DJariya

Synopsis:


Rotten Tomatoes:

88% as of 10/20/21


Running Time:

2 hours, 35 minutes


Current Box Office:

$129M International as of 10/20/21


Reported Production Budget:

$165M




This will be in theaters starting tomorrow or on HBO Max starting at 6pm ET/3pm PT

Warning.

There are rumors that this leaked online. Do not post spoilers in this thread until people have the opportunity to see it officially tomorrow whether on HBO Max or in theaters. Be courteous to your fellow movie fans here.

So be warned there are possible spoilers out there.



I plan to see this tomorrow at 7pm in Dolby at AMC.

TomOpus

Going tomorrow early afternoon.

jpcamb

very curious to find out if this is watchable for the casual fan or if you need to be familiar with the source to follow it. Trailers leave me unsure if I want to see this.

TheBigDave

Casual viewers won't have a problem. The only thing I knew about Dune was that it involved some kind of dispute on a desert planet with giant worms. They did a great job making a complex story so easy to understand. I'm sure that hardcore fans will get more enjoyment out of it, knowing the full story in advance. But as a newbie, I didn't feel lost or confused at any time.

E Unit

Got my couch and beer ready.

Cellar Door

Just watched it. I liked it, though I felt like the first half was fairly slow and I think some of the weirdness of the Bene Gesserit mysticism early in the movie may not appeal much to general audiences*. The second half runs more like a traditional sci-fi action/adventure movie, so that may help. It's definitely only half a story, though, and so when the credits rolled I felt a little unsatisfied.

The cast is good, though of course some of the big names die midway through. The visuals are pretty great--the ornithopters look cool and the worm scenes are well done.


*for context, I've never read the books but I've seen the Lynch movie so I already knew the general story and the players.

milo bloom

Watched it this evening. Wanted to wait a bit before I put my thoughts down and I don’t think I should vote yet because I want to sit with it a little longer and maybe even watch it again (HBOMax).

I am whelmed. It is beautiful. The scenery is beautiful, the people are beautiful (even the ugly ones) it is all beautiful. But the story had so much cut to streamline it. Even at only half the story there’s so much of the political intrigue missing that it feels a bit shallow. But there is far more focus on Paul’s destiny which unfortunately we won’t get a payoff for unless they make Part 2.

It’s not bad by any means, it’s very very good. But it could have been better.

TheBigDave

I think it's a great movie. Very well done. It's gorgeous, with an excellent cast, and an interesting story. Dune fans and film critics will probably love it.

But, it's 2 hours of world building and only 30 minutes of action. It's a lot of set-up and it feels like things are just getting started, then it ends without any resolution. It's obviously just half of a much longer movie.

If they ever make the rest of the story, I might feel differently. Right now, as a standalone movie, it's incomplete and not very satisfying.

story

I'll see this Sunday. Wondering if it will end like at the 4-minute mark of this clip from the animated Lord of the Rings film:

DJariya

Just got back from seeing it at the theater tonight. Not really sure how I feel quite yet, so I'm holding off on voting in the poll. As of right now, I say it was "Good"

It's beautifully filmed. Great cinematography. Excellent costumes and sets. And I think all the actors including Chalamet and Ferguson were great., Even Momoa having a supporting role was also good. I was surprised how big Ferguson's role was.

However, I'm not quite sure I really followed the story. To me it was a little bit of a difficult watch trying to understand all the plot elements and who all the characters were. There were some parts that were quite slow. I sat next to a 13-14 year old kid and his Dad and I could tell the kid did not resonate with the movie at all. He was really restless and got up several times.

I think I need another viewing. And yes, it's a lot of set up and the ending is basically a segue to part 2. I'm not sure I will go back to the theater again for this, but I will watch it at home maybe this weekend to try to get a better feel for the story.

Giantrobo

I feel ill be in the minority but as a long time DUNE fan....films, mini series, books, etc... im 60min in on HBOMax and im loooving it so far. The guy playing Paul is perfect. All the actors are well placed. I love the quiet scenes with little or no score. This feels familiar yet different in the best way.

Just finished...i need more of this DUNE Universe.

Perkinsun Dzees

Epic and engrossing. I have never read Dune nor seen any past adaptations, but thought they did a nice job of making it pretty clear what the stakes were and what was happening throughout the film with the rival factions.

My one complaint with the storyline was the doctor dude who betrayed House Atreides by deactivating their shields and abducting Leto. Did this dumbass really believe the ruthless Harkonnen were going to release his wife to him? It just seemed like a very cliche plot reveal and ended up leading to a pretty campy moment in the movie ("I said you would join her...and you will!" then promptly kills the doctor, as we all knew he would). I did like how the doctor put the poison gas tooth in Leto's mouth though.

Bandoman

Answer here (from the book):

E Unit

I liked it. Nothing mind-blowing for me, but it definitely has good to great visuals.

Now off to my second show to see - Great British Bake Off!

Jay G.

Also from the book:


The film strips a lot of the nuance and details from the events and characters, leaving mainly the grand, big plot points. The small character moments are reserved almost solely for the three main characters of Leto, Jessica, and Paul. So it's a far more focused, streamlined adaptation than previous ones, although the slower pacing means it doesn't cover as much ground.

I enjoyed the film, primarily for the characterizations and visuals. It's probably the most accessible of the adaptations since it doesn't get bogged down in the details, but it does make some of the plot points a bit more conventional or even cliche compared to the novel.

milo bloom

Yeah, that's the kind of context the Lynch version was better at, even if it was a dreamy voiceover.

GoldenJCJ

I’ve got similar thoughts as everyone else. Without a doubt, this is the best looking film I’ve seen in several years. The visuals were absolutely gorgeous.

Im one who has never read the books or seen any other adaptations of the story. Overall, I was able to understand most of it - there are a few things that didn’t make much sense, and I assumed are explained in far more detail in the books - but overall it was fairly easily digestible.

I’m excited for part 2 but I’m a little nervous that even if it does get greenlighted soon, it’ll still be several years before the part 2 is released. It seems strange that they’re doing it that way rather than filming them both at once.

Jay G.

It may seem strange to you, but it's actually pretty normal. A studio typically isn't going to commit upfront to more than one film for an unproven film series/franchise. The number of films shot back-to-back/simultaneous is rather small, and in terms of doing that from the beginning, before the first film is released, it's basically just LOTR and Superman 1 & 2 in terms of US blockbuster films, and even Superman 2 had filming shut down to focus on finishing Superman 1, losing the director in the process.

For the majority of back-to-back/simultaneous film shoots, they're only greenlit for sequels to a hit original film/franchise. Think The Matrix, Back to the Future, Harry Potter, Twilight, Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hobbit, etc. Those were all after the first film in the series, produced on its own, was a hit. Note that I'm also including The Hobbit since those films were clearly greenlit due to the success of the LOTR films, and tried to tie in and build off that success as much as possible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...d_back-to-back

Dune is somewhat different in that it's only half of a novel/story though, whereas most of those other films series had a first film that could work as a standalone, while Dune needs a part 2 to have complete story. Even then though, there are predecessors. Take the Atlas Shrugged film trilogy, which were only greenlit one at a time, and I'm sure the producers of that first film were grateful they hadn't paid for all 3 films upfront, due to how bad the first film bombed. The sequels only got made due to ever decreasing budgets and production values, taking into account how poorly the last film did. And WB also split up Stephen King's IT, initially only producing the first half of the story, although that was helped out due to the fact that one could re-arrange the novel in chronological order to have a first part that could work standalone.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...dForAdaptation

The studios also aren't necessarily risking rising cast/crew fees, since for many films nowadays they have the notable cast and crew sign "multi-picture" deals where the cast commit to multiple films, typically 3, while the studio only commits to making the first while retaining the option to make the other two.

There's also the issue of tying up so munch money into a film series for multiple years on end, when you won't see returns on it for years out, having to wait for multiple film releases until it all comes back. Studios only have so much money per year to spend on films, using the revenue from the last film to pay for the next. I'm sure WB is actually a bit relieved that they didn't have money tied up and already spent on Dune Part 2 after the pandemic delayed movie releases, meaning they wouldn't see the money back from Part 2 until at least 2022, after initially funding in 2019. The money they didn't spend on Part 2 upfront could instead be spent on films that could be produced and released shortly after, or even maybe before, Dune, bringing in more revenue.

So it's frustrating to a fan, who wants to see the conclusion of the story as soon as possible, but it makes sense from a business perspective.

Dr. DVD

Before I start, this looks promising


Caught this today and while I would love to give it five stars, the fact that I knew I was watching something incomplete with no real knowledge of whether or not I will get to see the rest of the story prevents me from doing so, so until I know we are for certain getting to see the rest of the story this will be 3 1/2 stars . From a strictly artistic and entertainment standpoint, I loved it and it gave me all I could realistically want from an adaptation of Herbert's work. In fact, I'm kind of amazed at how well Villeneuve and his screenwriters adapted such dense material and made the story and dialogue pretty damn palpable for the average joe. Granted, some of it is still pretty dense, but given the source material I think they made it as serviceable to most people as they could. The acting was good across the board, and just about every scene demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. I watched some last night on HBOMax and then saw the full (1/2) movie today in an Atmos theater.

What I loved:

-Cinematography
-Production Design
-FX and sound
-Rebecca Ferguson's performance. Other versions of Lady Jessica on film didn't really impress me much and were a bit melodramatic. Ferguson's portrayal was really moving as you can tell mostly from non-verbals that this is a conflicted mother who loves her son and wishes this wasn't the life she gave him, especially the part where Paul has an outburst at her.
-The little nods to book readers like the appearance of Kynes' lab and the bull head
-In all honesty, the way the movie made most of the good characters seem human and relatable. Having read the book twice and seen the Lynch version several, that was a pretty big obstacle.

What I didn't really care for:

-Crazy made up languages for the Sardaukar and other people. I guess this was done to make it seem more like the stuff people expect from Game of Thrones, but I don't think it was necessary.
-Hard to hear dialogue at times in theater. Glad I have HBOMax so I can use subtitles in repeat viewings.
-A bit too much overreacting from Bautista and Brolin
-While they did the best they could given time constraints, a lot of good character moments were left out that could have made some scenes more meaningful. They definitely beefed up Duncan Idaho's presence , but characters like Dr. Yueh, Piter DeVries, and Thufir seemed to get sidelined a bit. I'm glad they left Thufir's attempt to resign in the movie, but Yueh and Piter were reduced to mere bit players. Also, I really wanted to see the banquet scene, as that gave a lot of insight into the politics of the world, and would have given Momoa a good acting moment. Maybe it was shot and hit the floor for pacing reasons? Also , they ditched a huge subplot regarding finding the identity of the traitor within House Atreides and how all eyes were kind of on Jessica . Makes me wonder if


But hey, most of that is nit picking from a fan of the book. I could easily see that stuff making it a slog for others.

TomOpus

Hard to remark on a partial movie but I liked what I saw and heard. And it's nice to be able to go home and revisit the movie if there was anything missed. Plus you got subtitles. Hopefully they will release in on video before part 2 gets announced. I would think it would help sales.

dex14

This was a masterpiece in terms of visual effects. This has been the only WB release I've gone to see in theatres (IMAX) this year and I'm glad I did.

Overall, I enjoyed what it saw, but it took maybe an hour or so to really kick in. This is 100% not a complete film. To make this movie and not follow through with a second part would be a massive disservice.

Rebecca Ferguson.

dex14

Brack

I loved pretty much everything about the movie. Just a beautiful looking movie. Stunning visual effects. Hans Zimmer hit it out of the park with his score, just amazing. Like others have said, it’s incomplete without Part 2, which I pray will be made because it would be a crime to make something this good and then let it go. No way there’s not going to be a follow up.

Boba Fett

For as fantastic and epic as Blade Runner 2049 was, this is breathtakingly mediocre. It felt like a big budget CGI enhanced visual remake of Lynch’s version. Yes there’s more story here but so much of the book still doesn’t make it onto the screen. It’s meandering and pointless at times. Chalamet is way in over his head with this cast and kinda comical unintentionally. I hope Pt. 2 comes to fruition but in terms of this being a masterpiece; it definitely would be for Joe Sixpack and middle America, anyone else, eh.

Why So Blu?

Just got back from this and it's up there as one of my favorite films of the year. I started the day off by watching the Dune '84 version on 4K disc, which looked great. This one was on another level. I saw it in IMAX or should I say "Liemax," but it was a pretty damn big screen and the ratio did open up throughout, so if you get the chance even a liemax should do the trick. I like Harkonnen more in this version than I do in the '84 version. The Lynch version that guy is played as a flamboyant weirdo and possibly a deviant homosexual. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't get creeped out by that. In this version, he was downright sinister and had, pardon the expression, massive presence. Bautista playing the nephew was cool, too, because in Lynch's version that character was developmentally challenged and a waste.

I ordered the Art and Soul of Dune book, which should arrive tomorrow. I'll probably watch it again on HBO MAX, as well.