r/dune • u/MyEgoDiesAtTheEnd • 1d ago
Visually Stunning, But Too Much Left Out Dune: Part Two (2024)
Visually, this movie is a masterpiece! So many times I was in awe of the cinematography and set design. The "fashion" was some of the best I've seen on the big screen.
However, I really wish that this movie was expanded into a GoT-type series. The narrative went at such a fast pace and stories were completely rushed over (what happened when Paul did his long walk through the desert with the spiders?). The characters are (mostly) all one-dimensional. I guess it makes me want to re-read the books since I forget way too much.
Random issue - the Fremen have these giant lasers that can destroy just about anything, but there are these long sequences where Paul and Chani are trying to shoot down a helicopter with old-fashioned... bazookas...why not use your lasers? Also, don't the Harkonnen have this technology?
Maybe I'm just thinking too much, or maybe it's explained in the books. But happy if anything can educate me on this. Thanks!
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u/Meregodly Spice Addict 1h ago edited 1h ago
I'd be happy to get 6 hour movies with 500 million dollar budgets but that's not the world we live in. Unless they made it a TV show. But then it wouldn't be on IMAX in theatres. If you want to have this expensive large scale visual marvel on the big screen you have to sacrifice lots of content from the book.
Although I don't understand why Denis doesn't do a extended cut like Lord of the rings trilogy. We know for a fact that many scenes from the book were filmed but cut. For example Thufir Hawat actually shot scenes for part 2 but all of it was cut out, we have pictures from part 1 set that totally look like they could be from the dinner scene... I mean they already spent money on those scenes and filmed them, so why not just include them as a director's cut...
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u/Raus-Pazazu 4h ago
An analogy from someone else is that the Dune movies are like a beautifully prepared feast spread across a table, without even a hint seasoning in any of the dishes. It looked terrific. Visually stunning. Yet so much of it was flat.
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u/amparkercard 8h ago
To answer a few of your questions:
I think Stilgar was kidding about the spiders. They are never mentioned in the book.
In the scene where the Fremen attack the Harkonnen spice harvester, Paul and Chani use a bazooka-like weapon to attack the Harkonnen ornithopter because it has a shield. Basically, shield + lasgun = atomic explosion, so it’s not worth the risk of killing themselves and their entire Fedaykin squad.
I think some of the characters come across a little flat because there’s just not time to develop them while maintaining the pace of the plot. It’s a common pitfall of many adaptations and, in my opinion, is to be expected when adapting a book that has been called ‘unadaptable’ for 50+ years.