Let's get to the "stuff" first.
DUNE has been my favorite book for my entire adult life. As I'm sure I've mentioned here before, every few years I used to go through it—and in fact the entire series of Herbert's original six books—just to remind me why I love it so.
(Unfortunately I now have the attention span of a gnat and sitting down to read anything more than a dozen paragraphs causes me to fidget, so I'm long overdue for a re-read of the series.)
Reading aside, the more I learned of Villeneuve's vision for the film, the more excited I became.
I was seriously hoping that this would be the spark that ignited the same sort of passion for the story in Ben that I had been carrying with me all these many years.
Unfortunately, I fear just the opposite has happened. And after last night I think DUNE is going to be one of those subjects that just isn't discussed in this house.
Ben had no interest in seeing the film, yet he agreed to go with me on a date night nonetheless because I wanted him to see it with me. I verified that the time and place would work for him (keeping in mind his commute home from Casa Grande) and he said it was fine. This week he told me he had an IEP scheduled for 4:00 that afternoon but was fairly certain he could still make it back to Phoenix in time to make our 6:15 showtime.
And then life intervened.
Yesterday was a day from hell for my husband. Around 2:30 pm a kid threatened to self-harm, and during the interview it escalated, with him threatening to hurt his dad—and Ben. Crisis was called, and after waiting 20 minutes on hold, the team was dispatched. But because there's apparently one crisis intervention crew for the entire county, Ben had no idea when they would show up.
I'll spare you the details, but we didn't make the 6:15 show. We ended up at the 9:45 pm show, didn't get back home until after 1 am, and Ben had to get up five hours later to make it to a training class this morning that is located in Fountain Hills, affectionately referred to as halfway to New Mexico. We did have a nice, leisurely dinner before the movie, something we wouldn't have gotten otherwise because I misread the website and thought the multiplex was "Dine-In IMAX," when in reality it was "Dine-In and IMAX."
Speaking of the multiplex, once upon a time the theaters at Desert Ridge were nice, but it was obvious they are long overdue for an upgrade. The "IMAX" theater wasn't a true IMAX, but rather IMAX-Lite. It may have had the requisite sound system, but the screen was only marginally bigger than what you'd get in a regular theater, not the two story monster I remember from visits to IMAX theaters in San Francisco. The seats were incredibly uncomfortable. Ben was freezing. We were only two of a couple dozen patrons wearing masks. First time back in a theater in nearly two years and this was not a good first impression.
Add to that, technical difficulties prevented the movie starting at the scheduled time, so the trailers didn't even start rolling until after 10 pm. And all I have to say about those coming attractions is, "Can Hollywood come up with nothing original?"
The movie finally started and by the time it finished, I answered that question with, yes…apparently they can if they want to.
What can I say? DUNE was everything I'd hoped for. While maybe not one-hundred percent chapter and verse faithful to the source material, it is my opinion that Villeneuve hit all the right notes and has given us as faithful a telling of the story as we're likely to ever see.
The cinematography was gorgeous. The performances brought these characters to life. The set pieces—especially the personal shields and OMG the ornithopters—despite having already seen both in the trailers, blew me away. As other reviewers have commented, Villeneuve has hit it out of the park and is without a doubt his finest work to date. Denis has filmed the unfilmable and has made it generally—Ben did have questions—accessible to people who have not read the source material or have seen other adaptations.
My only complaint—and this can be laid squarely on my own shoulders—is that because so much had been revealed in the teasers and trailers that I eagerly devoured over the past year, there wasn't a lot that I hadn't already seen in one form or another. (The Hunter-Seeker was an exception, and I loved its depiction.)
The film ended at a good point in the story, but OMG I want more. Ben liked it, but it failed to ignite the spark I was hoping for.
It's going to be a long two years (or however long it turns out to be) before we see Part 2.
I'm sorry to hear about the downfall of your evening. I'm glad to hear about your perception of the film. Unfortunately for me I've been checking out reviews and I'm amazed not at the actual disappointments but by the reasons for them. One reviewer stated that the Bene Gesserit were psychic. Where did she get that? The book lovers, almost invariably, are upset because the whole framework of the novel isn't there. Where's the dinner party scene? Why is Rabban's character so vague? Meanwhile I'm thinking brilliant! Good ol' Denis is making decisions I could never have thought of. This piece of the film is Paul's story. As the film begins we learn that his life is changing drastically and the story we get is his dealing with what decisions he must make. He knows his dreams are hints, glances at possible futures. He knows how both ancient and advanced his trainings have been. Yet, does the word Mentat even come up? Are the Guild Navigators even mentioned? No one says anything about a hyper advanced culture that can fold space but there are no computers, no technological services at all to be found outside of transportation. And who are those guys with the white robes and the Spice colored globes on their heads that accompany the Emperor's Herald? I can promise you, every Dunehead knows exactly who they are.
Jason Momoa? Double whammy. Do we have a body count on the Sardaukar in this film? And he's the first representation of Duncan Idaho that gets to show you what Paul means to him. Uniformly a strong and interested cast but the one who surprised me was Javier Bardem. He becomes Stilgar.
So now the scene is set. Paul is prepared for the Hero's Journey. I know it's gonna be a while before we get chapter two. Just promise me you won't let it out that Paul isn't Luke and not even Anakin. And let's all thank the midichlorians that this isn't a Lucasfilm.
So, is the next date night The Eternals?
Marc said it best. I wanted more exposition, i wanted more character development, more background. The visuals were stunning but the was no development in the story as to why there was such differences. The jump from the building of the army to the war was jolting.
As someone who is new to the universe there were just gaps that I would have hoped would have been filled in a 2h 35m movie. I want to go to a movie to be entertained not prepare a book report before hand. 😛
Visually it was stunning, the sets, the affects, the costuming. The acting was good too.
I'm glad you liked it. I'm going Tuesday.
I saw it with another friend who loves, loves, loves the books. I've made it a quarter of the way through Heretics of Dune before I finally got fed up. I liked Villeneuve's interpretation, but it was good, not great. I have beef with some of the casting choices. Rebecca Ferguson was a poor choice as Jessica. She's mousey and too frequently sniveling. Jessica should be imposing, even though she's pained because of what she can see is happening with Leto and Paul. Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho is questionable. On one hand, they do capture the genuine affection between Paul and Duncan, there was too much Jason Momoa going "My man!" there. We've seen it and it was out of place. Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen was meh, and David Bautista as Rabban doesn't really have time to show that he fits. On the flip side, Oscar Isaac is brilliant as Duke Leto. Timothée Chalamet is perfect and gives humanity to the character.
My other quibble with the aesthetic, was that I KNOW that they have lights in the palace in Arrakeen. Villeneuve just chose to leave them out. While some of the shots were visually impressive, the fact that so many of the scenes were shot in shadow without lighting detracted from what was going on. It was difficult to see what the hell people were doing.
Finally, for a nearly 3 hour movie that was just half of what was in the 2 hour 1984 David Lynch version, Villeneuve leaves out a lot that explains what is going on on one hand, and on the other hand, parts of it feel rushed. They don't take the time to establish Dr. Yueh's relationship with the family or explain his mental conditioning and how it's a basis for absolute trust, so his betrayal doesn't have any impact. That just leaves the family looking naive. Leto's "realization" right before everything happens didn't feel like it was set up properly, and didn't pay off as a result.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it, I'm looking forward to the next one.