Off Topic Thread 5.0

The biggest flaw by far with the film is that it's clearly (at best) half a film. The third act ran into serious pacing issues, they didn't have enough time to further delve into the larger conflict and I came away a little unsatisfied given the spectacle of the opening 90 minutes. While the final third was slower and more intimate and clearly necessary for the character development of some of the leading protagonists, it didn't feel like the natural end point of a complete film. As such, my main gripe is that as an opening instalment of a series, the film falls into the trap of not being it's own complete movie.

If I had some other complaints it would be down to the under utility of some of the cast (I suspect that will be remedied in the coming sequels) and the failure to use certain scenes to greater impact. One example of this is Rabban's character. There is one scene later on where he is executing a bunch of Atreides survivors and it's shot in a very sterile fashion, almost like a War documentary. Whilst I can understand this approach, I felt it was a missed opportunity to really show the menace of Rabban and give Bautista something to work with in a film where for the most part he just stood around looking sadistic but doing little.

Aside from the above, the film looked amazing. The distinctiveness of each of the key powers was remarkable, and the overall spectacle of the Universe created by Villeneuve was perfect. Skarsgård, Ferguson, Mamoa and Isaacs anchored the film, and Chalamet was a solid Paul Atreides. Despite only accounting for less than half the story told in the David Lynch adaptation, the Dune universe was far more fleshed out and I'm happy to live with a weaker third act for the story to be properly set up.

I read the first two books when I was 16 so my memory of them is at best hazy, but some of the more detailed characteristics of the likes of the Fremen have been adapted flawlessly and the power players from the Imperium to the Bene Gesserit and the Harkonnen along with their specific motivations all come together commensurately within the wider narrative.

I was looking forward to this movie for a while and I have greater anticipation for the next instalment having seen it.