Dune Two

[Dylan Thomas]

Okay, I really, really enjoyed the second of the new Dune movies much more than the first, as did the other I saw the film with.

My biggest criticism of the Lynch version has always been around the pacing.  Yes, I know that he intended it to be a much longer movie, and much of it was cut to have a more palatable run-time for a sci-fi/action film at the time.  Still, it's large to reconcile just how story driven and detail oriented the first half of the book is portrayed, only to have the pacing of the second half rushed and cramped into the last half hour of the film.

Dune Two definitely corrects for this problem, which is one of the advantages of splitting the book into two long films.  With that being said, it still rushes, particularly in the liberties it takes with the time line and story arc.  I can sometimes be pretty dogmatic around fidelity to original source material that is near and dear to me, and I don't really have a problem with the creative liberties and deviations from the book.  Overall, the movie is so well done that it's hard to criticize.  The acting is top-notch, it's visually even more stunning than the first part, and it clearly leaves room for a sequel that delves into Dune Messiah, the next book in the series.

Without giving anything away, the most significant deviations are with Chani and Jessica/Alia, and both changes were handled with intend and thoughtfulness.  They don't seem like half-assed or dumbed-down changes just to make the film more palatable for the big screen, rather, in a lot of ways they make the story and movie more challenging, which is why they work for me.  I like being challenged.

And the visual aesthetics?  Damn, tha sandriders on the worms is worth the price of admission lone, as is the gladiator scenes with Feyd-Rautha.  The dude who plays Feyd is fucking unreal in that role.

My two cents - see it in the theater.  It's worth it.  I almost felt the need to brush sand out of my hair and clothes when I got out of the movie, some of the scene are really that immersive.  4.5 out of 5 stars.
 

[Pissy]

I keep meaning to see the first one, but I haven't thought of it when I had 3 hrs to devote.