I was really looking forward to Dune Part 2 in the hope that it would be better than Part One. Don't get me wrong P1 was a decent effort and set the scene reasonably well for the second instalment. Sadly, I was disappointed.
Much of the criticism of the original Lynch movie stemmed from the fact that Lynch altered a few of the key aspects of the novel but the same can be said of Villeneuve's production too. I'd argue Lynch's changes are far less problematic. At least he kept Alia and the Guild Navigators and didn't consign them to footnotes. What the hell is Spaihts and Villeneuve talking about when they say the passion for Leto's death in P1 would be diminished with a time jump of a few years to P2 just so they could avoid casting a child actor in the role of Pauls sister? It makes no sense and diminishes P2 immensely.
On the Guild Navigator's not appearing in the original novel; well the whole point of introducing them in the Lynch movie and the TV shows was to emphasise who had the real power in the Universe and who it was that Paul had to defeat to become the God Emperor. By leaving them out it needs some other vehicle to persuade the audience of the jeopardy faced by the Atreides dynasty and their Fremen followers. This production fails on that score.
My main problem with P2, however, is the whole alteration of the time from the start of P1 to the end of P2. In the novel and the Lynch movie there was no such problem. By cramming so much into such a short period of less than a year, rather than the 2 years of the book, the whole feeling of the film becomes messy and disjointed. Maybe, it was due to the budget constraints. $190m is not a lot for a movie these days. Lynch's movie cost $40m over 40 years ago. Today, we would expect at least $250m if not $400m for such a prestigious movie, with so much expectation. Far greater than in 1984.
Both P1 & P2 have been hyped up a great deal and rightly so. Audiences ought to expect a genuine epic from such great source material and with a strong history of visual productions. However, the end result was a space drama with no drama, a lack lustre soundtrack, mediocre acting, a lame script and a messy screenplay. I don't even think the costumes were all that good. No style. No panache. No drama. No humour. No intrigue.
Chalamet ought to have been able to mature in his role but he wasn't given the chance. I'm not entirely convinced he could have pulled it off anyway. He looks like a young skinny teen at the end of P2 just as he did at the start of P1. The same cannot be said of Kyle MacLachlan, whose Paul Muad'dib Atreides would have had millions of Fremen warriors chasing after him across the galaxy. I couldn't see the Fremen following Chalamet into battle on Arrakis, let alone on a crusade to decimate the universe. Let's not even mention the missing characters in P2 or the unsatisfactory relationship of Paul and Chani. I never felt warm to any of the characters, which I did in both the 1984 original and the TV shows.
Every omission and alteration creates problems that go beyond the basic story. It made the movie feel more like a first draft rather than the finished article. God knows how much was left on the cutting room floor but if what we ended up with is the best the editor could give us then he either deserves an Oscar or never to be hired again.
No Thufir Hawat. No Count Fenring. No Guild Navigators. No child Alia. No Leto Atreides II. No Harah. There is a reason these characters exist in the novel and why leaving them out makes for a far less satisfying evening at the theatre. Will there be a Part 3? Villeneuve says it makes sense but if he's going to butcher Dune Messiah as much as he did with Dune then I'm not sure anyone should give him the budget.
I gave Part One, 8/10. I give Part Two, 6/10, simply because it is worse than P1 when it should have been better.
Much of the criticism of the original Lynch movie stemmed from the fact that Lynch altered a few of the key aspects of the novel but the same can be said of Villeneuve's production too. I'd argue Lynch's changes are far less problematic. At least he kept Alia and the Guild Navigators and didn't consign them to footnotes. What the hell is Spaihts and Villeneuve talking about when they say the passion for Leto's death in P1 would be diminished with a time jump of a few years to P2 just so they could avoid casting a child actor in the role of Pauls sister? It makes no sense and diminishes P2 immensely.
On the Guild Navigator's not appearing in the original novel; well the whole point of introducing them in the Lynch movie and the TV shows was to emphasise who had the real power in the Universe and who it was that Paul had to defeat to become the God Emperor. By leaving them out it needs some other vehicle to persuade the audience of the jeopardy faced by the Atreides dynasty and their Fremen followers. This production fails on that score.
My main problem with P2, however, is the whole alteration of the time from the start of P1 to the end of P2. In the novel and the Lynch movie there was no such problem. By cramming so much into such a short period of less than a year, rather than the 2 years of the book, the whole feeling of the film becomes messy and disjointed. Maybe, it was due to the budget constraints. $190m is not a lot for a movie these days. Lynch's movie cost $40m over 40 years ago. Today, we would expect at least $250m if not $400m for such a prestigious movie, with so much expectation. Far greater than in 1984.
Both P1 & P2 have been hyped up a great deal and rightly so. Audiences ought to expect a genuine epic from such great source material and with a strong history of visual productions. However, the end result was a space drama with no drama, a lack lustre soundtrack, mediocre acting, a lame script and a messy screenplay. I don't even think the costumes were all that good. No style. No panache. No drama. No humour. No intrigue.
Chalamet ought to have been able to mature in his role but he wasn't given the chance. I'm not entirely convinced he could have pulled it off anyway. He looks like a young skinny teen at the end of P2 just as he did at the start of P1. The same cannot be said of Kyle MacLachlan, whose Paul Muad'dib Atreides would have had millions of Fremen warriors chasing after him across the galaxy. I couldn't see the Fremen following Chalamet into battle on Arrakis, let alone on a crusade to decimate the universe. Let's not even mention the missing characters in P2 or the unsatisfactory relationship of Paul and Chani. I never felt warm to any of the characters, which I did in both the 1984 original and the TV shows.
Every omission and alteration creates problems that go beyond the basic story. It made the movie feel more like a first draft rather than the finished article. God knows how much was left on the cutting room floor but if what we ended up with is the best the editor could give us then he either deserves an Oscar or never to be hired again.
No Thufir Hawat. No Count Fenring. No Guild Navigators. No child Alia. No Leto Atreides II. No Harah. There is a reason these characters exist in the novel and why leaving them out makes for a far less satisfying evening at the theatre. Will there be a Part 3? Villeneuve says it makes sense but if he's going to butcher Dune Messiah as much as he did with Dune then I'm not sure anyone should give him the budget.
I gave Part One, 8/10. I give Part Two, 6/10, simply because it is worse than P1 when it should have been better.
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