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Can we now conclude the Frank Herbert's DUNE books are unfilmable?

posted 3 years ago by Mikey (415)
17 replies | jump to latest

I believe this is the third attempt at DUNE that has actually made it to celluloid. And, while it is at least somewhat comprehensible, the audience has no idea where the story is supposed to be going, or what goals the characters are trying to achieve. It would appear that the entire movie is leading up to a one-on-one battle between the main character and another character we've just met moments before. After this fight between the two, the movie ends. THAT was the climax? THAT is what the last two and a half hours has been leading to? Two and a half hours and the movie doesn't even tell the entire story of the first book. DUNE: Part One? I seriously doubt there will be a Part 2.

[–] kameeleoned_out (59) 3 years ago

I completely agree, this was a thought I had as well. I went in thinking it will be the greatest movie of all time (the story itself affords that). But as it went on I realized it just felt kind of... empty. At first I tried to disregard the thought that was forming at the edge of consciousness, but it kept growing until it took over.

It just didn't have the timeless magic that it should've had. If you think about it, Villeneuve doesn't really have the ability to instil timelessness into his movies. The only one of his that ever comes close to being an eternal work is Arrival. Meanwhile, most of Christopher Nolan's movies exude timelessness.

Sidenote: Hans Zimmer's boring 'textures' definitely didn't help. We should really retire him and have composers bring back melody into scores. A composer that hides behind tribal drumming his entire career and then sees desert on screen and cues up the cliche Arabic female chanting should feel some amount of shame for missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Imagine scoring Herbert's Dune and bringing choirs to the desert. Watch The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, you'll hear the exact same thing. The Mummy...

Sidenote 2: I have to give serious props to whoever deserves it for the Sardukar planet sound (the first sound in the movie when the quote comes up). That's sound design I've never heard before in my life, and it was breathtaking in IMAX. If Zimmer came up with that, props to him.

[–] Snator (125) 2 years ago

OP must be dense... Both the 1984 movie and this one is awesome. And i fully get the story in both.. It`s just not as dumbed down and `murican that many people is used to today. It actually reqiures a fully functioning brain to watch..

[–] TheMouseShadow (416) 2 years ago

I think they did a great job considering how difficult an adaptation of the book is.