Topic: Dune

Saw Dune last night and I thought it was an absolutely stunning adaptation. As some one who has read the book multiple times, there are a couple of things that bothered me, they are more personal nit picks than anything else.

Nice. I always thought the books were too dense to properly adapt to screen, but most people seem happy with how this turned out. Looking forward to it now.

My son will be thrilled if this is a good adaptation. He, too, has digested the books numerous times but screen versions have always been a disappointment.

I started reading the book a year or so ago but never finished it, bit of a slow opening act. Generally I prefer to watch the film first to give me a basis from which to interpret the text, so I may check this out soon.

@Themagusx1 Glad to hear you liked the movie as a fan of the books. I've read the first book myself at a few times, and most of the others at least once. I started reading the review in Art Technica, and stopped before they got to the spoilers, but they did hint something was different about the ending. I'm hoping to see it this week with friends, and maybe can nit pick the niggly bits afterwards!

@TSR3 I am curious to see what bugs you. There was one thing that bugged me a bit so I wonder if it will bug you too.

As a longtime fan of the book (book, singular, the rest of the series goes from mediocre to awful) I am very happy with the movie. I had a couple of quibbles and didn't much care for this version of Jessica - I feel like she is a much stronger woman in the book - but overall, we FINALLY got a good visual version of Dune (part one)!

I will say it could have been a good 20-30 minutes shorter with proper editing and nothing would have been lost. But quibbles, like I said.

I don’t know if I agree with you on Jessica, but one of my quibbles was that the Saudarkar were openly attacking the attreides, where as in the book they were hidden in Harkonnen attire, so they were not being attention to the emperor.

@Themagusx1 Yeah, there was a pretty big departure there with Sardaukar openly supporting the Harkonnens and actually seeing Salusa Secundus. I could be misremembering things from the books, but I don't think we ever actually "saw" the planet until much later in the series.

Could be worse, though. I mean, the "Weirding Way" could have been psionically projecting laser bolts or something equally stupid... 😉

You are correct never saw Salusa Secondus in the first book at all. But yeah the Sadakaur supporting the Harkonnens openly would have been a big political mistake. The more subtle approach in the book made sense.

@Themagusx1 It took a couple of weeks to organise with friends, but I finally got to see the film this week. What initially bugged me was the detour to Liet-Kynes facility before meeting up with the Fremen. However on 2nd thoughts I think that was in the book, and I was remembering the plot from the Lynch movie!
I think the new movie may have lost pacing a bit in the 2nd half, but it is a big story to cover so I understand why they're trying to break it into 2 films. The friend I was watching it with hadn't read the book or seen the earlier film, and admitted he struggled to follow part of the the plot. So I think despite the leisurely pace, the new film failed to explain some of the background or themes that well. Maybe they were trying to explain the politics by having the Sardaukar openly supporting the Harkonnens, but it still seemed to fall flat with my friend.
To be honest I enjoyed it quite a lot. The visuals really conveyed the sense of scale, and I'm looking forward to part 2.

I saw the movie last night. According to my Kindle, I've only read 20% of the book, and that was a couple of years ago now I reckon, so I was reasonably noob to it.

I liked Timothee Chalamet, I didn't like Rebecca Ferguson. I enjoyed the scale and the soundscape of the film, but the end was a bit of an anti-climax to a 2.5hr film of that magnitude. Find myself thinking the second part needs to be available to watch now, because I didn't find it compelling enough to maintain interest for however long it takes for the next part to release. I've no idea how the story develops from this 'mid-point' but I didn't see enough to excite me and fill me with anticipation about what happens next.

Watched Dune this morning in a private screening. Well, I had the auditorium to myself. Not sure what that says about its box office takings, but I really enjoyed it. I’ve read the book at least a couple of times, but more than 20 years ago, so I’m bit hazy on details. I found myself comparing it more to the Lynch film and the old video game on the Amiga…

I particularly liked how slow it was. Villeneuve hasn’t tried to condense everything and turn it into a roller coaster ride. Instead there’s world building, mood and good characters. Takes itself seriously, too. I think there was maybe one joke in the whole film? It’s refreshing to have earnestness in a modern sci-fi blockbuster.

I watched Dune Tuesday evening. I admit to being a complete newb when it comes to the series and honestly hadn't heard of it until I caught wind of this movie. However, I did do a bit of background research into the franchise via the 'net. Overall, I quite enjoyed it, though I do wish Part 2 would be available sooner. The ending wasn't bad by any means, but it was definitely a cliffhanger. I do also agree that the second half seemed a bit drawn out at times.

Highlights:

• The music. Oh sweet Arceus, the music. I love most of the tracks in this film. Another amazing score by Hans Zimmer!
• I love how they rendered and portrayed the sandworms. The scale, power, and size...pretty amazing.
• The scene where they used The Voice to escape was both awesome and unnerving. I do wish, however, that the film had went into more detail about the Bene Gesserit and their various abilities.
• Duncan is an all-around BA. Loved him.