As someone who has read the whole original book series, seen lynch's dune and the syfy dune series, I think this newest film is the closest aesthetically to the books.
I don't like this review, the whole review was not a review of the 2021 Dune but more like a comparison with Lynch's version, 'I liked this in 2021 version but, in the lynch version it was better', I mean review the movie on it's own and if you need to compare it then make a separate video. Geez, each thing she mentioned was followed by 'In Lynhc's version'
and the better for it. herbert does not write simply, nor does he write pedantically, but the images and ideas as they strike you are so clear, the closer you can get to what you think he showed you, the better off you will be, as if filming from an invisible story board.
@@alexmathayes1but it's a perfectly fair criticism. Granted she admits her bias, but I've read the book and I too feel like the world building in this new version feels so clean that the harsh conditions and dangers of Arrakis weren's as intense as they could've been.
Hans Zimmer seems to be pretty polarizing people seem to love him or hate him... I couldn't disagree with you more, I love his work, and I wouldn't want any one else composing for this movie.
I happen to be ambivalent about him. I love his work in Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises or Interstellar. I don't like his "classics" like Gladiator or The Rock. Even Inception - which everybody seems to love - is somewhat grating to me. Dune grew on me. At first I found it boring, nowadays I love a lot of it.
Much of the magic of the novel lies in its digressions into personal monologues, philosophy, psychology, and world building. Difficult to capture these in film without losing cohesion.
Great point the problem I have with the movie is its dumbed down to a single story thread, Princess Irulan isn't even in it and she is a major character - the book presents multiple pov of the different politic stakeholders which this version seems to oversimplify. Too many times I'm thinking they played it safe whereas Lynch took risks and got some good bits right, this feels a bit bland even though its literally correct for the bits it decides to cover.
@@bogroll1881 Lynch's risks including deviating so much from the book that there's no knife fights outside of duels, Bene Gesserit training is turned into a sonic gun and the ending completely misses the point of the original story. Visually, Lynch created a spectacle, and I liked his use of voice over and his decision to stick more closely to the dialogue in the novel, but even he admitted his version was a failure and a mess of an adaptation.
@@bogroll1881 I only read the book once but wasnt Princess Irulan's role in the first half of the book pretty much only being limited to her quotes at the start of each scene? I wouldn't consider that to be a pivotal thing to include in Part One other than capturing what she was speaking of in each of those quotes
@@isaiasovelar4434 Yeah. I once read that the movie is "the most interesting failure of a movie ever", but it's definitely failure. And holy crap is she brutal on this film. Like, wow, lady. What Villeneuve managed to convey from an incredibly complex book was amazing. But I guess anyone who refers to Hans Zimmer as a 'hack' and criticizing the phenomenal soundtrack is...huh?
I honestly think Dune 2021 is great art just because of the wildly different interpretations and reactions everybody is having to it. Dune struck me as a difficult book to put to film because it's densely weird at both the surface level and in the interior lives of the characters. This is a world that is portrayed as being uncomfortable - you're not supposed to be able to sympathize with brutal space aristocrats who hang out with Jedi eugenics witches. I think Villeneuve's approach is the right one: the world of Dune is hostile, forbidding, oppressive, freighted with mystery and prophecy, and the story is epic in scope, while the characters themselves are strange and unrelatable. Dune 2021 evokes these feelings, and the score does its best to maintain a good level of otherworldly stressfulness, while the movie itself somehow manages to remain a Hollywood spectacle that regular people will go and see. It's a fine line to walk and I think Villeneuve walks it well. EDIT: Writing on your phone in the bathtub is not ideal.
FUN FACT: Throughout the novel, only three minor characters ever refer to Arrakis as Dune aloud, Piter De Vries, Stilgar, and Tuek the smuggler. Paul only ever thinks the name, and Irulan only writes it. No one besides these five ever refers to Arrakis as Dune at all.
"I've actually never read the book, but I do know a bit about it." Just curious, what is your source for your understanding of the book? Dune as a book and series is written to be disorienting. Including having scattered alternate takeaways (including ones I don't think the author even intended). This can all make for a fairly divergent experience and conception for people following it or its general ip. "I've always seen it as unfilmable" At this point, the public expectations for a Dune film have boiled over the bounds of just its book form. It has an extended jumbledness of quirky tones, tropes, what stories should or should not be told or emphasized, how it should be translated for poltical or cultural censorship or evangelism. Including the convention that it should be unfilmable. I think the actual book is filmable. But the notion of delivering a specific product that somehow will nail each of the divergent (and often mutually exclusive) expected product variations of the populace is pretty silly. That's pretty "Brexit" if you will.
Good points. I took note of how the movie has "updated" some of the book's content for our time when Gurney Halleck failed to utter his famous line about moods and their relevance to battle. This omission made me realize that trying to please everybody with this movie is damn near impossible, because the expectations for the movie are so wildly divergent, especially among people who only have second-hand knowledge of the book.
@@DepressedHandsomeSpaceCop yeah they used the first part of what he says in the book but left out the cattle. Part in the end Mood?" Halleck's voice betrayed his outrage even through the shield's filtering. "What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises, no matter your mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting."
Hans Zimmer doesn't exactly do subtle ambients, but that's kind of the point here: Arrakis is an inhospitable, dazzling nightmare, and the droning score perfectly evokes that kind of oppressive landscape. Zimmer's style may be over-saturated by now, but it's preferable to John Williams swashbuckling violins other desert sci-fi movies go for, where the environment is just a green-screen backdrop.
Dune 1984 had spine-chilling memorable themes like The Prophecy theme (Brian Eno) or Paul meets Chani theme (Toto), both of which were beautiful and otherworldly. Unfortunately the 2021 version left me with nothing, except perhaps the throat singing, which isn't exactly beautiful but does make you think wow that's weird. The rest was too grandiose-striving, try-hard and often didn't fit the scene.
@@passerby6168 I’ve never seen Lynch’s dune but I couldn’t agree more regarding Zimmers score. There were moments that were wonderfully done, but I feel like 70% of the time I was just thinking wow I think I’d prefer no music at all over this relentless, bombastic, jarring noise.
I listened to the audiobook of Dune a few times over the last year. Had a couple of images from Lynch’s adaptation seared onto my mind at a fairly young age. I think Villeneuve’s Dune part 1 is near perfection…exquisite to look at, conveys a good amount of the depth of the novel’s mythology and is delivered almost entirely by people at the top of their fields (production designers, vfx teams, actors, musicians, director). I think it’s a remarkable achievement with only the tiniest/rarest of brief missteps appearing a couple of times I would say. Bravo to all involved.
Shadow of the Colossus: I WISH movie CGI could achieve that level of “weightiness” of massive creatures. Such a great mention. Great review, as always.
Beyond the special effects and CGI, the art design and concept work is phenomenal. I can see the color composition was worked wonderfully in all the shots as well. I would love to know who Denis Villeneuve worked with and buy the artbook when it comes out. I fully agree with you on Hans Zimmer score however, and I know I am in the small minority of people. But, as someone who read the series multiple times, I always imagine the soundtrack in my mind to Dune to be more "tea daze", more psychedelic, more... part of the experience.
tbf, everytime a friend explained the book to me, my gut thought always was, "that can't be done as a movie. A tv show, Game of Thrones style, for sure, but not a single movie." Sure enough they made this movie part 1 of potentially 2 movies.
@@cruddddddddddddddd The film adaptation of Naked Lunch was never going to be able to capture the spirit of the book in its entirety, I liked that it knew this and did something different rather than a futile Dune retelling. Which is what I fear the new one will be. Lynch perhaps could be accused of this in his version but I just love to watch The old Dune regardless.
Dune is a beautiful interpretation of the novel. The scenes he sacrificed gave room to a deep world full of nuance, detail and intensity. A profound visual and auditory experience on iMax.
I've been a fan of the Dune series for most of my life and I can whole-heartedly agree. The bits they skipped or merged with others were totally acceptable.
I want the director's cut. I want everything that was cut to be put in and make it even more epic with more detail. I personally would have been at a theater 2 more hours, I didn't want it to end.
This is one of the best, most honest reviews of DUNE I have seen thus far. You state at the beginning of the video that you have never read the books and that you have a soft spot for Lynch’s adaptation. With all that considered, your personal criticisms of the film feel totally valid as you understandably have little to no investment in the DUNE cinematic universe outside of being a fan fan of Dennis Villenueve’s Bladerunner 2049. I have read the books and I can’t overstate just how perfect of a film this is and just how faithful it is to the first book. I really respect it when someone has legitimate concerns about a piece of media and is upfront about their relationship with the piece in question before they get into their criticisms. It is alarming how many “serious” film critics I’ve seen on Yt in the past week bash this movie for being “incomplete” as if they didn’t notice the “Part 1” in the opening credits. Moreover, most of the critics I have seen review content from claim to have read the books when it is so blatantly obvious that they have not. Almost as if they’re so desperate to seem intellectual or en-vogue so they get invited to the next party with the “cool kids.” Thank you for an honest movie review in a sea of dishonest critics who think that the Star Wars sequels we’re “bold and thought provoking.”
I loved the movie but someone feeling that a part one feels incomplete can still be a valid criticism even with complete knowledge of the cutoff being intentional. At the end of the day, a movie has to stand on its own and some people felt that that wasn't acheived. You don't have to agree with them, just pointing out that it being intentional is irrelevent to their feeling Even she states it here
I feel this movie is the anti-Hobbitt, the essence of "Dune" was respected and explored to the fullest in the time available and it clearly setups a sequel to finish the story of the first book. "The Hobbit" was a mess in every way stretched the story to the fullest in n a trilogy just to make money, full of terrible CGI corny jokes and no real heart.
@@treytilley333 Lindsay Ellis did a 3-part duology on the making of The Hobbit, which was nominated for a Hugo Award. I recommend giving that a watch. PJ was never meant to make The Hobbit. th-cam.com/video/uTRUQ-RKfUs/w-d-xo.html
I've read (and loved) the whole Dune series. And read the first book several times. Like LotR it is always going to be very difficult to film because of the sheer density of plotting and world building. I do believe the director GETS the book and manages to retain and portray this in the film. Obviously a lot has to be left out - some of which would have better explained the motivations and actions of certain characters better. I also really enjoyed the Lynch version - but totally understand why so many cinema goers (and reviewers) were confused by it! I will need to see part 2 to really form an opinion but I think this is a promising effort. And totally worth seeing on a big screen just for the cinematography.
The music was one of the best bits. I didn't even clock that it was by Zimmer...that really surprised me. It's ominous, imposing and has this almost "monolithic" dread to it.
In parts it was alright, in parts it was amazing but majority of a time it was out of place, way too loud and overshadowing what was happening on a screen. In the scene after Paul's fight with fremen it was very apparent to me. As scene was filled with people, moving people, there was the sand, the wind, the main character was walking over crunchy rock but all I heard was a score. Score ate away all the space and the feeling of vastness, connectivity between objects on the screen. Not only that but effects repeat. Even the greatest horn sounds while imposing and impressive at first get dull and boring for a 15th time, they appear even in scenes where nothing happens. People slowly walk over sand - horns, people eat - horns, a person has a 1000 yard stare - HORNS, utterly unbearable. I would just cut away half of melodic bits and music from the movie and it would be better overall. However in places it was very much in place and a great fit, sardukar chanting for example was very memorable, bagpipes were nice etc.
@@TH-camHallMonitor I love that shit. The Fremen are based on middle eastern/Bedouin cultures and the language they speak is a futuristic form of Arabic originating from Earth. When you’re reading Dune you can almost imagine the classic “desert woman wailing” trope. It’s going to become a memorable part of the series.
@@stevenk6991 100% with you on the score eating up the space. It felt suffocating. If the bombastic score did weigh so heavy I feel the world would have really been able to come alive and breathe through layers of subtle environmental sounds. With visuals that incredible there was really no need to lay the score on so thick.
Yep. The whole movie builds up to finding the Fremen and Chani. Paul finds some resolution on the path he’s taking/visions he’s had and is ready for his next narrative arc. It’s as good a stopping point you can find for the story
SPOILERS * SPOILERS * SPOILERS I agree with you all, that was an excellent stoping point. As @solodolotrevino said eloquently Paul first arc ends when he start to accept, if not yet fully embrace, his destiny. "When you take a life you take your own." Killing Jamis is a turning point. "Paul Atreides must die for Kwisatz Haderach to rise." Metaphorically young priviledged Duc's son Paul Atreides dies so adult fremen warrior Paul Muad'Dib can begin his journey to become the Kwisatz Haderach. @russellb5573 Yes, the last line of the movie says it all : - Chani "This is only the begining." - cut to black - Can't wait for part 2 !
I think it is very much filmable but not in film format. This is a 6 book series with a continuous story, it deserves a long tv series. With this being said I still can't wait to watch it on Monday.
I saw this back in September, and thought it was kind of a mess. It's visually very striking (though not as beautiful as BR2047, which was all-round great) but beyond that i found very little to chew on. Flat, mostly uninteresting characters, dull political intrigue, and a whole lot of what feels like filler, for something that still needs to be cut off short when the credits roll. The movie is filled up with lore dumps, and still manages to miss (or barely touch on) some very crucial lore points, which ends up confusing someone that hasn't read the book. Maybe having fewer shots of spaceships taking off and landing, and cutting out a couple of Zendaya-looking-in-camera daydreams, would've allowed them to flesh out these characters and families more. I still have hopes for a part 2, which should cover more interesting aspects of the story.
@@worlddd7777 A high budget tv series would've made the most sense. Most of the scenes are characters talking in an interior or desert shots, you don't need an obscene budget for that.
Saw it in IMAX and was just absolutely blown away. The music from Zimmer is actually great and normally I don't care for Zimmer since his work on Inception ruined soundtracks for many years. The story is stripped back but still grandiose in scale and the performances are fantastic. Eagerly awaiting part 2.
@@Snuckster2 I respectfully disagree. I encourage you to listen to the soundtrack on its own on Spotify. It utilizes a wide variety of instruments and chants to compliment the movie. I never found it overbearing like Zimmer usually does.
The dialogue was cludged, and the acting over-the-top. I had high hopes, and they fell through. The spectacle and dazzle will keep many people hypnotized, but the book got lost in that. Chalamet isn't good enough yet to do what needs to be done with Paul, nor was he given the direction to succeed there. He's super pretty and his hair looks amazing with sand in it, he's just not capable of the gravitas that is required of the person playing a character that was genetically sculpted to be the penultimate man.
Her take is that Dune is “clunky” and “weighted down with exposition”, what?! Does she prefer the silent film era? Dune’s part 1 of a grandiose literary tome, given the scope of the universe, the script is downright terse but it whets the appetite, and audiences new to the franchise will rush out and buy Herbert’s novels hungry for a deeper dive. It’s as if she’s straining to find fault with the film, as if her take’s objectively true. My take on her take is that she should read the first novel and watch Quinn’s Ideas’ TH-cam channel.
A lot of the fans of the book complained that the movie didn't explain the world enough through exposition. I thought he only added exposition when absolutely necessary and did a great job of showing and not telling.
you managed to not talk about what actually happens in the movie at all. that says alot. i felt like none of the characters interested me more than looking at sand. when they hurt, I didn't care. i guess its because none of them feel like real people at all. i loved watching the movie, and I will again tomorrow, but the plot is impressively dull and lacks any real emotion.
I sincerely like Dune 1984, maybe because it’s visually so strange and different.🤷🏽♀️ My only issue with Dune 2021 is that the pacing is rather plodding, the things that are focused on aren’t as interesting as they are in the book, and it ultimately feels rather hollow. I didn’t feel anything for any of these characters except perhaps the Fremen. Visually it’s gorgeous, but it felt so emotionally empty. I agree about the worms. They looked amazing, but they didn’t feel as tangible as say, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park?
"I've actually never read the book" you say. Well, I'm sorry to say it shows in your critic with which I disagree even though I liked the Lynch adaptation of the same work. This sticks for more closely to the source material and is a whole lot more faithful to it. I did read the books all the way to Chapterhouse Dune and am so happy Frank Herbert's work finally has a valid big screen adaptation, You should watch some interviews Denis Villeneuve did about some choices he made adapting the book to the big screen and maybe the book itself, it just might change your mind on some of the stuff you said here.
Dune is drab and watching paint dry would be more interesting....extremely overrated. But I tried to read the book and had to re-read sentences and paragraphs over and over. I'll stick to Robert A Heinlein's books, George R R Martin, the Polish Author for the Witcher, Asimov's works and HP Lovecraft's works. Maybe the Movie will change my opinion. I think the video game trilogy of Mass Effect would be an awesome space Opera movie. I just hope it isn't WOKE. PS, I'd like a movie based on Necroscope.
"I've actually never read the book, but I do know a bit about it." Well I've neither read the book nor seen the movie, but I'm going to comment here anyway.
Way too many people are judging you for not reading the book but reviewing the film as part of an unadaptable source material and its getting weird. First off, not everyone can or should have to immediately read the book before or after watching the movie. The book itself is pretty steep in world building and because of this it's actually true that it's unadaptable. You can adapt certain parts of it in film but you would also have to alter or leave out other parts of it in order to work. Hence why I agree that a miniseries would've been the proper solution for an adaptation for this book, especially given how there is so much exposition around the story and how the characters have even gotten to this point in the first place. But I will give credit to the director for shooting it the way it did, and not overdoing it on the narration as a way to explain things. I actually don't mind Lynch's Dune, I feel like for all the issues he had with the production and the studio, he really tried to adapt a big book with a lot of exposition into a 2-hour movie, and it might not have been successful, but he genuinely tried and wanted to achieve it.
Just watched it and I too was impressed by the CGI and the visual impact. I think this movie is so successful because it appeals to fascists, environmentalists and sci-fi fans alike, and lovers of emotional drama which is of course a prerequisite for success. People will queue up to watch part 2 if only to see how Paul and Chani are going to hit it off. The booming score of Hans Zimmer got on my nerves, too, but go see it anyway just for the visuals.
I really enjoyed the movie. The houses felt right the Harkonens felt truly scary. The exposition was done well and I loved the ships. I also think the visions with multiple time lines was excellent. There is almost nothing I didn't like but I have to agree the score really bothered me. I think if it was used less and kicked in at a couple of key moments rather than continuously going it would have been more impactful. After this I feel like the Lynch version was a complete mess. However Lynch has amazing and out there character design and fun element that take advantage of the fact it is a scifi epic. I'm definitely excited for the next movie.
Yup this is pretty much how I feel. The score is not very good. Knock-off tribal music and big rumbly parts that are supposed to feel "epic" but just seems a bit overblown and takes me out of the movie. Otherwise really cool movie though
To defend some of your points about the „distance, the sterility, the cleanness“ of the movie (although I can absolutely see it and agree), the book itself, in its writing style and world building is also very very sterile and absent to the reader almost. At least that’s how I read the book.
Denis himself said he is adapting Dune the way he saw it at 13 years old. Many people agree with the vision he’s brought to life and other people see the books differently. But he’s staying faithful to the world he believes Herbert was trying to paint for the reader.
My twleve year old daughter had never even heard of Dune 48 hours ago and walked into the room while I was halfway through the movie and she was transfixed by both the visuals and the story and demanded to watch the whole movie which she loved and is now in love with the Dune universe. As a lifelong fan of the book I'd say they got it just right.
Agreed on the "weightlessness" of cgi effects. Blade Runner 2049, for me, worked great because Denis did many of the spinner shots in camera with miniatures. Here, many scenes where too cgi centric and some of the ships resembled too much star wars special effects (the prequels and the new movies): too floaty and crisp, a problem that plagued the SyFi miniseries so much.
Oh, an actual good, critical review that highlights the movies strong and weak points instead of just spooging all over it because it's a "cinematic masterpiece", or trying to get clicks claiming that it's straight up bad. Neither is true. It's a really good movie, just about excellent, that's a bit to sterile for its own good and yet is sensually spectacular. Needs Part 2 to work.
It´s just difference of opinion. Like some people hate the Zimmer score and some people love it. Good, honest reviewer can consider it a masterpiece. Someone having a different opinion from yours doesn´t make them dishonest.
Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, Crimson Tide along with a few other of his soundtracks actually worked beautifully despite of its overbearing loudness.
@@anthonymartensen3164 I have seen the film and the score was the only part I found "passable". The rest was amazing. I will say this though: If I don't remember a score from a film then it's usually a sign it doesn't stand on its own. There are good scores from bad films I remember and that's because the film itself doesn't sway me to either praise or bash the music composed for the film. When it comes to Zimmer then his scores could be used interchangeably with virtually all films he made music for. That's because it follows a rigid formula and never deviates much from it. A couple of years back I was at a "recognize the movie score" party in my university. We were sorted depending on which semester we were in. Let's just say that our semester group won easily and yours truly recognized the scores the second they played. Far from all of them were the most commonly recognized themes. What I'm trying to say is that my music memory is rather good, but virtually none of Zimmer's scores sticks with me. I'd say that's because it lacks any distinctive or interesting features. You pretty much get the same thing every time which some people might find amazing but I don't. I suppose they either haven't heard much else or just are instantly conditioned to like a score if they like the film itself. This is why they instantly fail the "Name-a-film-you-didn't-like-but-loved-the-score-for" test. The taste in music is highly subjective I will admit and people are free to enjoy whatever they want. I suppose there is some skill involved in making "accessible music" and that should be respected. Dune 2021 lacks a distinctive theme. Pity.
This is the first review, that truly encapsulates my feeling of the movie Dune. I cant say I hated it and it definitely was the best movie I watched in the cinema this year and I can appreciate the direction this adaptation is going for, but it does not pay justice to the book and the topic Dune. As you said, it is just a bit too weightless, to sterile, too clean and the plot and dialogue a bit too stripped down. Also I really dislike the costume design here. There was so much that could have been done with the colours of the uniforms and colour in general, that was lost in showing how sandy this place is. The point about Hans Zimmer I agree with fully.
I actually prefer the cinematography of BR 2049, I mean come on its Deakins lol. But the soundtrack was just horrible for me. It was the same two tracks over and over again (drums and the woman screaming with a coarse voice). That woman's voice kept popping up all the time kind of reminded me of Zack Snyder's Justice League with Wonder Woman
I watched Lynch's version of Dune just after seeing Villeneuve's and I broadly agree with your analysis here. Villeneuve's has to be commended in terms of cinematic spectacle, the sound design alone is fantastic and makes going to a movie theatre to see it worthwhile. What I found though is that whilst Villeneuve's world building is very impressive the film fell into the same problems as Bladerunner 2049 in that it felt to clean and too sterile. The characters also did not make anything like the same impact as they did in the Lynch version, Kyle Maclachlans version of Paul makes far fmore of lasting impression than Chalamet most importantly. That's partly a problem with the actor in that Chalamet is just too weak a performer to carry such a heavy role and partly a problem with the direction. Overall Villeneuve's Dune is to be applauded for being such a great cinematic film but due to its characters not making a lasting impression is still inferior to the Lynch version.
@@offspringfan1288 As someone who read all Frank Herbert's dune books she is actually pretty correct, yes it can potray the world and backdrop to an aesthetic extent, but potraying the complexity of the story of Dunan idaho or the entirety of the God emperor is impossible. Even in the first book they failed to capture the intricacy or scheming that happened in the book, which made u care less for the characters, especially Jessica, Duke Leto or the relationships between the harkonens. A few scenes like the party between houses could tie this problem in a game of thrones sort of fashion but I feel they stripped the characters from the books to their base qualities. Still a great film but there isn't too much you can do to do Frank Herberts Dune justice.
I've now seen THREE (1984, SyFy miniseries and 2021) versions of Dune and I agree, I think ultimately it's an not a story that can be properly made into a movie. The 2021 version is much more accessible to the general public than the David Lynch version, but I find the two films very similar overall. The new version was beautiful to watch, and the scope was amazing, but it needed to be much longer as the first movie in the series.
This critic has never read the book, but then shares her opinion on how the book can't be made into movie, what? This critic, and I'll use that term lightly, is a poser. She's completely off on the handful of reviews I watched. I know reviews are objective, but come on! Really?
As a fan of the book I honestly thought it needed more exposition. I know film is a visual medium but certain aspects of this, unless you've read the book or have watched the extended version of Lynch's, I don't know how you'd understand what's going on. I still really loved it.
I'm sorry but I have to respectively disagree with your stance on Hans Zimmer's score. Dune is an EXTREMELY complex story built by layering extremely complex character developments and themes on top of each other (you should know this better than anyone considering you never read the books). Not only does Hans Zimmer ensure everything you hear sounds like it was created on a distant planet, regardless of when it took place, he's purposely avoiding creating big,melody-heavy character motifs and anthems. By doing this, he is able to layer individual "sounds" for each character and their respective tone (Paul and his terrible purpose, Jessica and the Bene Gesserit, the vulnerability of the House of Atreides, the Fremen, the Harkonnens, etc.). Any other composer would have tried to create a popularized 'Dune Theme Song' and melody-driven sounds for the rest, which would inevitably clash with each other in a detrimental way. He actually put his ego aside and essentially just created a masterclass in story-driven sound design more than this movie really even has a "score" to it.
I'm still trying to figure it out if I liked this movie. It had lots of cool moments, but I still can't be ok with the fact that they removed Dr Yueh betrayal plot and the tension that it creates inside the atreides. Also, Piter de Vries could be so much explored, when he dies in the movie, you don't even cares. Not even talking about the dinner scene that was taken out. Really wish for an extended version to fill this gaps
Personally, I’ve never read the book or seen the Lynch version. Just took this as presented on its own. I was disappointed in the film as a whole, although visually there were some cool moments. I just did not connect with it at all. Agree 100 with your cold sterility take. I went in really wanting to enjoy it, but didn’t find it at all suspenseful and the score was annoyingly loud and melodramatic. Also, I felt zero connection to any characters and could’ve cared less what happened to any of them. Great points in your analysis.
Check out John Harrison's Dune miniseries, preferably it's Director's Cut. While you have to overlook some budgetary limitations, it's my favorite filmed Dune and it's sequel miniseries, Children of Dune, is even better.
Easily my favorite film of 2021. Absolutely loved it and cannot wait for Part 2. I’m confident that Denis can bring it home. I’m also happy that they’re not trying to milk the product by trying to turn it into 3 movies.
The 1984 Lynch movie was my introduction into the Dune Universe at the age of 13 and as such it will always have a special place close to my heart. Reading Frank Herberts novels as a teenager afterwards was a mindbending/-building/-evaluating experience. If i had children, i would only force two things upon them: to watch the original Rocky Horror Picture Show and this Dune adaptation, in the hopes it would inspire them to read my "carefully hidden and too mature for children" copies of the Novels. I can not fathom a way a movie could ever tell this timeless story in its entirety, with all its themes within themes. Denis Villeneuve did an awsome job at giving a new generation a gateway into this Universe AND making an epic movie at the same time. maybe now is the time you should read the books. it would be interresting to see if it would lead you to reevaluating .... things. i would definatly watch a video from you about that. ;)
It seems like the ZImmer score is a hate it or love it situation. It doesn't appear to be any in between. Ive seen people say its one was one of the most revolutionary scores and sound design in cinematic history. And I've also seen other people say it was TERRIBLE. If felt it was amazing personally.
I loved this movie quite a lot. I actually really appreciated that Denis decided to slash the film into two parts (despite the risk that I could not be made) because it could've become a disaster if he tried to put it all in the same movie. To be honest a complete perfect adaptation would have to be an 8 hour movie to be honest. Just one disagreement I liked the score.
Having not read the book, and being a fan of the Lynch version, I think only gives you a reference between the two, and not the source material. Lynch made his version into what I can now safely safe as 'bizarro' Dune, not unexpected considering the way Lynch approached film making. Denis was not only more faithful to the source, he relied on subtly conveying the message, the exposition you noted in this one pales in comparison to the voice over heavy Lynch approach. The scene when they try and assassinate Paul is the perfect example, in the original Paul's voice explained everything he was thinking, in this one, all you see is how he handles it and it comes off much more dramatically. You really ought to read the book, or listen to it on audible, now that you have seen the movie, it will be much easier to follow.
funny, I completely forgot the music.... and started to forget the film altogether, I'll have to see it again. I'm not a fan of BR 2049. It was an impossible act to follow 2019. I really like Arrival, even after multiple viewings and the script quirks....and it has a great soundtrack. As for creating a world,, could it be that The Chronicles of Riddick was more successful than this one?
Well spotted. Borrows heavily from Chronicles of Riddick, as well as from Blade Runner (most indoors sets are less impressive versions of the Weyland Corp. HQ), Arrival, and of course Star Wars.
I’m fascinated how you approached this review. I thought this movie succeeded where blade runner 2049 failed. I get all your saying about missing grit and clunkiness. And the fondness for the lynch version. I am a devoted student of jodorowsky in film and in healing and could only imagine what his version would have been like. But I thought this version really worked. It was amazing to me, stunning really. And I found it clean, well paced, satisfying and real. And I say this surprising myself that I liked it so much. 2049 for me was unrelatable. This movie felt almost transcendent. Nearly mystical. And so well acted. Thank you for reading and for your terrific reviews.
2049 was relatable for me character wise in that it posed the question of what exactly makes us human and what it means to be “alive”. I felt for Gosling’s character’s struggle with identity. You find humanity in this replicant who desires more meaning to its existence. Paul in Dune is seen as a Messianic figure, has premonitions and is in line to inherit a throne. Apart from the relevant environmental and political themes, the story (so far onscreen) isn’t as blatantly relatable as 2049 and neither are the characters. I still love Dune for different reasons.
@@solodolotrevino you make sense. My experience was different. I felt very close to the characters in dune. And felt the actors hearts. I didn’t quite have that in 2049.
@@solodolotrevino I get all of that. And I wanted to feel that. I sensed it intellectually but my soul just couldn’t buy in cinematically. I’m actually feeling redeemed that I found that with dune because I saw how talented villeneuve is and I just thought 2049 (for me) was so loyal to blade runner but it left me empty. Dune repaired that. But I totally get where you are coming from and I’m glad you got that from 2049.
Fascinating how different peoples experiences are. I adored the score. The music was by far its greatest feature to me, and am sad to report I found the movie a bit dull overall.
For me as someone who didn't read the books. Personally I enjoyed it alot as a movie. But seeing your points I kinda agree, I didn't get a sense of the characters and didn't care about any of them. I liked it as a big interesting movie, but I didn't feel like it's the gigantic universe that'll fall in love with it's characters and long stories. So u guys might be right.
I saw it tonight and I did enjoy some parts and aspects of it, but the more it sinks in the less I like it somehow. I liked the first parts, especially up to right after they arrive on Arakkis. I do like the alienating sense of scope that Devilleneuve gives to the whole experience, it really evokes the feeling of this strange epoch where material conditions and iron laws of power are dictated by this ethereal substance the spice: the feeling is perfectly captured by the sense of vertigo evoked by the literal, physical dimensions and scope of the space travel scenes. However, ironically, to me the experience fell flat when the movie got into the human side of the story, and the scenes where the main characters actually have spiritual/psychedelic experiences and relate them to each other. I feel like the movie just cannot escape these contemporary commonplaces of tone, sadly making things feel quite cliché. It's like movie makers nowadays, in terms of mannerisms, behavior, attitudes... need to portray characters in a very narrowly contemporary way in order for them to feel "genuine" or "casual", and as if in turn that is the only way in which they can be made to feel "sincerely human". It's "MacTone" and "Macdialogue". Characters are either overly pathetic when the script calls for "drama" leading to "anakin skywalker syndrome", or when the tension is to be broken, they must behave in this hyper-contemporary idea of "what casual people behave like", which to me feels like this very narrow postmodern idea that people are only being "sincere" when they are "casual" in an almost vulgar and cynical sense. It just doesn't feel honest as a depiction of nobles and their retinues that genuinely have strong life or death convictions about matters of religion, honor, politics, etc... and know they are surviving by staking their lives on them. For example, in the book and in the Lynch version, during the sword training scene, Gurney says something like "moods are a thing for cattle and loveplay", which you just know is not in this version because "it would be too cringe", well I'm sorry, people in other cultures and in other times and especially in very different social organizations than we are familiar with, behave in ways very different from us that feel "cringe" to us. Not everything has to be broken down into exactly the types and levels of irony and cynicism we would feel comfortable with in our daily lives. To compensate for this, the dramatic moments where Paul has these revelations and has to share them with his mother, for instance, feel artificially pumped up, almost hysterical. And this is where, indeed, the "Gladiator music" thing plays a heavy handed role. I'm sorry but that makes things just feel very forced. I'll take Pat Steward shouting "moods are a thing for cattle and loveplay!" and weird Lynchian psychedelic sequences over this rather sterile attempt, which I'm convinced genuinely tried, but in the end, as Jodorowsky predicted, indeed came out feeling quite predictable more than anything. A missed chance, perhaps, because this movie hits the mark on so many other levels. But here again Im afraid I have to side with Jodorowsky and assume that the big studio system is making that less and less probable as time goes by.
Firstly, credit where credit is due.... the film looks gorgeous! It is visually very striking no doubt! However, that is where my praise ends! These pseudo-art house action movies are starting to get really annoying! Present themselves as having something deep and meaningful to say but are ultimately as reliant on cliched action set pieces or battle scenes (all be it with cooler visual effects in 'Dune's case) as your average Michael bay film! And I fully accept that set pieces in this film are in a different league visually than your average Michael Bay film! I am just saying that the film is just as dependent on set pieces and for this reason the characterization tends to be just as surface level in films like these. And also because of there being so many action sequences , there isn't enough time to explore the characters , themes and ideas in a meaningful and coherent way. The ideas and themes just get spewed onto the screen in the form of clumsy exposition and 'cheap deepities' (very much like Nolan's work). I normally love deepfocuslens's reviews but this one (very much like the movie itself) only scratches the surface. She basically just kept comparing it to Lynch's film and mentioned how beautiful the film is visually and how much she hated the music! Very little exploration of the actual story telling here, the themes and philosophical insights (or lack thereof) and the actual characters! I also hated the music in this movie but I think there is a reason that this sort of movie specifically NEEDS a Zimmer score! I believe that movies like this need to have overbearing, hyper dramatic music booming out the whole movie long in order to hypnotize viewers into believing that they are watching something deep and substantial and to distract them from how hollow and philosophically bankrupt the movie actually is! Zimmer's music turns the audience into zombie's basically! I actually may end up eating humble pie and changing my opinion on this and even though I seem very critical, I am actually open to changing my mind on this. I guess I would ask fans a few questions that are bugging me about this film : 1) What themes do you think this film explores in an insightful way? Colonialization is bad?? 2) Were there any characters in this film that weren't one-dimensional? 3) Could any of ye hear a single word Rebecca Ferguson said??
The movie talks about colonisation but by following the colonizer. And it sets out to subvert the white Savior trope . But because it's a part 1 and the story isn't over , the story firstly needs to make the audience believe Paul is a hero before subverting such expectation. It's also a movie about a boy struggling to find purpose in this world , a boy who feels tremendous amount of pressure and who sometimes can't handle it anymore ( the tent scene ) . It's also a story of a mother and her sins befalling on her son and how she copes and is many times powerless against that. To me it's an existential story about a son and mom . I found it quite successful at that. And I found it super immersive and fun
You really should have read the book first. Especially since you made a point of not having read the book while calling it unfilmable. The main reason why is because it's a vast amount of backstory and world building exposition with very little in scene plot and character development. In that sense, it's a lot like Asimov's Foundation series. Dune's a fun read, so I'm not taking a big dump on it. But paring it down to the bones of Paul's story ignores everything interesting about the book. And that's why it's unfilmable. It's like trying to shoot a JD Salinger novel, which is all introspection. What are you going to put on screen?
I finally got to see it last night. As I expected, as someone who has read the books uncountable times, it was heinous. But, in its favor, it was many orders of magnitude less heinous than previous attempts. And, as just an audio/visual experience, it was what you'd expect from him, absolutely gorgeous.
The absence of the dinner scene was felt and it could have used a few quick shots of what was going on below the roofs of Arakeen, just show some ordinary people instead of just servants and worshippers.
Loved the movie! The last 40 minutes or so weren't as good as everything that came before it, but I really enjoyed it. Really hope they can get a part 2 made. Crazy that it is not in production yet.
I think you really hit it when you said lacking in “imagination”. There were a few elements. I LOVED those airships that looked like dragonflies. That was insanely cool. But I kind of wanted it to be a little bit more “sci fi” in certain areas. Something I like in science fiction is weird, imaginative ideas that are on screen for a second or are just part of the production design and the costumes, and here those felt a bit tamped down unfortunately. From what I hear the book is strange as hell and the Lynch version probably redefined strange for a lot of audiences. So it sucks that there’s not a lot of that in this one, despite really excellent cinematography and some solid designs. They just could’ve made it more out there in my opinion.
The Dune universe is pretty damn logical. Everything you saw in that movie has grown naturally from history; the worldbuilding is insanely elaborate. For example: there was a huge djihad against artificial intelligence thousands of years before the movie even started, that's why there are no computers, artificial intelligences or robots, but very brainy humans who do the job instead. This should give you a hint why many classic sci-fi tropes do not appear in Dune. On the other hand, Dune pioneered dozens of tropes which are used by writers to this day. The book is not strange at all, by the way. Most things Asimov are much weirder than what Herbert came up with. Villeneuve's adaptation is very true to the source material. Lynch did not care much for the books. I like Lynch and I like Dune, but if I had to chose, it's the later for me. Oh, and those cool flying vehicles are called "thopters", as in ornithopter. They're actually a real thing.
I'd suggest you to read the novel carefully and than rewatch Villeneuve 's movie. I can assure you'll have a completely different point of view! You'll see it through different eyes! Yes visually is mind-blowing. It's powerful but that it wasn't meant to rely on special effects only. If it looks clunky at times it's because the intention was to show a mix of retro sci-fi with a futuristic environment and that makes it even more fascinating. The only problem is the lenght of the film..it kind of drags on a bit at the end but on the whole i think it's a well-crafted masterpiece. You should definitely watch it again. You'll catch some details and nuances that are not easy to notice the first time.
I thought it was sleep inducing. The acting was so bland. It was also too much talking heads. It didn’t work for me at all. Aesthetically it was great but it didn’t work as a movie
Jodorowsky’s Dune seeded Star Wars and Alien, was intended to be 12 hours long with Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, Pink Floyd writing the soundtrack and if had been anything like The Holy Mountain it would have been truly great. Mica Levy would have scored it well, it should have sounded creepy, alien and unsettling.
I don’t really view anything as unfilmable, I think it all comes down to how you structure it and whether you can maintain interest throughout multiple movies. It’s a massive world and sure, some of the first act was a bit of a hurdle for me since I also haven’t read the book or even seen Lynch’s film but I was actually pretty blown away by how accessible most of this movie was. I felt quite invested in where they went with it and they left me wanting more.
You should put a gentle compressor on your voice because the dynamics from the microphone jumps at me when I listen to this video. I can't have a normal volume, I have to change it as you speak,
At this point I'm convinced a wider audience is never going to "get" Dune. Theres points of the film where its clearly dumbed down, but personally overall I'd put it into that box with the TRON, and Blade Runner franchises that are visually stunning but mainly for a specific audience.
excellent review. The movie could have been much better. I agree that the Lynch version is much more interesting and has a character compared to sterlie Villenueve version.
That is good that you liked it. The only problem is that is was completely NOT the story of Dune. So you like a version of one of the greatest works of fiction, science or not, that is the complete opposite of what the creator of the story intended. That says something. I'm not sure what, exactly. But it does not sit well.
My main problem visually with this movie was the set design. I think the shallow depth of field mixed with CGI hurt it for me, the backgrounds felt a bit like mush at times. In BR2049 I felt that he hit a much better balance between CGI & practical sets, the police station was really memorable to me, loved the stained walls. I missed the OG BR look as well but I felt the artificial look complimented the themes, it made sense there. In Dune it doesn’t work as well for me. I liked the movie but I feel like a lot of people are giving it the “finally, something that isn’t the avengers” treatment, like it’s getting a lot more credit than it deserves based on how low our bar has become. Also a lot of wink nudge comedy / action cues I wasn’t crazy about, wether it was communicated through audio pauses or editing, just kinda took me out of it.
The Empire Strikes back suffered some of the same criticism for it's incompleteness without having the benefit of any forewarning...but over time...well we all know how that turned out. Sometimes films just need time to overcome the wrath of the loudest voices. That's what happened with Lynch's version over time, and it will gain an even bigger boost in the near future now that it has a bit more context and is further removed from the people invested in hating it.
Well, it’s a movie. It has to hold it’s own without needing prior knowledge of the books. It can still be reviewed for what it is. Most adaptations of ANYTHING rarely meet the high quality of the source material.
I love it when people who haven't read something make comments based on the book they haven't read. Yes, that is sarcasm, and no, it is not gatekeeping.
The visuals were the best I've seen, flawless how you can criticise them that they don't bring realism is nonsense, you do feel your in a choking desert with rusty heavy machinery, it's not shiny and space age clean. You keep comparing the 84 film to this, there version is far better. And you were disappointed with the music, what were you expecting something to dance along to. The sound is incredible, you also seem confused to the films ending, just to enlighten you it's part 1, that's right 2 parts to the film, this is part 1, even though you were aware of that you still seem confused that there can be 2 parts. Please those of you watching her review don't stop yourself going on her remarks, it's a cinematic experience one you will enjoy.
As someone who has read the whole original book series, seen lynch's dune and the syfy dune series, I think this newest film is the closest aesthetically to the books.
Bingo!
I don't like this review, the whole review was not a review of the 2021 Dune but more like a comparison with Lynch's version, 'I liked this in 2021 version but, in the lynch version it was better', I mean review the movie on it's own and if you need to compare it then make a separate video. Geez, each thing she mentioned was followed by 'In Lynhc's version'
and the better for it. herbert does not write simply, nor does he write pedantically, but the images and ideas as they strike you are so clear, the closer you can get to what you think he showed you, the better off you will be, as if filming from an invisible story board.
Aesthetically???
@@alexmathayes1but it's a perfectly fair criticism. Granted she admits her bias, but I've read the book and I too feel like the world building in this new version feels so clean that the harsh conditions and dangers of Arrakis weren's as intense as they could've been.
Hans Zimmer seems to be pretty polarizing people seem to love him or hate him... I couldn't disagree with you more, I love his work, and I wouldn't want any one else composing for this movie.
The score in Lynch's version is sublime
Very edgy these days to hate something that’s popular. That’s all it is.
Zimmer is terrible. It's not edgy...it's a fact. John Williams, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, Vangelis...take your pick. Zimmer sucks.
I happen to be ambivalent about him. I love his work in Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises or Interstellar. I don't like his "classics" like Gladiator or The Rock. Even Inception - which everybody seems to love - is somewhat grating to me. Dune grew on me. At first I found it boring, nowadays I love a lot of it.
@@offspringfan1288either that or some people just genuinely disagree
Much of the magic of the novel lies in its digressions into personal monologues, philosophy, psychology, and world building. Difficult to capture these in film without losing cohesion.
Great point the problem I have with the movie is its dumbed down to a single story thread, Princess Irulan isn't even in it and she is a major character - the book presents multiple pov of the different politic stakeholders which this version seems to oversimplify. Too many times I'm thinking they played it safe whereas Lynch took risks and got some good bits right, this feels a bit bland even though its literally correct for the bits it decides to cover.
@@bogroll1881 Lynch's risks including deviating so much from the book that there's no knife fights outside of duels, Bene Gesserit training is turned into a sonic gun and the ending completely misses the point of the original story.
Visually, Lynch created a spectacle, and I liked his use of voice over and his decision to stick more closely to the dialogue in the novel, but even he admitted his version was a failure and a mess of an adaptation.
@@GonzoTehGreat so many David Lynch's Dune apologists here
@@bogroll1881 I only read the book once but wasnt Princess Irulan's role in the first half of the book pretty much only being limited to her quotes at the start of each scene? I wouldn't consider that to be a pivotal thing to include in Part One other than capturing what she was speaking of in each of those quotes
@@isaiasovelar4434 Yeah. I once read that the movie is "the most interesting failure of a movie ever", but it's definitely failure.
And holy crap is she brutal on this film. Like, wow, lady. What Villeneuve managed to convey from an incredibly complex book was amazing. But I guess anyone who refers to Hans Zimmer as a 'hack' and criticizing the phenomenal soundtrack is...huh?
I honestly think Dune 2021 is great art just because of the wildly different interpretations and reactions everybody is having to it. Dune struck me as a difficult book to put to film because it's densely weird at both the surface level and in the interior lives of the characters. This is a world that is portrayed as being uncomfortable - you're not supposed to be able to sympathize with brutal space aristocrats who hang out with Jedi eugenics witches. I think Villeneuve's approach is the right one: the world of Dune is hostile, forbidding, oppressive, freighted with mystery and prophecy, and the story is epic in scope, while the characters themselves are strange and unrelatable. Dune 2021 evokes these feelings, and the score does its best to maintain a good level of otherworldly stressfulness, while the movie itself somehow manages to remain a Hollywood spectacle that regular people will go and see. It's a fine line to walk and I think Villeneuve walks it well.
EDIT: Writing on your phone in the bathtub is not ideal.
FUN FACT: Throughout the novel, only three minor characters ever refer to Arrakis as Dune aloud, Piter De Vries, Stilgar, and Tuek the smuggler. Paul only ever thinks the name, and Irulan only writes it. No one besides these five ever refers to Arrakis as Dune at all.
"I've actually never read the book, but I do know a bit about it."
Just curious, what is your source for your understanding of the book?
Dune as a book and series is written to be disorienting. Including having scattered alternate takeaways (including ones I don't think the author even intended). This can all make for a fairly divergent experience and conception for people following it or its general ip.
"I've always seen it as unfilmable"
At this point, the public expectations for a Dune film have boiled over the bounds of just its book form. It has an extended jumbledness of quirky tones, tropes, what stories should or should not be told or emphasized, how it should be translated for poltical or cultural censorship or evangelism. Including the convention that it should be unfilmable.
I think the actual book is filmable. But the notion of delivering a specific product that somehow will nail each of the divergent (and often mutually exclusive) expected product variations of the populace is pretty silly. That's pretty "Brexit" if you will.
Good points. I took note of how the movie has "updated" some of the book's content for our time when Gurney Halleck failed to utter his famous line about moods and their relevance to battle. This omission made me realize that trying to please everybody with this movie is damn near impossible, because the expectations for the movie are so wildly divergent, especially among people who only have second-hand knowledge of the book.
The best comment I've read in a long while. Unfilmable is the mantra of those who are not touched by the spice.
@@DepressedHandsomeSpaceCop No he didnt, he talks about mood with paul and when paul has him on the floor again says "i see you found the mood"
@@jburgs100 yeah but he doesn't say the cattle and love play thing.
@@DepressedHandsomeSpaceCop yeah they used the first part of what he says in the book but left out the cattle. Part in the end
Mood?" Halleck's voice betrayed his outrage even through the shield's filtering. "What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises, no matter your mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting."
Hans Zimmer doesn't exactly do subtle ambients, but that's kind of the point here: Arrakis is an inhospitable, dazzling nightmare, and the droning score perfectly evokes that kind of oppressive landscape. Zimmer's style may be over-saturated by now, but it's preferable to John Williams swashbuckling violins other desert sci-fi movies go for, where the environment is just a green-screen backdrop.
Zimmer cheapens the film and sets it firmly in 2010-2020 era.
I heard something Zimmer wrote in the Gom Jabbar scene and it was simply awful.
Absolutely repulsive.
Dune 1984 had spine-chilling memorable themes like The Prophecy theme (Brian Eno) or Paul meets Chani theme (Toto), both of which were beautiful and otherworldly. Unfortunately the 2021 version left me with nothing, except perhaps the throat singing, which isn't exactly beautiful but does make you think wow that's weird. The rest was too grandiose-striving, try-hard and often didn't fit the scene.
@@passerby6168 I’ve never seen Lynch’s dune but I couldn’t agree more regarding Zimmers score. There were moments that were wonderfully done, but I feel like 70% of the time I was just thinking wow I think I’d prefer no music at all over this relentless, bombastic, jarring noise.
I listened to the audiobook of Dune a few times over the last year. Had a couple of images from Lynch’s adaptation seared onto my mind at a fairly young age. I think Villeneuve’s Dune part 1 is near perfection…exquisite to look at, conveys a good amount of the depth of the novel’s mythology and is delivered almost entirely by people at the top of their fields (production designers, vfx teams, actors, musicians, director). I think it’s a remarkable achievement with only the tiniest/rarest of brief missteps appearing a couple of times I would say. Bravo to all involved.
it is not perfect, many chars get 0 development makes u care less when they die, the whole plot of traitor dr was cut
'I haven't read the book, but have always regarded it as unfilmable'. Okay.
Lmao I know what she means but yeah comes across as funny
Should be I have heard it is un-film able.
Shadow of the Colossus: I WISH movie CGI could achieve that level of “weightiness” of massive creatures. Such a great mention. Great review, as always.
Was an amazing game. I wasn't good enough to play it though, so I just watched a friend play it, lol.
@@dan.j.boydzkreationz lmfaoooo 😂
Beyond the special effects and CGI, the art design and concept work is phenomenal. I can see the color composition was worked wonderfully in all the shots as well. I would love to know who Denis Villeneuve worked with and buy the artbook when it comes out.
I fully agree with you on Hans Zimmer score however, and I know I am in the small minority of people. But, as someone who read the series multiple times, I always imagine the soundtrack in my mind to Dune to be more "tea daze", more psychedelic, more... part of the experience.
"I'm certain, that this book which I've never read...is unadaptable into film."
tbf, everytime a friend explained the book to me, my gut thought always was, "that can't be done as a movie. A tv show, Game of Thrones style, for sure, but not a single movie." Sure enough they made this movie part 1 of potentially 2 movies.
That's pretty much a common take.
I thought that, why make stuff up if you don't know.
Right?
I suppose I just don’t understand how a book that’s been adapted three times is “unfilmable”. Bc someone said it in a documentary, I guess.
@@cruddddddddddddddd The film adaptation of Naked Lunch was never going to be able to capture the spirit of the book in its entirety, I liked that it knew this and did something different rather than a futile Dune retelling. Which is what I fear the new one will be. Lynch perhaps could be accused of this in his version but I just love to watch The old Dune regardless.
Dune is a beautiful interpretation of the novel. The scenes he sacrificed gave room to a deep world full of nuance, detail and intensity. A profound visual and auditory experience on iMax.
I've been a fan of the Dune series for most of my life and I can whole-heartedly agree. The bits they skipped or merged with others were totally acceptable.
They actually filmed those scenes. Hoping they are included with the blueray.
Still wish that Arrakeen actually had people living there.
@@kebman hopefully we see more when the Harkonnen return to reclaim the planet.
@@kurkindal1234 I'm not sure those are the friendly people you'd want to meet around the corner. ;)
I noticed the little Eric Cartman pillow chillin in the background lol. Love the reviews!
I want the director's cut. I want everything that was cut to be put in and make it even more epic with more detail. I personally would have been at a theater 2 more hours, I didn't want it to end.
This is one of the best, most honest reviews of DUNE I have seen thus far. You state at the beginning of the video that you have never read the books and that you have a soft spot for Lynch’s adaptation. With all that considered, your personal criticisms of the film feel totally valid as you understandably have little to no investment in the DUNE cinematic universe outside of being a fan fan of Dennis Villenueve’s Bladerunner 2049.
I have read the books and I can’t overstate just how perfect of a film this is and just how faithful it is to the first book.
I really respect it when someone has legitimate concerns about a piece of media and is upfront about their relationship with the piece in question before they get into their criticisms. It is alarming how many “serious” film critics I’ve seen on Yt in the past week bash this movie for being “incomplete” as if they didn’t notice the “Part 1” in the opening credits. Moreover, most of the critics I have seen review content from claim to have read the books when it is so blatantly obvious that they have not. Almost as if they’re so desperate to seem intellectual or en-vogue so they get invited to the next party with the “cool kids.”
Thank you for an honest movie review in a sea of dishonest critics who think that the Star Wars sequels we’re “bold and thought provoking.”
I loved the movie but someone feeling that a part one feels incomplete can still be a valid criticism even with complete knowledge of the cutoff being intentional. At the end of the day, a movie has to stand on its own and some people felt that that wasn't acheived. You don't have to agree with them, just pointing out that it being intentional is irrelevent to their feeling
Even she states it here
How can you say that a book is unfilmable half a breath after admitting you haven't read it?!? That would get you an "F" in my class...
I feel this movie is the anti-Hobbitt, the essence of "Dune" was respected and explored to the fullest in the time available and it clearly setups a sequel to finish the story of the first book. "The Hobbit" was a mess in every way stretched the story to the fullest in n a trilogy just to make money, full of terrible CGI corny jokes and no real heart.
Well put
I agree
Idk how you go from LOTR to thisssss…. Was it PJ’s fault?
@@treytilley333 Lindsay Ellis did a 3-part duology on the making of The Hobbit, which was nominated for a Hugo Award. I recommend giving that a watch. PJ was never meant to make The Hobbit.
th-cam.com/video/uTRUQ-RKfUs/w-d-xo.html
Dune the book has the spirit of Lawrence of Arabia, and I think Villeneuve succeeded in bringing it to the screen.
unoriginal and recycled comment. why did you bother?
It was loveingly filmed in some of the shooting locations as LoA.
I've read (and loved) the whole Dune series. And read the first book several times. Like LotR it is always going to be very difficult to film because of the sheer density of plotting and world building. I do believe the director GETS the book and manages to retain and portray this in the film. Obviously a lot has to be left out - some of which would have better explained the motivations and actions of certain characters better. I also really enjoyed the Lynch version - but totally understand why so many cinema goers (and reviewers) were confused by it! I will need to see part 2 to really form an opinion but I think this is a promising effort. And totally worth seeing on a big screen just for the cinematography.
Exteriors sterile. Interiors not-lived-in. Characters bloodless. A film that takes itself too seriously. The ?deliberate opposite of Lynch.
The music was one of the best bits. I didn't even clock that it was by Zimmer...that really surprised me. It's ominous, imposing and has this almost "monolithic" dread to it.
In parts it was alright, in parts it was amazing but majority of a time it was out of place, way too loud and overshadowing what was happening on a screen.
In the scene after Paul's fight with fremen it was very apparent to me. As scene was filled with people, moving people, there was the sand, the wind, the main character was walking over crunchy rock but all I heard was a score. Score ate away all the space and the feeling of vastness, connectivity between objects on the screen.
Not only that but effects repeat. Even the greatest horn sounds while imposing and impressive at first get dull and boring for a 15th time, they appear even in scenes where nothing happens. People slowly walk over sand - horns, people eat - horns, a person has a 1000 yard stare - HORNS, utterly unbearable. I would just cut away half of melodic bits and music from the movie and it would be better overall.
However in places it was very much in place and a great fit, sardukar chanting for example was very memorable, bagpipes were nice etc.
@@TH-camHallMonitor I love that shit. The Fremen are based on middle eastern/Bedouin cultures and the language they speak is a futuristic form of Arabic originating from Earth. When you’re reading Dune you can almost imagine the classic “desert woman wailing” trope. It’s going to become a memorable part of the series.
@@stevenk6991 100% with you on the score eating up the space. It felt suffocating. If the bombastic score did weigh so heavy I feel the world would have really been able to come alive and breathe through layers of subtle environmental sounds. With visuals that incredible there was really no need to lay the score on so thick.
For the ending, I feel like they did exactly what she's asking for.. bringing it together and preparing us for the next movie.
Yep. The whole movie builds up to finding the Fremen and Chani. Paul finds some resolution on the path he’s taking/visions he’s had and is ready for his next narrative arc. It’s as good a stopping point you can find for the story
I thought the ending was fine. The tale continues
SPOILERS * SPOILERS * SPOILERS
I agree with you all, that was an excellent stoping point.
As @solodolotrevino said eloquently Paul first arc ends when he start to accept, if not yet fully embrace, his destiny.
"When you take a life you take your own." Killing Jamis is a turning point.
"Paul Atreides must die for Kwisatz Haderach to rise." Metaphorically young priviledged Duc's son Paul Atreides dies so adult fremen warrior Paul Muad'Dib can begin his journey to become the Kwisatz Haderach.
@russellb5573 Yes, the last line of the movie says it all :
- Chani "This is only the begining." - cut to black -
Can't wait for part 2 !
I think it is very much filmable but not in film format. This is a 6 book series with a continuous story, it deserves a long tv series.
With this being said I still can't wait to watch it on Monday.
I saw this back in September, and thought it was kind of a mess.
It's visually very striking (though not as beautiful as BR2047, which was all-round great) but beyond that i found very little to chew on.
Flat, mostly uninteresting characters, dull political intrigue, and a whole lot of what feels like filler, for something that still needs to be cut off short when the credits roll.
The movie is filled up with lore dumps, and still manages to miss (or barely touch on) some very crucial lore points, which ends up confusing someone that hasn't read the book.
Maybe having fewer shots of spaceships taking off and landing, and cutting out a couple of Zendaya-looking-in-camera daydreams, would've allowed them to flesh out these characters and families more.
I still have hopes for a part 2, which should cover more interesting aspects of the story.
It needed at least 30 more minutes, or to be made into expensive tv show
@@worlddd7777 A high budget tv series would've made the most sense.
Most of the scenes are characters talking in an interior or desert shots, you don't need an obscene budget for that.
This was the one time a movie that was almost 3 hours didn't feel like it. I can't wait for the next one.
Feel this director in his past few films seems to be developing a habit of merely flirting with many ideas and concepts without committing to them.
Saw it in IMAX and was just absolutely blown away. The music from Zimmer is actually great and normally I don't care for Zimmer since his work on Inception ruined soundtracks for many years. The story is stripped back but still grandiose in scale and the performances are fantastic. Eagerly awaiting part 2.
No
The ”music” doesn't exist
It's just a bunch of sounds that drown out everything else
@@Snuckster2 I respectfully disagree. I encourage you to listen to the soundtrack on its own on Spotify. It utilizes a wide variety of instruments and chants to compliment the movie. I never found it overbearing like Zimmer usually does.
@@DrInsanity987 I did
The extra music whatever tf it's called is better and more daring but isn't exactly memorable
The dialogue was cludged, and the acting over-the-top. I had high hopes, and they fell through. The spectacle and dazzle will keep many people hypnotized, but the book got lost in that. Chalamet isn't good enough yet to do what needs to be done with Paul, nor was he given the direction to succeed there. He's super pretty and his hair looks amazing with sand in it, he's just not capable of the gravitas that is required of the person playing a character that was genetically sculpted to be the penultimate man.
Her take is that Dune is “clunky” and “weighted down with exposition”, what?! Does she prefer the silent film era? Dune’s part 1 of a grandiose literary tome, given the scope of the universe, the script is downright terse but it whets the appetite, and audiences new to the franchise will rush out and buy Herbert’s novels hungry for a deeper dive. It’s as if she’s straining to find fault with the film, as if her take’s objectively true. My take on her take is that she should read the first novel and watch Quinn’s Ideas’ TH-cam channel.
A lot of the fans of the book complained that the movie didn't explain the world enough through exposition. I thought he only added exposition when absolutely necessary and did a great job of showing and not telling.
"I've never actually read the book, ... and I've always seen it as unfilmable..." Classic...
you managed to not talk about what actually happens in the movie at all.
that says alot.
i felt like none of the characters interested me more than looking at sand.
when they hurt, I didn't care.
i guess its because none of them feel like real people at all.
i loved watching the movie, and I will again tomorrow, but the plot is impressively dull and lacks any real emotion.
She likes blade2049 dont be surprised
I sincerely like Dune 1984, maybe because it’s visually so strange and different.🤷🏽♀️
My only issue with Dune 2021 is that the pacing is rather plodding, the things that are focused on aren’t as interesting as they are in the book, and it ultimately feels rather hollow. I didn’t feel anything for any of these characters except perhaps the Fremen. Visually it’s gorgeous, but it felt so emotionally empty.
I agree about the worms. They looked amazing, but they didn’t feel as tangible as say, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park?
I spent the last half of the movie wishing to hear Brian Eno"s Prophecy Theme.
"I've actually never read the book" you say. Well, I'm sorry to say it shows in your critic with which I disagree even though I liked the Lynch adaptation of the same work. This sticks for more closely to the source material and is a whole lot more faithful to it. I did read the books all the way to Chapterhouse Dune and am so happy Frank Herbert's work finally has a valid big screen adaptation, You should watch some interviews Denis Villeneuve did about some choices he made adapting the book to the big screen and maybe the book itself, it just might change your mind on some of the stuff you said here.
Dune is drab and watching paint dry would be more interesting....extremely overrated. But I tried to read the book and had to re-read sentences and paragraphs over and over. I'll stick to Robert A Heinlein's books, George R R Martin, the Polish Author for the Witcher, Asimov's works and HP Lovecraft's works. Maybe the Movie will change my opinion. I think the video game trilogy of Mass Effect would be an awesome space Opera movie. I just hope it isn't WOKE. PS, I'd like a movie based on Necroscope.
@@ajaxslamgoody9736 JRR Tolkien also.
"I've actually never read the book, but I do know a bit about it." Well I've neither read the book nor seen the movie, but I'm going to comment here anyway.
I did not read your epic comment but I will comment.
That's not really what she said, she said she knows a little about the history of trying to make it into a movie.
@@wishcraft4u2 that was literally what she said, verbatim. At 0:13. Hence the quotation marks I put around it. Googly eyes much?
Way too many people are judging you for not reading the book but reviewing the film as part of an unadaptable source material and its getting weird. First off, not everyone can or should have to immediately read the book before or after watching the movie. The book itself is pretty steep in world building and because of this it's actually true that it's unadaptable. You can adapt certain parts of it in film but you would also have to alter or leave out other parts of it in order to work. Hence why I agree that a miniseries would've been the proper solution for an adaptation for this book, especially given how there is so much exposition around the story and how the characters have even gotten to this point in the first place. But I will give credit to the director for shooting it the way it did, and not overdoing it on the narration as a way to explain things. I actually don't mind Lynch's Dune, I feel like for all the issues he had with the production and the studio, he really tried to adapt a big book with a lot of exposition into a 2-hour movie, and it might not have been successful, but he genuinely tried and wanted to achieve it.
I still enjoy Toto's Big Battle from Lynch's version to this day. Have it on my ringtone.
Just watched it and I too was impressed by the CGI and the visual impact. I think this movie is so successful because it appeals to fascists, environmentalists and sci-fi fans alike, and lovers of emotional drama which is of course a prerequisite for success. People will queue up to watch part 2 if only to see how Paul and Chani are going to hit it off. The booming score of Hans Zimmer got on my nerves, too, but go see it anyway just for the visuals.
It's not a true dune movie if no one charges into battle armed only with a Pug.
They replaced the pug with a cat in this one. Didn't have the same effect.
@@4_vaccuum_salesman_of_marr944
What a shame. Pugs are cuter.
I really enjoyed the movie. The houses felt right the Harkonens felt truly scary. The exposition was done well and I loved the ships. I also think the visions with multiple time lines was excellent. There is almost nothing I didn't like but I have to agree the score really bothered me. I think if it was used less and kicked in at a couple of key moments rather than continuously going it would have been more impactful. After this I feel like the Lynch version was a complete mess. However Lynch has amazing and out there character design and fun element that take advantage of the fact it is a scifi epic. I'm definitely excited for the next movie.
Yup this is pretty much how I feel. The score is not very good. Knock-off tribal music and big rumbly parts that are supposed to feel "epic" but just seems a bit overblown and takes me out of the movie. Otherwise really cool movie though
To defend some of your points about the „distance, the sterility, the cleanness“ of the movie (although I can absolutely see it and agree), the book itself, in its writing style and world building is also very very sterile and absent to the reader almost. At least that’s how I read the book.
Denis himself said he is adapting Dune the way he saw it at 13 years old. Many people agree with the vision he’s brought to life and other people see the books differently. But he’s staying faithful to the world he believes Herbert was trying to paint for the reader.
My twleve year old daughter had never even heard of Dune 48 hours ago and walked into the room while I was halfway through the movie and she was transfixed by both the visuals and the story and demanded to watch the whole movie which she loved and is now in love with the Dune universe. As a lifelong fan of the book I'd say they got it just right.
Agreed on the "weightlessness" of cgi effects. Blade Runner 2049, for me, worked great because Denis did many of the spinner shots in camera with miniatures. Here, many scenes where too cgi centric and some of the ships resembled too much star wars special effects (the prequels and the new movies): too floaty and crisp, a problem that plagued the SyFi miniseries so much.
Hanz Zimmer was well used very well for The Thin Red Line. I haven't seen a score used that well for a long time.
Oh, an actual good, critical review that highlights the movies strong and weak points instead of just spooging all over it because it's a "cinematic masterpiece", or trying to get clicks claiming that it's straight up bad. Neither is true. It's a really good movie, just about excellent, that's a bit to sterile for its own good and yet is sensually spectacular. Needs Part 2 to work.
It´s just difference of opinion. Like some people hate the Zimmer score and some people love it. Good, honest reviewer can consider it a masterpiece. Someone having a different opinion from yours doesn´t make them dishonest.
Does Hans Zimmer score every movie nowadays? It's utterly ridiculous.
Sadly yes. Can't think of a more generic movie score composer.
@@McLarenMercedes have you seen the film? The musical soundscape is awesome.
Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, Crimson Tide along with a few other of his soundtracks actually worked beautifully despite of its overbearing loudness.
@@patrickfischer7698 True. One can't say enough about the Thin Red Line soundtrack.
@@anthonymartensen3164 I have seen the film and the score was the only part I found "passable". The rest was amazing. I will say this though: If I don't remember a score from a film then it's usually a sign it doesn't stand on its own. There are good scores from bad films I remember and that's because the film itself doesn't sway me to either praise or bash the music composed for the film.
When it comes to Zimmer then his scores could be used interchangeably with virtually all films he made music for. That's because it follows a rigid formula and never deviates much from it.
A couple of years back I was at a "recognize the movie score" party in my university. We were sorted depending on which semester we were in. Let's just say that our semester group won easily and yours truly recognized the scores the second they played. Far from all of them were the most commonly recognized themes.
What I'm trying to say is that my music memory is rather good, but virtually none of Zimmer's scores sticks with me. I'd say that's because it lacks any distinctive or interesting features. You pretty much get the same thing every time which some people might find amazing but I don't. I suppose they either haven't heard much else or just are instantly conditioned to like a score if they like the film itself. This is why they instantly fail the "Name-a-film-you-didn't-like-but-loved-the-score-for" test.
The taste in music is highly subjective I will admit and people are free to enjoy whatever they want. I suppose there is some skill involved in making "accessible music" and that should be respected.
Dune 2021 lacks a distinctive theme. Pity.
This is the first review, that truly encapsulates my feeling of the movie Dune. I cant say I hated it and it definitely was the best movie I watched in the cinema this year and I can appreciate the direction this adaptation is going for, but it does not pay justice to the book and the topic Dune. As you said, it is just a bit too weightless, to sterile, too clean and the plot and dialogue a bit too stripped down. Also I really dislike the costume design here. There was so much that could have been done with the colours of the uniforms and colour in general, that was lost in showing how sandy this place is. The point about Hans Zimmer I agree with fully.
I actually prefer the cinematography of BR 2049, I mean come on its Deakins lol. But the soundtrack was just horrible for me. It was the same two tracks over and over again (drums and the woman screaming with a coarse voice). That woman's voice kept popping up all the time kind of reminded me of Zack Snyder's Justice League with Wonder Woman
I listened to public radio today with my mom and they played this soundtrack and she hated it.
It almost added a parody feel to some scenes
I watched Lynch's version of Dune just after seeing Villeneuve's and I broadly agree with your analysis here. Villeneuve's has to be commended in terms of cinematic spectacle, the sound design alone is fantastic and makes going to a movie theatre to see it worthwhile.
What I found though is that whilst Villeneuve's world building is very impressive the film fell into the same problems as Bladerunner 2049 in that it felt to clean and too sterile. The characters also did not make anything like the same impact as they did in the Lynch version, Kyle Maclachlans version of Paul makes far fmore of lasting impression than Chalamet most importantly. That's partly a problem with the actor in that Chalamet is just too weak a performer to carry such a heavy role and partly a problem with the direction. Overall Villeneuve's Dune is to be applauded for being such a great cinematic film but due to its characters not making a lasting impression is still inferior to the Lynch version.
Am I the only one who thinks that timothee Chalamet is very overrated???
No, because he is.
@@JJJoeJoe it's the jawline.
@@theebonymaw He has no chin.
He is but this might be his best film yet (in my opinion)
You should definitely give the first book a chance. It’s a classic for a reason
Yeah it’s easy for her to sit there and say that it’s an “unfilmable” book yet she’s never read it 😂
@@offspringfan1288 As someone who read all Frank Herbert's dune books she is actually pretty correct, yes it can potray the world and backdrop to an aesthetic extent, but potraying the complexity of the story of Dunan idaho or the entirety of the God emperor is impossible. Even in the first book they failed to capture the intricacy or scheming that happened in the book, which made u care less for the characters, especially Jessica, Duke Leto or the relationships between the harkonens. A few scenes like the party between houses could tie this problem in a game of thrones sort of fashion but I feel they stripped the characters from the books to their base qualities. Still a great film but there isn't too much you can do to do Frank Herberts Dune justice.
How you can even hang this in the same space as Lynch’s film is beyond me. This film was a true art house masterpiece. Cmon
Agree! I would not be able to see the David Lynch movie again after watching this epic release.
I've now seen THREE (1984, SyFy miniseries and 2021) versions of Dune and I agree, I think ultimately it's an not a story that can be properly made into a movie.
The 2021 version is much more accessible to the general public than the David Lynch version, but I find the two films very similar overall.
The new version was beautiful to watch, and the scope was amazing, but it needed to be much longer as the first movie in the series.
I'm looking forward to seeing this. My reason, Denis Villeneuve. Ever since I saw Arriva, I was sold on him.
This critic has never read the book, but then shares her opinion on how the book can't be made into movie, what? This critic, and I'll use that term lightly, is a poser. She's completely off on the handful of reviews I watched. I know reviews are objective, but come on! Really?
As a fan of the book I honestly thought it needed more exposition. I know film is a visual medium but certain aspects of this, unless you've read the book or have watched the extended version of Lynch's, I don't know how you'd understand what's going on. I still really loved it.
I'm sorry but I have to respectively disagree with your stance on Hans Zimmer's score. Dune is an EXTREMELY complex story built by layering extremely complex character developments and themes on top of each other (you should know this better than anyone considering you never read the books). Not only does Hans Zimmer ensure everything you hear sounds like it was created on a distant planet, regardless of when it took place, he's purposely avoiding creating big,melody-heavy character motifs and anthems. By doing this, he is able to layer individual "sounds" for each character and their respective tone (Paul and his terrible purpose, Jessica and the Bene Gesserit, the vulnerability of the House of Atreides, the Fremen, the Harkonnens, etc.). Any other composer would have tried to create a popularized 'Dune Theme Song' and melody-driven sounds for the rest, which would inevitably clash with each other in a detrimental way. He actually put his ego aside and essentially just created a masterclass in story-driven sound design more than this movie really even has a "score" to it.
I agree. It fit the film very well.
I'm still trying to figure it out if I liked this movie. It had lots of cool moments, but I still can't be ok with the fact that they removed Dr Yueh betrayal plot and the tension that it creates inside the atreides. Also, Piter de Vries could be so much explored, when he dies in the movie, you don't even cares. Not even talking about the dinner scene that was taken out. Really wish for an extended version to fill this gaps
I listened to your review of the Enter the Void and just said wow!!! Love your reviews, regardless having different opinion on 2021 Dune!!!!!!
Personally, I’ve never read the book or seen the Lynch version. Just took this as presented on its own. I was disappointed in the film as a whole, although visually there were some cool moments. I just did not connect with it at all. Agree 100 with your cold sterility take. I went in really wanting to enjoy it, but didn’t find it at all suspenseful and the score was annoyingly loud and melodramatic. Also, I felt zero connection to any characters and could’ve cared less what happened to any of them. Great points in your analysis.
Check out John Harrison's Dune miniseries, preferably it's Director's Cut. While you have to overlook some budgetary limitations, it's my favorite filmed Dune and it's sequel miniseries, Children of Dune, is even better.
There's a director's cut? Cool! I'll have to find it.
Easily my favorite film of 2021. Absolutely loved it and cannot wait for Part 2. I’m confident that Denis can bring it home. I’m also happy that they’re not trying to milk the product by trying to turn it into 3 movies.
I've never read the book, but I've always seen it as unfilmable... How did you work that out?
I loved the ruthless Baron Harkonen. He is thinking of profit instead of being a histrionic BWAHAHAHA villain. And the emperor seems even more scary.
I love him. the first character in the film whose parts i went back to watch.
The 1984 Lynch movie was my introduction into the Dune Universe at the age of 13 and as such it will always have a special place close to my heart. Reading Frank Herberts novels as a teenager afterwards was a mindbending/-building/-evaluating experience. If i had children, i would only force two things upon them: to watch the original Rocky Horror Picture Show and this Dune adaptation, in the hopes it would inspire them to read my "carefully hidden and too mature for children" copies of the Novels. I can not fathom a way a movie could ever tell this timeless story in its entirety, with all its themes within themes. Denis Villeneuve did an awsome job at giving a new generation a gateway into this Universe AND making an epic movie at the same time. maybe now is the time you should read the books. it would be interresting to see if it would lead you to reevaluating .... things. i would definatly watch a video from you about that. ;)
It seems like the ZImmer score is a hate it or love it situation. It doesn't appear to be any in between. Ive seen people say its one was one of the most revolutionary scores and sound design in cinematic history. And I've also seen other people say it was TERRIBLE. If felt it was amazing personally.
I loved this movie quite a lot. I actually really appreciated that Denis decided to slash the film into two parts (despite the risk that I could not be made) because it could've become a disaster if he tried to put it all in the same movie. To be honest a complete perfect adaptation would have to be an 8 hour movie to be honest. Just one disagreement I liked the score.
One six hour movie would have been fine, provided it had an intermission.
Director: This movie already weighs a lot, Hans.
Hans: That's okay, I think I'll add 10,000 pounds more to it.
Having not read the book, and being a fan of the Lynch version, I think only gives you a reference between the two, and not the source material. Lynch made his version into what I can now safely safe as 'bizarro' Dune, not unexpected considering the way Lynch approached film making. Denis was not only more faithful to the source, he relied on subtly conveying the message, the exposition you noted in this one pales in comparison to the voice over heavy Lynch approach. The scene when they try and assassinate Paul is the perfect example, in the original Paul's voice explained everything he was thinking, in this one, all you see is how he handles it and it comes off much more dramatically. You really ought to read the book, or listen to it on audible, now that you have seen the movie, it will be much easier to follow.
funny, I completely forgot the music.... and started to forget the film altogether, I'll have to see it again. I'm not a fan of BR 2049. It was an impossible act to follow 2019. I really like Arrival, even after multiple viewings and the script quirks....and it has a great soundtrack. As for creating a world,, could it be that The Chronicles of Riddick was more successful than this one?
Well spotted. Borrows heavily from Chronicles of Riddick, as well as from Blade Runner (most indoors sets are less impressive versions of the Weyland Corp. HQ), Arrival, and of course Star Wars.
I’m fascinated how you approached this review. I thought this movie succeeded where blade runner 2049 failed. I get all your saying about missing grit and clunkiness. And the fondness for the lynch version. I am a devoted student of jodorowsky in film and in healing and could only imagine what his version would have been like. But I thought this version really worked. It was amazing to me, stunning really. And I found it clean, well paced, satisfying and real. And I say this surprising myself that I liked it so much. 2049 for me was unrelatable. This movie felt almost transcendent. Nearly mystical. And so well acted. Thank you for reading and for your terrific reviews.
2049 was relatable for me character wise in that it posed the question of what exactly makes us human and what it means to be “alive”. I felt for Gosling’s character’s struggle with identity. You find humanity in this replicant who desires more meaning to its existence.
Paul in Dune is seen as a Messianic figure, has premonitions and is in line to inherit a throne. Apart from the relevant environmental and political themes, the story (so far onscreen) isn’t as blatantly relatable as 2049 and neither are the characters. I still love Dune for different reasons.
@@solodolotrevino you make sense. My experience was different. I felt very close to the characters in dune. And felt the actors hearts. I didn’t quite have that in 2049.
@@solodolotrevino I get all of that. And I wanted to feel that. I sensed it intellectually but my soul just couldn’t buy in cinematically. I’m actually feeling redeemed that I found that with dune because I saw how talented villeneuve is and I just thought 2049 (for me) was so loyal to blade runner but it left me empty. Dune repaired that. But I totally get where you are coming from and I’m glad you got that from 2049.
Fascinating how different peoples experiences are. I adored the score. The music was by far its greatest feature to me, and am sad to report I found the movie a bit dull overall.
For me as someone who didn't read the books. Personally I enjoyed it alot as a movie. But seeing your points I kinda agree, I didn't get a sense of the characters and didn't care about any of them. I liked it as a big interesting movie, but I didn't feel like it's the gigantic universe that'll fall in love with it's characters and long stories. So u guys might be right.
I saw it tonight and I did enjoy some parts and aspects of it, but the more it sinks in the less I like it somehow. I liked the first parts, especially up to right after they arrive on Arakkis. I do like the alienating sense of scope that Devilleneuve gives to the whole experience, it really evokes the feeling of this strange epoch where material conditions and iron laws of power are dictated by this ethereal substance the spice: the feeling is perfectly captured by the sense of vertigo evoked by the literal, physical dimensions and scope of the space travel scenes. However, ironically, to me the experience fell flat when the movie got into the human side of the story, and the scenes where the main characters actually have spiritual/psychedelic experiences and relate them to each other. I feel like the movie just cannot escape these contemporary commonplaces of tone, sadly making things feel quite cliché. It's like movie makers nowadays, in terms of mannerisms, behavior, attitudes... need to portray characters in a very narrowly contemporary way in order for them to feel "genuine" or "casual", and as if in turn that is the only way in which they can be made to feel "sincerely human". It's "MacTone" and "Macdialogue". Characters are either overly pathetic when the script calls for "drama" leading to "anakin skywalker syndrome", or when the tension is to be broken, they must behave in this hyper-contemporary idea of "what casual people behave like", which to me feels like this very narrow postmodern idea that people are only being "sincere" when they are "casual" in an almost vulgar and cynical sense. It just doesn't feel honest as a depiction of nobles and their retinues that genuinely have strong life or death convictions about matters of religion, honor, politics, etc... and know they are surviving by staking their lives on them. For example, in the book and in the Lynch version, during the sword training scene, Gurney says something like "moods are a thing for cattle and loveplay", which you just know is not in this version because "it would be too cringe", well I'm sorry, people in other cultures and in other times and especially in very different social organizations than we are familiar with, behave in ways very different from us that feel "cringe" to us. Not everything has to be broken down into exactly the types and levels of irony and cynicism we would feel comfortable with in our daily lives. To compensate for this, the dramatic moments where Paul has these revelations and has to share them with his mother, for instance, feel artificially pumped up, almost hysterical. And this is where, indeed, the "Gladiator music" thing plays a heavy handed role. I'm sorry but that makes things just feel very forced. I'll take Pat Steward shouting "moods are a thing for cattle and loveplay!" and weird Lynchian psychedelic sequences over this rather sterile attempt, which I'm convinced genuinely tried, but in the end, as Jodorowsky predicted, indeed came out feeling quite predictable more than anything. A missed chance, perhaps, because this movie hits the mark on so many other levels. But here again Im afraid I have to side with Jodorowsky and assume that the big studio system is making that less and less probable as time goes by.
Firstly, credit where credit is due.... the film looks gorgeous! It is visually very striking no doubt! However, that is where my praise ends!
These pseudo-art house action movies are starting to get really annoying! Present themselves as having something deep and meaningful to say but are ultimately as reliant on cliched action set pieces or battle scenes (all be it with cooler visual effects in 'Dune's case) as your average Michael bay film! And I fully accept that set pieces in this film are in a different league visually than your average Michael Bay film! I am just saying that the film is just as dependent on set pieces and for this reason the characterization tends to be just as surface level in films like these. And also because of there being so many action sequences , there isn't enough time to explore the characters , themes and ideas in a meaningful and coherent way. The ideas and themes just get spewed onto the screen in the form of clumsy exposition and 'cheap deepities' (very much like Nolan's work).
I normally love deepfocuslens's reviews but this one (very much like the movie itself) only scratches the surface. She basically just kept comparing it to Lynch's film and mentioned how beautiful the film is visually and how much she hated the music! Very little exploration of the actual story telling here, the themes and philosophical insights (or lack thereof) and the actual characters! I also hated the music in this movie but I think there is a reason that this sort of movie specifically NEEDS a Zimmer score! I believe that movies like this need to have overbearing, hyper dramatic music booming out the whole movie long in order to hypnotize viewers into believing that they are watching something deep and substantial and to distract them from how hollow and philosophically bankrupt the movie actually is! Zimmer's music turns the audience into zombie's basically!
I actually may end up eating humble pie and changing my opinion on this and even though I seem very critical, I am actually open to changing my mind on this. I guess I would ask fans a few questions that are bugging me about this film : 1) What themes do you think this film explores in an insightful way? Colonialization is bad?? 2) Were there any characters in this film that weren't one-dimensional? 3) Could any of ye hear a single word Rebecca Ferguson said??
The movie talks about colonisation but by following the colonizer. And it sets out to subvert the white Savior trope . But because it's a part 1 and the story isn't over , the story firstly needs to make the audience believe Paul is a hero before subverting such expectation. It's also a movie about a boy struggling to find purpose in this world , a boy who feels tremendous amount of pressure and who sometimes can't handle it anymore ( the tent scene ) . It's also a story of a mother and her sins befalling on her son and how she copes and is many times powerless against that. To me it's an existential story about a son and mom .
I found it quite successful at that. And I found it super immersive and fun
Haha
" gladiator wants their music score back "
😆
Well, Hans Zimmer did the soundtrack for that too lol
Love the cartman pillow. I usually hate all special fx.. but this was great! This is what I was hoping Star Wars would take a tone on.
You really should have read the book first. Especially since you made a point of not having read the book while calling it unfilmable. The main reason why is because it's a vast amount of backstory and world building exposition with very little in scene plot and character development. In that sense, it's a lot like Asimov's Foundation series. Dune's a fun read, so I'm not taking a big dump on it. But paring it down to the bones of Paul's story ignores everything interesting about the book. And that's why it's unfilmable. It's like trying to shoot a JD Salinger novel, which is all introspection. What are you going to put on screen?
I finally got to see it last night. As I expected, as someone who has read the books uncountable times, it was heinous. But, in its favor, it was many orders of magnitude less heinous than previous attempts. And, as just an audio/visual experience, it was what you'd expect from him, absolutely gorgeous.
The absence of the dinner scene was felt and it could have used a few quick shots of what was going on below the roofs of Arakeen, just show some ordinary people instead of just servants and worshippers.
Perhaps the best that can be done in a translation of Dune to film is to just make it look good.
If we can ever get the Lynch cut of his film instead of the producer's we may be delighted and surprised. I keep hoping...
Loved the movie! The last 40 minutes or so weren't as good as everything that came before it, but I really enjoyed it. Really hope they can get a part 2 made. Crazy that it is not in production yet.
I think you really hit it when you said lacking in “imagination”. There were a few elements. I LOVED those airships that looked like dragonflies. That was insanely cool. But I kind of wanted it to be a little bit more “sci fi” in certain areas. Something I like in science fiction is weird, imaginative ideas that are on screen for a second or are just part of the production design and the costumes, and here those felt a bit tamped down unfortunately. From what I hear the book is strange as hell and the Lynch version probably redefined strange for a lot of audiences. So it sucks that there’s not a lot of that in this one, despite really excellent cinematography and some solid designs. They just could’ve made it more out there in my opinion.
The Dune universe is pretty damn logical. Everything you saw in that movie has grown naturally from history; the worldbuilding is insanely elaborate.
For example: there was a huge djihad against artificial intelligence thousands of years before the movie even started, that's why there are no computers, artificial intelligences or robots, but very brainy humans who do the job instead. This should give you a hint why many classic sci-fi tropes do not appear in Dune. On the other hand, Dune pioneered dozens of tropes which are used by writers to this day.
The book is not strange at all, by the way. Most things Asimov are much weirder than what Herbert came up with.
Villeneuve's adaptation is very true to the source material. Lynch did not care much for the books. I like Lynch and I like Dune, but if I had to chose, it's the later for me.
Oh, and those cool flying vehicles are called "thopters", as in ornithopter. They're actually a real thing.
I'd suggest you to read the novel carefully and than rewatch Villeneuve 's movie. I can assure you'll have a completely different point of view! You'll see it through different eyes! Yes visually is mind-blowing. It's powerful but that it wasn't meant to rely on special effects only. If it looks clunky at times it's because the intention was to show a mix of retro sci-fi with a futuristic environment and that makes it even more fascinating. The only problem is the lenght of the film..it kind of drags on a bit at the end but on the whole i think it's a well-crafted masterpiece. You should definitely watch it again. You'll catch some details and nuances that are not easy to notice the first time.
Could not disagree with you more about the film and Hans zimmer. Seems like you just hate them because they’re popular
Im kinda worried about whether they can pull off the second part because a lot of the challenges I can think of happen in part 2
I thought it was sleep inducing. The acting was so bland. It was also too much talking heads. It didn’t work for me at all. Aesthetically it was great but it didn’t work as a movie
Jodorowsky’s Dune seeded Star Wars and Alien, was intended to be 12 hours long with Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, Pink Floyd writing the soundtrack and if had been anything like The Holy Mountain it would have been truly great.
Mica Levy would have scored it well, it should have sounded creepy, alien and unsettling.
I don’t really view anything as unfilmable, I think it all comes down to how you structure it and whether you can maintain interest throughout multiple movies. It’s a massive world and sure, some of the first act was a bit of a hurdle for me since I also haven’t read the book or even seen Lynch’s film but I was actually pretty blown away by how accessible most of this movie was. I felt quite invested in where they went with it and they left me wanting more.
You should put a gentle compressor on your voice because the dynamics from the microphone jumps at me when I listen to this video. I can't have a normal volume, I have to change it as you speak,
At this point I'm convinced a wider audience is never going to "get" Dune. Theres points of the film where its clearly dumbed down, but personally overall I'd put it into that box with the TRON, and Blade Runner franchises that are visually stunning but mainly for a specific audience.
excellent review. The movie could have been much better. I agree that the Lynch version is much more interesting and has a character compared to sterlie Villenueve version.
love the lynch Dune! set design, quirky characters, odd visual effects - love it
The score in Lynch's version is amazing.
That is good that you liked it. The only problem is that is was completely NOT the story of Dune. So you like a version of one of the greatest works of fiction, science or not, that is the complete opposite of what the creator of the story intended. That says something. I'm not sure what, exactly. But it does not sit well.
@@donny1960 learn lynch learn cinema
My main problem visually with this movie was the set design. I think the shallow depth of field mixed with CGI hurt it for me, the backgrounds felt a bit like mush at times. In BR2049 I felt that he hit a much better balance between CGI & practical sets, the police station was really memorable to me, loved the stained walls. I missed the OG BR look as well but I felt the artificial look complimented the themes, it made sense there. In Dune it doesn’t work as well for me. I liked the movie but I feel like a lot of people are giving it the “finally, something that isn’t the avengers” treatment, like it’s getting a lot more credit than it deserves based on how low our bar has become. Also a lot of wink nudge comedy / action cues I wasn’t crazy about, wether it was communicated through audio pauses or editing, just kinda took me out of it.
The Empire Strikes back suffered some of the same criticism for it's incompleteness without having the benefit of any forewarning...but over time...well we all know how that turned out. Sometimes films just need time to overcome the wrath of the loudest voices.
That's what happened with Lynch's version over time, and it will gain an even bigger boost in the near future now that it has a bit more context and is further removed from the people invested in hating it.
It stuns me how so many reviewers can say they can give an honest opinion having never read the book.
Well, it’s a movie. It has to hold it’s own without needing prior knowledge of the books.
It can still be reviewed for what it is. Most adaptations of ANYTHING rarely meet the high quality of the source material.
I love it when people who haven't read something make comments based on the book they haven't read. Yes, that is sarcasm, and no, it is not gatekeeping.
The visuals were the best I've seen, flawless how you can criticise them that they don't bring realism is nonsense, you do feel your in a choking desert with rusty heavy machinery, it's not shiny and space age clean.
You keep comparing the 84 film to this, there version is far better.
And you were disappointed with the music, what were you expecting something to dance along to.
The sound is incredible, you also seem confused to the films ending, just to enlighten you it's part 1, that's right 2 parts to the film, this is part 1, even though you were aware of that you still seem confused that there can be 2 parts.
Please those of you watching her review don't stop yourself going on her remarks, it's a cinematic experience one you will enjoy.