Just Saw This In Theaters

My dad and brother and I all got to see this in the theaters today, and I was very impressed. Seeing it in the theater shows just how epic the director wanted the film to be, and boy did he deliver. It's not perfect, but it does tell the story in a much less compressed version than previous interpretations. These are some observations I've noted so far:

- the ships and aircraft in this movie are HUGE! I was floored by how enormous some of this advanced tech was! Small wonder people have been awed by how advanced technology had become in 8,000 years
- while it's pretty clear Lady Jessica is a redhead (and they even got the eyes right--bluish-green), the lighting made it look like she had dark hair instead
- the costumes in this film are way more toned down than previous versions of Dune, with much of it being military uniforms, combat armor, stillsuits, billowy desert linen, and the occasional long, drapey robes. Don't expect to see Lady Jessica in anything exotic or elaborate beyond solid-colored robes and cloaks
- we don't get to see the emperor at all, just hear about him, though I have a feeling we're gonna see that scumbag in the sequel, considering what Paul does to him at the end of the story
- Chani is somewhat less than I'd hoped for. She comes off as looking Polynesian to me, and she looks like a 12-year-old, rather than a 15/16-year-old similar in age to Paul. We mostly see her in Paul's visions, and only really get to see her in the last few scenes of the film.
- Jason Malmoa was very charming as Duncan Idaho, and you could tell he had fun doing the fighting scenes
- While the actor playing Paul is somewhat scrawny and child-like in appearance, it is important to point out that he was 15 years old when the book started, and 17 when it finished. His performance isn't as passionate or charismatic as the guy who played Paul in the '84 film, but he's adequate for the job.
- it seemed more realistic to show Paul was still learning Bene Gesserit ways from his mother, showing he hadn't quite mastered The Voice trick just yet, unlike in previous films when he executed it perfectly when they needed it most
- it seems kinda dumb that the Reverend Mother used a hand-held needle, rather than a metal cap with a needle on her fingertip, like she did in the two previous films. It was more practical to have the Gom Jabbar on a finger cap because it would be easier to manipulate, vs. a wiggly needle like what she was using to hold Paul in place when doing the Box test.
- we actually got to see more of Caladan in this story than the previous two interpretations, which was nice, because I read that it was a beautiful planet; small wonder Lady Jessica loved it so much and missed it horribly when she moved to Arakkis
- It's interesting that all the members of the Harkonnen family (their servants too, actually) are all bald and very pale, almost inhuman in appearance. In the '84 film and the miniseries, the Baron's family all had their hair still intact, revealing that they are redheads (though they showed his nephews having blond and dark hair in the miniseries).
- I find it very appropriate that they have the same actor who played a certain, gray-skinned, red-tattooed asshole from two famous MCU movies got to play the Baron's older nephew. He fit the bill perfectly.
- The Baron in this one is something of a mix in terms of grossness and disgusting compared to the two previous incarnations we've seen. He's not as refined as the guy in the miniseries, but he's not quite as disgusting as the one in the '84 film. However, he's still gross and not pleasant to look at either. I did find it interesting that you get to see a spinal implant in the back of his neck and shoulders that allows him to be the "floating fat man" people loathe and despise.
- We get to see much more of Arakkeen and the royal palace of Arakkis in this film compared to the '84 film, and it's more realistic in design compared to the capital city and palace shown in the miniseries.
- They make it much more obvious in this version that the Emperor never intended for the Atreides to permanently take over Arakkis. He really did plot secretly with House Harkonnen to destroy the Atreides family, using the changeover in management as a cover.
- the appearance and behavior of the Mentats is interesting, because they are shown as having their eyes roll back in their heads whenever they do calculations on something, and all of them have a blue mark on their lips
- making Dr. Yueh an Asian didn't really bother me, nor did it take away from the story
- they finally showed the stilltent, which was something I'd only read about in the book and never seen in either of the previous films
- The stillsuits look a lot better than those lousy excuses they had in the miniseries. Their design reminds me a lot of the suits in the '84 film, but not as balloon-like, with a more armor-like look, as well as realistic head/face-covers