Denis Villeneuve’s Dune

The entire point is privileged saviour types are not to be blindly followed or worshipped.

At no stage in the second movie did I ever think Paul was being portrayed as a hero as opposed to a protagonist which people seem to confuse.

It's got a few weird bits alright but I reckon they are ones you can just leave out. I never understood the need for Gholas or the love for Duncan. He just seems to me to be such a minor character.

Ya, I do think they'll need to bring battles in to it. If you go from an epic like this to a slower film like Messiah is, I think you disappoint a lot of people. They'd need to just skip most of the time gap and show some of the holy war and then have the political and heir side alongside that I think, at which point you're only loosely adapting Messiah then.

I enjoyed that. Maybe not as much as part one but that was at least partly down to my reaction to the SCALE of Part one immediately after Covid. It was a breath-taking example of what what a HUGE F*cking screen can bring.

It's been decades since I read the books but I did like how they made it more obvious how much the Bene Geserit manipulated the Fremen. It's in Part one as well so not a spoiler. It may be that I simply missed it initially (I was about 15 reading it initially and have MAYBE read it and Messiah once more in the subsequent 30+ years).

My only real complaint was Christopher Walken. It kind of took you out of the moment:

I mean, you expect a bad Walken impression: "Muad... DIB???!!!"

So I really enjoyed this. I hope they get to do Messiah and am looking forward to the Bene Geserrit series.

I saw it and really enjoyed it. 4 out of 5 for me. I think the last battle scene could of been 10 mins longer as just felt rushed for what it was.

I would say definitely read Messiah after the first.

Its a good completion of Paul's story arc.

That's the thing though, you're not really remaking Messiah at that point. Like a lot of the interesting stuff from a film point of view happens in the 12 year gap. The war, the reaction of the great houses, Paul's visions coming to fruition. Messiah, as a book, brings you to the end of the story.

Like if they remake it as is, you'll have people going in expecting lots of action as the holy war starts but they get lots of talk about breeding programs, bringing people back from the dead and a bunch of politics. I don't think that film works as a fantasy/sci-fi blockbuster.

Indeed the films only go so far. He did an excellent job of adapting the book into films that worked for both readers and non-readers, but if you haven't read the book you are missing out, a lot more will make more sense if you know the backstory.

went again today with my wife. I very rarely rewatch a film I’ve already seen and the last time I took a repeated trip to the cinema was The fellowship of the Ring. But I jumped at the chance to see again. It’s glorious. That opening line “he who controls the spice controls the universe”, sang in those vocals… man, it gave me goosebumps. It’s like a battle cry. It’s peak cinema.

Timmy C is so perfect as Paul, he’s exactly that charismatic type you genuinely believe in. For the 2nd time I walked out of the movie and had to remind myself this guy isn’t a protagonist. We’ll be looking back in years to come wondering how this film packed in so much talent. Butler, Chalamet, Zendaya, Pugh, Taylor-Joy… every one of them will be huge.

In terms of sequels, I think it’s up there with The Dark knight and Godfather Part 2.

Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are probably out there on their own with the general public but Dune will certainly be in the level down. I'm talking about Terminator, Alien or Independence Day level following.

Enjoyed it but I'm trying to stay more loyal to the book I think he, knowingly or otherwise, sacrificed the pacing of the movie. A solid 30 mins could have been edited. I get they needed to set up Feyd but almost the entire Giedi Prime scenes could have gone and I'd not have missed it.

Saw this morning absolutely loved it, proper epic.

Zendaya and Bardem were excellent, Butler was also really good too, proper scary.

Negatives Christopher Walken...was well himself, I would also say needed more Florence Pugh but I am guessing a lot more of her in part 3.

Pugh was excellent but wanted more of her no idea on books tbh, Ferguson is always really good totally agree on that (if you want to see her on top form the TV show Silo is excellent and she is lead).

Really enjoyed it, the execution is absolutely incredible. It's just such a beautiful movie.

I feel the movies leave so many obvious questions unanswered but I guess there's only so much focus they can have given the scope of what's being portrayed.

My only negative takeaway from Part Two is Christopher Walken. Seriously, an awful choice, and he's neither good nor convincing in the movie. Everyone else is absolutely at the top of their game, flawless.