MovieChat Forums > Dune: Part Two (2024) Discussion > I can't figure this movie out.

I can't figure this movie out.

posted 6 months ago by TandyMan (11097)
8 replies | jump to latest

They really dumb down the dialog with every day lingo that makes you think you're watching an episode of Hawaii Five 0 revival. And yet they're still making the visuals outlandishly weird as hell like everybody hated with Lynch's adaption. I can't tell, watching this, who the audience is. It's dumb so the smarties ain't liking it, and it's strange so the normies ain't liking it. It's also so overly thought out with an infinite series of little sound effects and visuals which aren't necessary and distracting, just showing off really, while also shooting everything in the dark and in sand storms so you can't see anything that's happening. The whole damn movie is like this. Totally bi-polar, just see-sawing all over the place. You can't ever get into it cause every time it gets interesting, you're intentionally pulled out of it. And the director is definitely doing this on purpose. And like.... why? Clearly going for some effect but we're left just.... Look, it's a difficult novel, but once you absorb it, one of the greatest books ever read. But this movie... the two of them, especially this one, seems to hate the source material. Also tons of current day real world metaphors and actual references shoe-horned in. All of this bundled together is tremendously clumsy. I don't hate or love any of it. I'm just confused as to what it's even trying to say.

[–] Ace_Spade (9546) 6 months ago

Well, if smart people and the "common man" hate it, I guess I'm a dumb weirdo, because I enjoyed the movie.

The visual storytelling was very strong, for me, and I thought the film did a good job of translating the book to the screen. There's too much nuance to get everything, of course, but just because I feel like Lord of the Rings is too complex to grab in three movies doesn't stop me from loving the films. Same thing here.

Frankly, I don't find the dialogue dumbed down or modern/real world. I just see a great visual feast with a compelling plot.

I did like Dune Pt.1 better, though, and I do think some of that was because Pt.2 feels a little unfocused in the plotting. But I've seen Lynch's film (didn't hate it) and read the book (enjoyed it thoroughly) and, to be honest, I've always felt that way about Dune. Any version I watch, the set up and the Harkonnen betrayal are all thrilling and brilliant. The Bene Gesserit moving behind the scenes, Paul losing his way and finding it among the Fremen - all wonderful and it feels like any number of doors opening. But somewhere around Paul finding his destiny and becoming Muad'dib, I find the whole thing founders a bit and starts meandering. Once the themes take over and it stops being a story, maybe? I dunno.

I still like the book and the new films a lot, though.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (14411) 6 months ago

You should try the 2000 miniseries sci-fi channel made. They made an attempt over several episodes to do what regular big-studio film-makers couldn't. Not the best adaptation I've seen in terms of visual stuff (a lot of cheap, green-screen shots were used), and I question some of their casting choices, but they were good at telling the story better. Plus, I think they were trying to compete with Lucasfilm in terms of costumes, because a year earlier, Star Wars Episode I had come out with some elaborate costumes and visuals, and I think the people who made the miniseries wanted to ride that wave.

[–] Ace_Spade (9546) 6 months ago

I might check it out some time. I'm not sure it'll be able to pull off the second half, though. Don't get me wrong, I like Dune's second half, but it always just feels a little wonky from a pacing perspective. It's felt that way to me in all three versions of Dune that I've seen (Herbert, Lynch, Villeneuve), and given that I found the book had the same (minor) problem, the odds that an adaptation will iron it out is low.

Dodgy F/X never worry me. Sometimes the effect is used poorly, but as long as it's folded in and doesn't look outright ridiculous (Meet Joe Black when Brad Pitt crosses the street...) I'll just go with it.

[–] TandyMan (11097) 6 months ago

Something else I don't get. I was very much anti-Harkonnen reading the book. But I couldn't be more pro their side watching these movies. Whatever leftist horseshit nonsense Hollyweird is trying to weave, it's fumbling terribly. Feyd-Rautha in this version is a hero I can get behind and emphasize with. He is all of us, the best of us, and even his ass is bent on and manipulated by cunt ass women.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (14411) 6 months ago

Not everyone hated Lynch's adaptation. He did the right thing by using narration, voice-overs so we could hear the characters' thoughts, and explanations on certain things. The music was much better in the '84 film too, because you could at least hear it over the noise in the story. Sure, Lynch didn't have access to CGI at the time, but he was still able to tell his story in one film and have it all make sense.

Villeneuve seems more interested in visuals and throwing in modern crap that muddles up parts of the story. He's terrible at explaining how things are half the time, and unless you've read the books as well as the lore, you're gonna be very confused on what's going on in a film like this.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (9187) 6 months ago

Lynch's version was better, and would have actually been good had it not gone over the top into gratuitious disgusting violence. The effects and the sets were fantastic and looked very believable - not so Dune or Dune 2.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (9187) 6 months ago

It's not good. It's just blah, something trying to be visually new. It doesn't make sense, and it's not supposed to make sense.

[–] Gd5150 (11750) 6 months ago

It was ok. Nice visuals. Didn’t really care about any of the characters. It just didn’t develop well.