Denis Villeneuve’s Dune

Have to say, I've never given a tinkers cuss about IMAX myself.

Obliviously did not see on the big screen, but not a film I would have went to see anyway. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Could not take to the original at all. A good 7.5/10 for me. Hope they continue with the story. Got me wanting to see more anyway

I'm talking about True Imax not the mickey mouse Imax screens in Ireland.

It's the True IMAX screens I don't like. For me there is a such thing as too big/clear/loud.

Got a ticket for this evening at 5 at a standard Vue main screen. Can't wait to finally see it

unless I read it wrong the Point doesn't have tickets till 25th, Might wait a week anyway so can get good seats

Have this booked for Monday on Blanch imax. I know I know I know. Not a genuine imax but I just need to see this on a big screen :)

Absolutely brilliant movie. The first have is just pure tension and the soundtrack is brilliant and becomes almost an assault in some moments.

Would love to be able to see it having never read the story as the movie really does a great job with the feeling that absolutely anyone can die here.

Ferguson was brilliant. Her ability to show the complex range of conflicting emotions Jessica is going through is superb

Zendaya was also excellent casting and with no more than a quick glance or gesture you can see why a young lad would be obsessed with his dreams of her.

For the rest Leto was good, Idaho way better than the book or other live versions, Halleck decent but hit and miss and Hawat and Yeuh the same. Keynes was grand but nothing will top Sydow (one of the few good points of Lynch Dune) and I'm not sold on Stilgar.

Most of the movie is Paul and Jessica though and both are very very well done

In a mini, spoiler free review from a fan of the book? It's fúcking epic and a wonderful interpretation of the book. With not only a very tight handle on the story but some utterly brilliant fan service.

Loved it, and I am already looking forward to seeing it again next week.

I'm going to see this tomorrow evening. I've never read the book or watched the 1984 version. For anyone that has seen it - will I be able to follow it? I've seen a few comments saying it can be a bit hard to track everything that's going on

I attempted to watch the original recently, but gave up. Never read the books. Found this very accessible

Saw it last night and loved it. One of the best Sci fi movies I have ever seen. Will go again next wk to see it again as class on the big screen. I definitely think TV nó matter how big it is doesn't live up to a cinema screen. Highly recommend the movie.

On the voice I thought the exact same. At first it seemed like they went for a cheap sci-fi trope but in the end felt the same as you.

I didn't like when the mentats were mentating and I don't remember that in the book

Just want to come back and add a little spoiler free flesh to my 1st impressions review.

On the point of Thufir, Gurney and some other characters not being fleshed out. I agree that compared to the book and Lynch's movie they aren't.

At this point in the story however? I don't think they need to be. For me the hardest part of Dune to bring to the screen was always the interplay between the Emperor and the Great houses. Villeneuve does that brilliantly. His effort to portray the importance that house Atreides places on the Fremen is also very well executed. The desert power trope is incredibly crafted IMO.

The battle scenes and the Arrakeen attack by the Sardaukar, I sat forward in my seat in awe. I kept looking to see if the Sardaukar fell back in to clusters of 3 😂

There is some incredible fan service from the opening of the movie to the last scene. All subtly inserted and always moving the story rather than deliberate nods.

Yes, so much more "could" have been added but, nothing that fans of book or Lynch would say is missing? Cost the narrative anything, the movie is incredibly well paced and tight.

Some of the detail that Lynch included from the Book, Yueh, Mapes and the dinner party scene in particular are omitted, but cost this movie nothing in story or scale.

I'd present this version as being very much the story of Paul and his beginning 😁 as we all know?

Beginnings are a delicate time...

And Villeneuve has begun this, brilliantly!

Well.. I tried recreate the feeling from the IMAX sound system on my home speakers.

Started getting a vague reminder when I got it very loud with high bass, low treble levels.. but jeez.. I'm pretty sure the neighbours down the road knew I was watching Dune! 😁

That was just for

5/5

first half hour… I wasn’t sure… there was a lot of exposition (that I was well familiar with) but then it kicks off and it is relentlessly amazing

so good seeing a big movie like this that isn’t isn’t filled with stupid jokes/quips like all the super hero movies…

its a dark movie in a lot of ways… half the cast get slaughtered…..

damm if it gets a sequal it will be a few years….

It was a functional score and did its job well but it is a predictable score… because there is sand of course it has to be the phrygian mode…

the thing I love most about the Lynch movie is the end credits music…. Such a strange but beautiful piece of music to put at the end of the film

brilliant, has to be seen in a cinema

Some Spoilers...

A very good adaptation and I can't see too many fans of the book being down on it, despite some changes here and there. In fact the only grating thing was the completely unnecessary sex change of Dr. Liet Kynes. Why that was mandated in a film that's literally dripping with diversity god only knows. It's been exactly 30 years since I read the book, but...

Curious changes and I don't know what impact they will have for Part 2.

In any case, all in all it's pretty good and the vast cast handle their parts extremely well (including Sharon Duncan-Brewster as the now female Leit Kynes). Especially good, I thought, was Rebecca Fergusson as Jessica Atreides and it was nice to see Charlotte Rampling have a wee part as she's an actress I've always admired. However, her screen time was very small and she'll probably never replace Sian Philips as Mother Mohiam for me, as she will always be the definitive version.

As suspected, Timothée Chalamet was probably one of the weaker members of the cast. His constant brooding became slightly annoying to me. But, he wasn't as annoying as I thought he would be and in the end he makes the role his own. I just don't remember Paul being so damn emo though.

Effects wise, the film is fantastic. It's an absolute visual treat. Equipment and environments are all rendered very convincingly for the most part and the CGI is used brilliantly. There are one or two off moments here and there that I noticed, but maybe on a rewatch they won't stand out so much. But I will admit to missing the Baroque designs of the David Lynch film. That whole opening where Emperor Shaddam IV (who's curiously missing from the movie) meets with the Spacing Guild will always be indelibly printed on my mind.

The Harkonnen are, again, kinda panto villains in this 2021 version. They were pretty ridiculous in the 1984 movie and they have been toned down a bit here. But they are still the obvious bad guys in the room. In fairness, they don't really get a lot of screen time, but I just don't recall them being so OTT in the book. Although they certainly aren't as OTT here as they were in Lynch's version.

I suspect that there was quite a bit filmed, though, that ended up on the cutting room floor. But maybe we'll get an extended Blu Ray version during the year.

At the end, anyway, I wanted the film to continue, even though it's two and a half hours long, which is a very good sign I suppose.

For a 2 and 1/2 hour movie it did seem kinda short … and it was only half the book…. It really does prove Lynch had an impossible task of making the book into one movie….. but yeah I think Danny veal-a- nue V nailed the pacing…

But as I said, it's difficult to see where this will go in Part 2, or even 'Dune Messiah' if such a thing gets made. Maybe the idea is to make the Fremen a more egalitarian society and not as patriarchal as they were in the book. But too much of an alteration to them and I can see that getting up the noses of some of the more purest fans. They might take it the same way as including a few blokes in the Bene Gesserit.

Sure. I'm aware of what happens in the real world with regards to female rulers.

However I'm talking specifically about Herbert's take on the Fremen society that he made up and it is, without a doubt, a fiercely patriarchal one, and for the worse Herbert seems to suggest. In fact, all of the "houses" in the book are male dominated. Which is one of the reasons why the Bene Gesserit and their mechanisations are so important to the story. Doesn't Mohiam admonish Jessica for deliberately having a male child because everywhere else is essentially a patriarchy? They considered it a "crime".

Anyway, I don't want to go down this rabbit hole too far. It always ends up in the shitter. I just thought an unnecessary change and one that might potentially have an impact later on, assuming that the Fremen are closely modelled on the book version. As said, they will more than likely make them a more egalitarian society that what appeared in the novel, for better or worse.

As you say, ultimately we'll have to wait and see.