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Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

esquire.com

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Re: Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agree, Dune for me was one, Inception being another. I liked Moon(small budget but excellent), interstellar was ok. And thats about it.

Ones I liked are Arrival, Interstellar, Her, and Pacific Rim

Only Arrival and Interstellar were released in the last decade, and Interstellar only just.

This is my point. The last decade has been a sci-fi wasteland.

Re: Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ones I liked are Arrival, Interstellar, Her, and Pacific Rim

Only Arrival and Interstellar were released in the last decade, and Interstellar only just . This is my point. The last decade has been a sci-fi wasteland.

Plenty of good sci-fi, but mostly on TV.

Still, you're also probably overlooking how common sci-fi films are. Like say, Ad Astra with Brad Pitt (2019). The Martian in 2015. Blade Runner 2049. And so on.

Re: Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

#134
post #37

I would like to see the average age of people who prefer the new Dune movie to the old David Lynch one. Are you all Millennials and younger?

I'm 44 and I think Lynch'n Dune is better, because it has soul . The first movie was very sterile and lifeless. I commented about it here a while ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38980303

Mid-50's here and really didn't like Lynch's version that much, but was quite underwhelmed with Part 1.

That said, I think you nailed the two movies in two sentences.

Of Lynch's version I often quip that it was both good and original - however the parts that were original were not good, and the parts that were good were not original. In short - I did not like the divergences from the source material that much. It did have a soul though.

Part 1 seemed to miss or give short-shrift to beats in the book that always stood out to me. Instead of really conveying the absolutely oppressive lack of moisture on the planet, there was what felt like an interminably long monologue about the palm trees. Mentats with inner eye-lids? Leaned into the mystical side too much for my taste. Yueh's betrayal seemed like a footnote. The end of the movie from when Paul and Jessica met the Freman felt rushed. More time spent on why Jamis was so pissed off, and reflecting on the fact that this was the first man Paul killed, and less on weird alternative time-line future WTF visions would have been time better spent. Sterile and lifeless.

Add to that, did anyone else not know that it was a part one and not a complete movie when they walked in? Definitely seemed like something that they went to lengths to conceal.

That said, I'll watch it again before watching part two, and then try and form an opinion of the complete movie and not just the first half.

Re: Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

#135
post #10

> Even better than the first film The first part left me quite underwhelmed, tbh. Maybe I had too high expectations given the director, but while the visuals are amazing, the characterization of some characters (like lady Jessica or Thufir Hawat) are very far from how the books depicts them, and I don't think is an interpretation thing. I understand that Dune is too big of a masterpiece for a simple 2 part movie (it…

Yeah, I don't remember Jessica being nearly as overtly emotional in the book as she is in Part 1. I enjoyed Part 1 while watching it, but somehow it's just not memorable to me. It's a much more faithful book adaptation than Lynch's Dune, but Lynch's Dune is full of moments that stick with me and has an iconic soundtrack. To be fair, I first saw Lynch's Dune when I was very young so that might explain part of why I fi…

    Lynch's Dune is, I think, a significantly better movie than Villeneuve's
Yeah. Ultimately I think Villeneuve's movie commits the worst sin of all which is being kind of boring. (Though as a Dune "veteran" I realize my perspective is highly skewed!)

Lynch's movie is kind of a mess maybe, but there is a sense of wonder there that I just don't get from Villeneuve's beautiful-but-sterile version.

Re: Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

#136
post #14

I could not stand the first part of the movie Dune. I'm sorry for the fans, but it was amongst the worst movies I have ever (partially) watched. Slow and incomprehensible for me. P.S. I have not read the book.

My anecdata with Dune part 1 is that people who haven't read at least the first book are far more likely to not love the movie. For me, the movie isn't so much an adaptation as it is a window into the world. As someone already familiar with that world, I think the movie is incredible.

Have read the first book multiple times, and hard disagree. See [0] for my thoughts on why.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39555931

Re: Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t imagine trying to understand the movie if I hadn’t read the book. As you say, it would be absolutely incomprehensible.

One might argue that means that the movie failed to properly execute.

Can be argued either way. Perhaps it’s ok for some movies to be companions to pre-existing work, not to be experienced in isolation. In fact, this was the tradition in painting and sculpture for centuries. The viewer would know the backstory for that severed head, e.g., belonging to Goliath.

Re: Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

#138
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s ironic, considering how much better Arrival and the Blade Runner sequel were than Dune.

Arrival is an incredible film. (And sure enough, as is the story it's based on.) That's even with the discounting factor of the useless rogue bombers subplot. Blade runner 2049 is an interesting film. Visually gorgeous. Ana de Armas doing one of the best stone-cold scenes I have ever seen. And the whole film having the guts to tell a small story in a big world. Commendable. But I also find myself cringing at how it t…

I enjoyed Peter Watts' provocative review of Arrival, which I thought I'd shared on HN in the past, but search suggests apparently not:

https://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=7021

In terms of quality I want to rate it above the other two movies we're talking about, and right up there with, ahem, the original Blade Runner as a classic science fiction film. (for me that's saying something, since I dislike the visual style of Villeneuve's films)

edit: my main problem with the bomber subplot was just how heavy handed it was

Re: Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

#139
post #80

It seems that reviewers like this are still on the Paul-as-hero boat. It's easy to take the first film and even the book that way, despite the premonitions of future destruction and disaster that exist in both, and I assume part 2 is going to largely continue the same way. But I really hope Villeneuve has the guts to hold true to Herbert's overall message about "heroes", where after defeating the evil Harkonnens and…

But I really hope Villeneuve has the guts to hold true to Herbert's overall message about "heroes"

In the first part, Paul has a vision in the tent, after Harkonnens' attack. He is horrified by a yihad extending through the galaxy like an unstoppable wildfire: "it's your fault, Bene Geseriths made me a monster"... so maybe that's the intention after all.

Re: Dune: Part Two Is the Best Sci-Fi Film of the Decade

#140
post #10

> Even better than the first film The first part left me quite underwhelmed, tbh. Maybe I had too high expectations given the director, but while the visuals are amazing, the characterization of some characters (like lady Jessica or Thufir Hawat) are very far from how the books depicts them, and I don't think is an interpretation thing. I understand that Dune is too big of a masterpiece for a simple 2 part movie (it…

For that 6-8 part series, you’re looking for the SyFy Channels version that was done early 2000s. Fantastic. Frank Herbert’s Dune. Had William Hurt in it.

Hurt was the worst part of it. I swear, I still cringe when I remember his unemotional delivery of "Desert. Power." Damn he was bad.
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