Finally saw the new Dune. I enjoyed it. I think the Lynch version is the more interesting watch still, being weirder, more charming and handling the spirituality aspect in a less literal manner.
But I have to give props to the new Dune movie for the visuals, and the edgier, cleaner, darker take on Dune. The sense of scale really lent it self to this oppressive, dangerous dark future vibe. I particularly liked how the Voice was utilized in the ornithopter scene. In Lynch's Dune, it's this slow, resonating, melodic voice wielded pretty delicately. In the new Dune, the commands are quick, savage, snapped like a whip. Scarier for a completely different reason. I don't know if "Weirding Modules" will be in Part 2, but the way they've handled the Voice makes you believe it could be weaponized. I enjoyed Paul actually getting mad at his mom and her witch friends for playing god with him, that was kind of a real human reaction one probably would have, which wasn't something you often got in Lynch's starchy Dune. I also felt like "Spice" being a literal powdered substance sprinkled into the sand was an homage to the classic Dune RTS, which is my first recollection of it being depicted that way. I dunno why but when I saw that in the new Dune I got a genuine nostalgia hit of dopamine. I hope it was a nod.
I'm not so wild about how they communicate the plot of the books in some places however. Having Paul essentially just shout about the future conflict and see literal visions he interprets accurately in one scene rushes through it IMO, and misses the exploration and experience of it as it occurs over the books. Pauls journey in the first book is a mystic, spiritual and metaphysical one but I feel like they're plowing into and through those things. Paul talks about being Emperor in the new movie before he even talks about how they'll take revenge on the Harkenens or bring the galaxy to a halt by holding the spice hostage. They're rushing at some pivotal themes from the books, and between that and the prophetic/revelatory elements, I honestly feel like the Lynch movie, acid-trippy as it is, handled this more subtly, even if it did rush the ending and prematurely turn Paul into a god. In the new movie they tell Paul he's "the One" before they've even left Calaban, so we as the audience have no doubt that he's "the One." Doesn't matter that we might not know what that actually means, as long as we know it. Everyone's got a strategy to deal with the weight of Dune Lore hanging over the movie I suppose, but for what this movie spent its time on I felt like they could have done the prophecy elements with a little more subtlety, been more abstract and mysterious and taken a little more time with it.
That does a lot to set the tone and themes of the movie, and makes it very much feel like a modern movie in that regard, where "the Chosen one" trope is so entrenched people move past it and on to the rest of the movie too often. The books are about "the One", and both movies too, so I'm not complaining about the trope itself. It's just in the books the knowledge of it unfolds over the course of the story, blending into the political story of the first book and serving as a transition into the themes of the next books. In Lynch's Dune you get a sense of the unfolding plot around Paul hanging over the immediate plot of what's happening on Arakkis. (And then Act 3 covers like 5 years in montages *ahem*.) The new Dune is kind of jumping the shark IMO by taking him straight to the direct knowledge of what Paul Muadib becomes. If your character screams about armies of fanatics murdering in their name in one scene, and then in the next asserts that they should be the new Emperor...hrmmmmmmm....If Paul from Book 1 knew what Paul from Book 2 knew, they'd have just made a quiet life for themselves in the desert instead. New Dune's Paul apparently already knows where all this is headed already.
Not exactly sure I enjoyed newer Lady Jessica looking like she's about to have a breakdown at any moment either. Hard to compare her to Lynch's Lady Jessica, who just had so much poise all the time. The new Dune's Lady Jessica felt me feeling like I'm watching someone try to play nobility, whereas the other actress embodied it. The new actress definitely pulls off "Witchy" better than the other one though.
A couple more gripes I suppose. I did feel the tempo of the movie slow way down for the additional scenes with Duncan and Keyes. Some other scenes felt a bit drawn out too, like the Spice Harvester rescue. It was a visual feast but then all the action stops dead so Paul can have another literal vision and create a pretext for that "See how big the Worms are?" scene. I remember always feeling the tension of the scene in Lynch's Dune, and the pride of the moment when they sell the Duke caring more about people than Spice. It's a real ra ra ra moment with a nice Worm payoff. They were half way there in the new Dune, doing that ra ra ra moment, when they had to insert some more because drama and spectacle required it. Suddenly made the rush to get the guys off the harvester less urgent when the main character is now a football field away and needs to be rescued from a worm the size of 4 city square blocks. I also kinda laughed when Paul has a vision in the middle of a continent-spanning sand storm to just let go of the steering controls of his ornithopter and take a nap until it beeps at him. I dunno if that was an attempt at a quasi Star Wars "Use The Force Luke" moment, but it was weird and stretched the bounds of credulity.
All in all though I did enjoy it as a fan of Dune. Some stuff was hit and miss but I generally liked the characters and the way they were handled, and the visuals did a lot to carry the movie for me, even if the story adaptation didn't always. I will look forward to part 2 some day.
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Topic: The Movie Discussion Thread! (Read 93810 times)