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Dune, (Villeneuve version)


vike daddy

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2 hours ago, D82 said:

but it just felt lacking in…something. 

It played like an episode of GoT but its a movie, so the story plodded a bit despite being very good and the action was middling. Since it was part 1 and ended the way it did, there was no story arc, it ended at the inciting incident and didnt really give us a climax. 

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My post is going to sound critical, but in the end this movie is pretty solid.

This was a 2.5 hour prologue more than a movie.  Honestly, this really should have been a big budget series so much more than a movie.  It would be like if the first 3-4 seasons of GoT were compacted into a 2 2.5 hour movies and they only include the payoff scenes.  All this stuff that is supposed to have emotional weight behind it, don't because we literally just got introduced to these characters and we haven't been on any real journey with them.

And don't get me wrong, the cinematography is epically beautiful but this was an 1:45 minute movie stretched to 2.5 hours with all the long shots, slow mo, visions, environmental shots, etc...  And while those shots within themselves were expertly done, they didn't advance the narrative in a way that really matters for the most part.  There must have been at least a solid 10 minutes of this movie where Paul is having some sort of vision that may or may not pertain to the future of the story.  Didn't we see Paul die in 2 or 3 of these visions?  And some of the visions included conversations with people who end of dead before that conversation takes place?  A little confusing.  I've had some similar complains about Villenueve movies before as well.

That out of the way, because it was the two biggest things for me to not really dig this movie like I think I might have, there were plenty of things I liked.

Chamalet and Isaac are always good, and this is no different. Mamoa's role could have been great but they try to pack so much into this that we don't really get to feel that character's arc like we should have.

Like I said above, the cinematography is just gorgeous.  The score is strong too.

I really dig the lore, and the world building, but they spent so much time on it that the story telling dragged and feels fragmented, because the contents of this movie could have easily been a 10 hour long episode season 1 arc.

I'll definitely see the next one, so I hope it gets made, but the feeling I left this movie with was wanting. If they try to resolve all the stuff they set up in this in just 2.5 more hours, it's going to feel rushed, especially if Villeneuve spends so much time on visual shots that don't advance the narrative again.  I'm on board with Mamoa, I want the 6 hour directors cut of this movie.

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47 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

All this stuff that is supposed to have emotional weight behind it, don't because we literally just got introduced to these characters and we haven't been on any real journey with them.

This stood out to me as well. This couldve been a red wedding moment if, to your point, this was done as a miniseries instead of a theatrical movie. 

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3 minutes ago, Oregon Ducks said:

To be fair, the character work is weak in the book, too. I wish Villnueve would have tweaked that.

They did a good job with Mommy dearest I think. It was extremely evident that her concern was Paul and almost nothing else throughout the entire run time. 

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1 hour ago, Oregon Ducks said:

To be fair, the character work is weak in the book, too. I wish Villnueve would have tweaked that.

Just out of curiosity, is marriage not a thing in their world or is Leto married/widowed but with additional concubines?   I didn’t realize Jessica was a concubine until later in the film. 

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Saw this in theaters Saturday night, got it playing in the background at home on HBO Max to kind of catch some stuff we may have missed (was hard to pick out some dialogue when like, Brolin was quoting stuff or the mom was praying, or during some of the vision scenes), but we absolutely loved it. Best like pure sci fi movie I can remember watching in years (I'm not counting anything MCU as sci fi.) Everything from a technical or professional aspect was excellent. The score, cinematography, and all the acting performances were on point. I think they did a great job of world building. There was a ton of exposition and explanation given early on, but it didn't feel like any of it was wasted or useless. The information felt like it actually mattered, and will probably matter even more in the sequel, on some of the stuff that didn't fully pay off. The ending was definitely abrupt, but it felt to me like watching the first LOTR in theaters 20 years ago, where it ended at a point where I was ready for the movie to end, from a time perspective, but I wanted more from an overall world and story perspective. Like, I want the sequel to come out in a month, not in 4 years. But I don't think you could've made this any longer and not had it felt like it dragged. It was at it's proper run time, IMO. I liked the aesthetic with how they did wardrobes and environments. That fun mix of advanced tech but also feeling kind of outdated at the same time. Loved the scale they showed with the sandworms. Everything about the Fremen culture was enjoyable as well. Felt like a very real impression of learning how another civilization survives along the way. Really just overall liked it.

I'll be incredibly upset if we don't get a sequel.

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