People love these movies, but I can't stand them. I find them pretentious as fuck. Still, the VFX are nice and the direction is accomplished beautifully by Denis Villeneuve. Maybe what annoys me the most is how long they are. Do we really need to devote 2½ hours to approximately one half of a novel? It travels at a leisurely snail's pace, but maybe that's the point. And there's sand, sand everywhere. It's like Tatooine: The Movie. Personally, I thought the 1984 version was superior, because at least it told a "complete" story. I'm being generous here with my rating because I don't want the fanboys to come after me.
3 stillsuits circulating your own urine out of 5
7 comments:
As a very long-time Dune fan, it left me cold and bored. It was an utterly tedious and soporific telling of the story, lifeless, and as dry as the sand that covered the planet. The only character that had any personality was Duncan, who doesn't have a major onscreen role in that part of the story.
I tried to stick with it, but it was insufferable and I turned it off about halfway through with no plans to ever revisit it. The 1984 version may be a mess, but at least it has a pulse.
Needless to say, I didn't bother with Part II.
Oh, thank fucking god! The reason I've been hesitant to pull the trigger on these reviews is because everybody seems to fucking love them. I felt the exact same way as you. I actually saw it twice to try and figure out what I was "missing" the first time.
The second one felt even more inane and directionless. These movies visually look great but it feels like it's spinning its wheels for 3 hours. I don't think Timothée Chalamet was cast very well as Paul Atreides. I didn't care for his characterization as much as I did with Kyle MacLachlan's.
My only exposure to the Dune series is through these two adaptations, so that is what has prevented me from seeking it out further and delving deeper into the series. Maybe I had it pegged wrong the whole time.
I know you feel it's important to finish a movie in order to form an accurate opinion, which is something I respect, and I can very much see the logic of, but I'm just not able to do it. If I'm not engaged in some way, it gets turned off. This version of Dune had nothing for me to engage with. I stuck it out longer than I would have normally, just because it was Dune.
To be fair, the first half of Herbert's book has a lot of stiff dialogue—the second half is where it excels—but as Lynch proved 40 years ago, there are ways to offset that; e.g., the inner monologue (that gets much hate) offered a real insight into the layered thought processes of the main players, and deft use of foreshadowing and location can make even exposition-heavy scenes interesting.
In contrast, Villeneuve's focus on introspection didn't have enough depth in characterisation to back it up. Compare that to something by Terrence Malick, for example, and Dune feels even more like a test of endurance. I felt like my life was draining away with every passing minute that I had to listen to them speak, and what should've been standout scenes (the hand in the box; folding space; the first worm encounter, etc) just blended into the whole, for me, at least. The promotional popcorn bucket had more life. Like you, I can't understand why so many critics praised it.
It's a terrible OCD quality of mine that I have to finish everything I start, otherwise it just leaves me feeling unsatisfied and incomplete. That goes for most series I watch these days; I finish them even when they're terrible, just because I've invested so much time already.
I never saw the Dune TV movies, were they any better plotted and executed? Would you say the Lynch version is the "definitive" version of the movie released so far, or does the novel remain "unfilmable" in the truest sense?
Also, wish I was able to nab one of those Fleshlight sandworm buckets... :bud:
The TV miniseries gets points for trying. The first one (that covers Book I) is the best. Most of the negativity around it seems directed at the sets, but I was fine with them – it was a TV budget. *sigh. I don't know how anyone who hasn’t read the book feels about it, though, besides the one person that I lent my DVD to, who liked it. The second miniseries (Books I+II combined) isn't as good and ends on a cliff-hanger. I did some words on both on the Nut Box blog, if you're interested.
I don't think there's been a 'definitive' version yet, and now that the new one exists there likely never will be. Lynch's version captures the majestic nature of the world, whereas the miniseries takes a less grand, more down to earth approach, which benefits the political contrivances.
Lynch's will always be my personal favourite, despite completely losing the plot at the end. The fan-made 'Alternative Edition Redux' (aka the Spicediver Edit) is definitely worth seeking out, if you liked the original.
*second miniseries (Books II+III)
Thanks. I wasn't sure if they were TV movies or a miniseries. I missed them on the Nut List earlier because they were filed under Frank Herbert.
I saw the extended fan edit of Lynch's Dune a few years back. I agree it was an improvement over the theatrical cut, although I still needed to lean on the Wikipedia summary more than once in order to follow along.
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