When watching movies, I always try to differentiate between my personal enjoyment and the inherent merits of the movies. There are a lot of bad movies, which I totally and thoroughly enjoy watching, and some really great movies, which I don’t enjoy that much, but still can respect/appreciate.

With this prelude, I totally do not get the positive reactions to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies. At the time I am writing this question, part two has 94% critique and 95% audience score at Rotten Tomatoes, 9.0 at IMDB.

In my opinion, Dune 1 and Dune 2 have obviously high production values and good special effects. What I do not like is the acting, the pacing, the total flat/simple characters and the whole narration, which is for me a trivial love story between Chani and Paul, plus becoming a leader and get some revenge. I could simply replace the ‘Dune’ theme with a standard war theme and a few tribes, and I would have exactly the same movie. Also the battle scenes at the end of part 2, they are for me totally cookie cutter war movie/battle aesthetics. (Total waste: There are big Sandworms after all, and combat with personal shields etc.).

My question is, especially if you very much enjoyed watching the Dune movies:

  • Why did you personally enjoy the movie?
  • Do you think this movies have some inherent merits?
  • How do you like the acting/plot/pacing?
  • nick@midwest.social
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    8 months ago

    He said hes only making book 2, so there won’t be a dune 4.

    Also Paul’s son becomes worm man, I can’t imagine who they pick to be an even lesser chalamet. Not that I didn’t like him in the role, he’s just… a cute little twink who leads a galaxy spanning jihad!