch’s version.

    Stilgar’s parody of religious fanaticism.

    Visually, making the worm riding look like some kind of extreme sport worked well

    The Giedi Prime black and white/infrared sequences were brilliant, although seeing the Baron and Feyd in regular flesh tones afterwards felt strange.

    The Atreides nuke missiles flying across the sky felt apocalyptic

    The Sardukar ranks were notably not as rigidly disciplined as we saw in the first film.

    Unlike others, I thought that Christopher Walken’s emperor was good. Age decrepit on the verge of doddering, but with dark thoughts behind his sullen face.

    The one part I didn’t like was the climactic dagger fight. It could have been better choreographed and coordinated with camera angles, and I’m still not sure how Paul’s knife wound up in Feyd at the end.

    Overall I was very happy with the movie.

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  • scytale@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    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!

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    • ApollosArrow@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      As a non book reader I had a similar take. The first movie felt slower with all the beats, this one felt like it was trying to accomplish a speed run. It felt like characters were just teleporting around with how quickly we were moving between locations. Overall it was visually stunning, but given how much was crammed in here I kind of wish there had been a way to add some of this into the first movie.

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  • wjrii@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Just got back. It has been close to two decades since I read the books, but I will say that this is probably among the better adaptations I could imagine actually getting made. Leaning into Paul’s resistance to his “destiny” but leaning into it once it was obvious no better path was presenting itself was well done. The plot was obviously compressed, and while I feel that Chani’s feelings of betrayal were kind of amped up beyond to the point where it was a weakness, I can see it as an early attempt to show us the consequences of Paul accepting the KH role. A bit clumsy, but thematically logical given what DV focused on. At the very least, the romance itself felt earned. Certain other aspects felt a bit rushed, as was inevitable maybe, but I did think it was a pretty decent curation and adaptation of the source material, and it’s a miracle the pacing and plot coherence were as good as they are. Sound and visuals were amazing and definitely there without providing an excuse for bad storytelling.

    On a couple of lighter notes: First, I think DV with these movies has mastered the art of finding the precise minimum, neither more nor (and this is critical) less, of humor and humanity to keep a movie from feeling like a joyless slog. Second, not to body shame a movie star, but everything that made Austin Butler feel “off” to me as a casting choice in Elvis and Masters of the Air worked perfectly as Feyd Rautha. He still sort of looks like a carnival caricature drawing of 1980s Val Kilmer, but those features complemented the Harkonnen makeup in exactly the right way. As a piece of production design, Austin Butler is unimpeachable, LOL.

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  • SomeGuy69@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The movie was everything I was hoping it to be. I have no reference to the books so I can only say what I saw.

    The dune world once again sucked me in, like the first movie I couldn’t believe how long it was, because I wasn’t paying attention, I just soaked up the emotions, pictures and music.

    Now I see why people have pointed out that some parts where a hit rushed, but I also honor that I as a watcher was held to higher standards. It feels better that way, to understand time has passed, from the context, than breaking the flow.

    I can’t wait to see the final part. If it’s anywhere near as good this dune movies will be forever in my all time favorites.

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  • Blaze@dormi.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Coming back from the theater.

    Solid movie, but I guess the Dune universe isn’t for me. Definitely beautiful cinematography, however.

    Just noticed one thing reading critics on the Internet

    spoiler

    The way Paul kills Feyd-Rautha was basically foreshadowed when Paul and Gurney were sparring in Part 1

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  • Blaze@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Creating this thread as it releases already tomorrow in some countries

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