Dune: Part 2

[Andrew NDB]

Already moving swiftly along.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/dune-pa...oving-swiftly/

[Andrew NDB]

Florence Pugh is in talks for Princess Irulan in Dune Part 2:

https://www.darkhorizons.com/florenc...dune-part-two/

The biggest part left to cast, of course, is the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. It'll probably be a Giancarlo Esposito type.

[oldmanwinters]

A shame they passed on the chance to name this thing Dune Deuce.

[IMJ]

The first one was awesome. Well acted, well shot and the sound mix or folly in the film? Wow. WOW.

[Andrew NDB]

Christopher Walken is the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/christo...-dune-emperor/

I dunno... I love Walken but maybe this isn't the best time in his life for this part?

[IMJ]

Yeah I can't help but feel that his presence will take me out of the "Dune" world and I'll be sitting there watching Walken do his thing.

[Andrew NDB]

Full trailer:



Looks like they're hiding Walken's Emperor for now.

[Barkworm]

I‘m a big fan of Villeneuve‘s Blade Runner so I wish him all the best but did the first one even make its money back?

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Barkworm

I‘m a big fan of Villeneuve‘s Blade Runner so I wish him all the best but did the first one even make its money back?

I am too - 2049 was a work of art. It was a rare game changing theatrical experience. I was captivated by it.

Dune had a budget of $165 million and made $402 million. Thankfully Platinum still has a solid head on their shoulders instead of something like Disney who believes that a movie is only successful if it hits a billion. A billion.

And I'm glad it made money because we need this sequel. I had to explain to a buddy of mine that this Dune (2021) was not a sequel to the 1980's movie. He was completely biased against seeing it because of that belief. He still doesn't understand that it's a brand new adaptation......

[Andrew NDB]

It was a little hairy. It cost 165 million, made only 108 million domestic, with another 180 overseas (which means it only netted about half of that, or less). It was kind of in the middle-but-not of COVID, so there's that, and also it benefited from the quick on-demand PPV release at home.

So, certainly broke even and made a "twee," as best as I can figure.

Me, I'm still on the fence about these movies. I can't get excited about a third reinterpretation/adaptation of the first book. The last time around we at least made it to the second and third books before things petered out, but here we are back at the first again, apparently on the seat of our pants. By some stroke of luck we're even getting the second half of the first book, lol, let alone anything else. So I'm not really getting excited yet. But so far so good, beyond random choices (did Liet Kynes really need to be a woman? and black?).

[Andrew NDB]

We finally get a decent look at Christopher Walken's Emperor. And a glimpse of Florence Pugh's Irulan. But man, that trailer is too much. It's like a scene-by-scene summary of the whole rest of the book, complete with almost every single major spoiler! All they forgot to add is Alia stabbing the Baron.

[IMJ]

Oh man... looks so good. So epic, such great music, such a great cast.

[Andrew NDB]

Saw it. Honestly, it's a near perfect adaptation, excellently shot and edited and acted and the music is bombastic. The only things I didn't like was the little things changed for "modern audiences" in 2024.

* The revealing to the Fremen that the prophecy was constructed by the Bene Gesserit. This wasn't even revealed until the 2nd book, I think, and I don't think it was ever shared with the Fremen. I guess this is to make them not seem like clueless savages?

* Chani. A bunch of action heroics are apportioned to her instead of Paul. And she behaves like a "modern woman" here, slapping Paul in front of everyone when he drinks the Water of Life in what was supposed to be a major triumphant scene.

* They dubiously made the ending also less triumphant. Paul's ascendancy to Emperor is muddled with "well, the other Houses in orbit don't agree!" and it isn't resolved. Need to rub some dirt on the "white savior" thing? Or something?

* They removed the time skip in it. Alia isn't even born yet.

* No gay Baron Harkonnen? I guess that would be problematic?

* No look at the Spacing Guild at all still? Wtf?

[IMJ]

Can't wait....
We are either going to see it tonight or Tuesday. Everything I'm seeing is that it's another Villaneuve masterpiece.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Saw it. Honestly, it's a near perfect adaptation, excellently shot and edited and acted and the music is bombastic. The only things I didn't like was the little things changed for "modern audiences" in 2024.

* The revealing to the Fremen that the prophecy was constructed by the Bene Gesserit. This wasn't even revealed until the 2nd book, I think, and I don't think it was ever shared with the Fremen. I guess this is to make them not seem like clueless savages?

* Chani. A bunch of action heroics are apportioned to her instead of Paul. And she behaves like a "modern woman" here, slapping Paul in front of everyone when he drinks the Water of Life in what was supposed to be a major triumphant scene.

* They dubiously made the ending also less triumphant. Paul's ascendancy to Emperor is muddled with "well, the other Houses in orbit don't agree!" and it isn't resolved. Need to rub some dirt on the "white savior" thing? Or something?

* They removed the time skip in it. Alia isn't even born yet.

* No gay Baron Harkonnen? I guess that would be problematic?

* No look at the Spacing Guild at all still? Wtf?

There's a scene where

Spoiler:

Feyd-Rautha kissed the Baron

but it was all improvised by the actor.

[IMJ]

Saw it last night. It was great, but not without mild, mild, but noticeable issues.
There were two problems that really stood out - one was directly related to the filming and the other might have been our theater - I'm not sure.

The pacing was difficult at times. This movie covers a lot of ground and several undefined time jumps that can be jarring. For example, the build up to Paul being sent off into the desert with a tent to survive overnight led you to believe it would be a centerpiece "growth point" of the movie. But it moves to Chani helping Paul and they just move on from there. There is no punctuated "victorious return". That's just one example of the movie cramming events in without a firm middle or depicted end to an event. But there is so much ground to cover they had to do this, and you come to understand the pacing after the "desert survival" thing.

Secondly, I can't tell if this was our theater or the way it was filmed, but there was a real lack of saturation in the color - a level of darkness that absolutely was not in the first movie. It was so different that I can't help but think that maybe our theater had piss poor brightness calibration. And as a note for the dromer who has to say it - omfg no I'm not talking about the Harkonnen planet scenes. The lack of saturation at the beginning of the movie had me wishing for more crystal-clear, bright "Lawrence of Arabia" scenes such as the Thopter/Miner/Sandworm setpiece from the first flick.

As for the Baron kissing his nephew on the mouth - I didn't get any "gay" out of that. It was an "oookay" moment, but ultimately I filed it under "alien cultural moment".

It had some great moments and I loved that Paul continues to rise to the occasion as a force of nature. Also got a real kick out of the juxtaposition of the "prophecy" as a manipulation tool, yet one that comes to fruition anyway. That's very philosophical in it's own way. And they do a great job making Chani the kind of woman you want in your life with a heartbreaking payoff at the end of the movie.

I thought it was great.