Dune 2 - (March 1, 2024)

[PoorAndDangerous]

even better the second time. first viewing was intense for me, it was a lot to take in in a short span. was able to digest so much easier this time. we need a 3rd

I felt the same way, I was overwhelmed the first viewing. Caught so many more details the second

 

[NinoBrown]

Visual Masterpiece, amazing film score (the mix of orchestral, ambient, and Middle Eastern instruments were amazing), great action, and solid performances by all the cast members.

Paul being the chosen one is about to take an Anakin Skywalker kinda chosen one path...Just waiting for the other shoe to drop...

 

[Steezy]

https://x.com/pigsandplans/status/1767937717965382105?s=46&t=otPMGZE21rYxBAlkhpM35Q

 

[RamsayBolton]

I might have preferred this as a TV show

plot pacing was weird and Paul was a different person very quickly in the last hour

still good

 

[Sensitive Christian Grey]

You're in the minority because everyone else feels this way

I'm somewhere in the middle with this. This scene and much of the third act told me he werent just a heartthrob for teens to stan but Id be lying if I said I was blown away. Good but not great

 

[RamsayBolton]

i thought it was veering way too hard into white savior territory at first

but then

1. those psychic women were manipulating everything to prep the people to WANT a white savior

2. paul talking about genocide and shyt

3. they had Zendaya looking like to help drive home that shyt paul was doing wasnt gonna be good by the end


Javier Bardem glazing for 3 hours was comical af though

 

[null]

I've been saying this for years his visual style is excellent he can't not make a movie with real life relatable characters to save his life. I stand on that.

look at most of kubrick's films .

one might consider them similarly detached.

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

I might have preferred this as a TV show

plot pacing was weird and Paul was a different person very quickly in the last hour

still good

That's because they did away with the 2 year time jump from the book.

 

[shonuff]

That's because they did away with the 2 year time jump from the book.

they did away with a lot more than a 2 year time jump

i get it about making a movie and telling a narrative the entire audience can follow

i think for good or bad though there were huge things that were left out the actual role of the benegesserit and their machinations or the importance of spice ( actually SEEING how important it was not just always being told ) and of course Pauls eventually seizing on his becoming a messiah but not just for revenge but because there is about to be a argument for picking the lesser of two evils-

the Dinner scene being cut i think is something that really undermines the first film and the brevity and one dimension of Pauls ascent and the tensions between what the Freemen want and what he is really doing is only apparent to those who really pay attention.

 

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

Second watch:

It is actually funny how much of an unstoppable badass Paul is dude just wrecks everyone who fights in, manages all death threatening situations, walks up and just kills the Baron like he was absolutely nothing, no sells a shank from freyd, and just sons everyone in that counsel. Dude was Mario with a star

 

[Mister Terrific]

Just an amazing movie all around. The colors, the sound design, the acting.

fukk it I’m team Paul. Jihad

 

[FlyRy]

look at most of kubrick's films .

one might consider them similarly detached.

People say the same about Nolan. It's the film version of all the NBA goats going bald

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Pretty good movie and its success is great for the industry.
My biggest issue is the pacing, the rise of Lisan al Gaib was too quick.

I'm interested by that choice, in the books the time span between Paul finding the Fremen and the end of the 2nd movie is 3 years. He doesn't fight Jamis right away, he doesn't get with Chami right away, he fights a TON of other challengers who see his rise and wants to keep him in his place, his legend slowly grows, his training of the Fremen takes time.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Why are people taking Neil so seriously he does a whole stage show about sci-fi movies, what they got right, what they got wrong etc. I’m sure he loves the movie, he just likes to use anything as an educational opportunity, he’s not doing it in a mean spirited curmudgeon type way.

Man, you should see the UFO community, they fukking HATE him there cause he debunks UFO sightings. As in if it was reported tomorrow that NdT was murdered in his home, I would 100% assume that some UFO bro did it and the body would probably be mutilated.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

the pacing was my issue as well, it also makes the payoffs cheaper in the end as well

I think this book should have been a trilogy - Denis had to pack way too much into Part 2. They fast forwarded Pauls growth as a Fremen and learning the ways of the desert. The reveal of his mother being the Barons daughter was just thrown in there - felt like it should have been more impactful?

I loved the movie, but I need to go back and watch again. It was damn near overwhelming with everything that happened. I never really bought fully into the love story between Paul & Chani, so the ending didnt feel as impactful as it could have. They could have fleshed out that relationship more, but they had to move quick to pack everything in. Paul went from a desert beginner to orchestrating attacks on harvesters to riding sandworms scene after scene. I get why they had to do it that way, but shyt, him learning the ways of the Freman could have been a whole damn movie. I think in the books it covers the course of 2 years? It would have allowed the love story flesh out more too

Another thing - I LOVED the Baron as the imposing villan in Part 1 - hes used sparingly but his impact is HEAVY. He felt cheapened in Part 2 and not as imposing (I realize hes injured and not at the same speed but still) - I know they wanted to show that the emperor had his balls, but I thought Part 2 lacked what the Baron brought in Part 1. Feyd was well done, but he doesnt carry the gravitas of a final boss type villan to me

I really could have done with a different casting than Christopher Walken for emperor - I feel like someone else coudl have killed that role and added more gravity to it. Walken just doesnt do it for me. Could be a perosonal thing.

Overall, I really enjoyed it - want to go back and see it again this week. I thought Tim did a good job, so did Rebecca, she had a good arc in this. Feyd and the Giedi Prime scenes were dope. The desert scenes were great, would have loved to see them add more space to grow those scenes out more. And get more into the lore of spice and what it means to the Freman vs what it means to the "empire" - there is a lot more they could have dove into there. Denis needed 3 movies for just this specific story and I really think this could have been the GOAT trilogy. It felt limited to just two movies.

Hollywood audiences are too lazy nowadays or considered too lazy at least, the production houses assume that they wouldn't have stood for another "slow" paced movie. But yeah, to do justice to the story, Paul learning the ways of the Fremen and then rising to power could have been the entire 2nd movie with teaser flashes to the Baron and Feyd and the Emperor's lackeys sparingly inserted (would have had plenty of action because the Fremen life is brutal as fukk in the book with a LOT more fights), and then warring against the Harkkonens and standoff against the emperor could have been a whole movie by itself.


Something I haven't seen mentioned in the thread is that because of the runtime, the weirding way and Paul's abilities in fight and psychological advantages are barely explained, and that was my favorite part of the books. You get to understand how the Bene Gesserit training had made him such an incredible foe in combat and how he turns the Fremen from scary ruthless tough but primitive fighters to basically invincible Super Soldiers.

Second watch:

It is actually funny how much of an unstoppable badass Paul is dude just wrecks everyone who fights in, manages all death threatening situations, walks up and just kills the Baron like he was absolutely nothing, no sells a shank from freyd, and just sons everyone in that counsel. Dude was Mario with a star

Yeah, that's explained much better in the book. Paul has 3 advantages over everyone else that make him nearly invincible.

1. Since birth, he was the heir of a House that knew it was in trouble but had a particularly wise and careful leader. Even since he was a toddler, his father had given him the greatest training in every subject - fighting, statecraft, and mental prowess. Literally the greatest fighters in the universe (multiple!) were training him to fight like a young Kobe growing amongst NBA stars but if they were utterly devoted to him along, a guy whose mind has been turned into the equivalent of a human computer taught Paul to do exactly the same. Paul would never, ever run into anyone who had better practical advantages than him in thinking and fighting.


2. Secretly, Paul had been part of a 1000-year project by the Bene Gesserit to breed the ideal man whose mind would embody the perfection of the latent human abilities to perceive the future. In the book, there's some minor human genetic ability to perceive the future, that ability has been brought out and emphasized in Paul's genetic line by careful planning for over 1000 years and finally perfected in him. On top of that, the "spice" in Arrakis is a drug that brings the ability to see the future to people who are primed for that trait, and Paul is literally enveloped in spice.


3. Since childhood, Paul's mother, a Bene Gesserit witch, has carefully been training him in the Weirding Way. This is a special kind of physical/psychological training where an individual is trained to have perfect control and understanding of every part of their body (move every muscle independently however they want with any thought, even control their heartbeat, breathing, etc. perfectly) as well as perfect understanding of the opponent's body. In the book, Paul will see a tiny muscle shift in the opponent and immediately know exactly how he will strike, then will his own strike sequence faster than anyone else ever could. In the book, the practitioners of the Weirding Way can control their own body so absolutely with their mind that it even impacts spacetime in their immediate vicinity to a limited sense, practically gives the impression of a fighter whose blows are teleporting. "The Voice" also comes from this training - it's him perfectly controlling his vocals to the point that they impact on the hearer's mind in a way that controls THEM too.




So Paul is the most perfectly trained fighter and thinker in the known universe, who has virtually supernatural ability to manipulate his own body, voice, and thoughts, has perfect psychological understanding of others, and then can plan all his actions based on his ability to see into the future. Wouldn't someone like that be virtually invincible?

And despite all that, in the book he actually has some incredible close calls and very nearly takes the L.