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[FULL SPOILERS] Dune 2021 impressions

RavenSan

Off-Site Inflammatory Member
That's most important part of that movie.
pittsburgh pirates GIF by MLB
 

HoodWinked

Member
Ya I think Denis Villeneuve might not be a good story teller.

This movie had the same issues as Blade Runner. Absolutely stunning visuals, but at the expense of proper pacing and storytelling.

I watched the 1984 version afterwards and that does a better job of laying out the story, there are just way too many gaps in the 2021 dune movie. It kind of only works if you're already familiar with the book. It feels like Denis' love and familiarity with the book caused him to have a blind spot for how the story would be understood for a person that hadn't read the book. Either that or studio meddling which could have butchered Denis vision into a terrible final cut of the film considering WB history with justice league.
 
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Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
And there’s your problem. When story plays second fiddle, it never works out well.
I dunno. The best part of the movie Sunshine is the slow decline of everyone's psychological wellbeing. Once the plot (killer) is introduced, everything falls apart. The movie is perfect until that point.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
Ya I think Denis Villeneuve might not be a good story teller.

This movie had the same issues as Blade Runner. Absolutely stunning visuals, but at the expense of proper pacing and storytelling.

Nope he’s not.

Take the difference between Blade Runner and 2049.

Blade Runner’s plot is extraordinarily simple. This allows the film time to explore the themes it does effectively. Scott was a good storyteller, who knew where the balance should lie.

But Villeneuve wants a complex plot and to explore all those themes at the same time. He can’t do both. Hence a film that feels meandering, confusing and poorly paced.

With Dune, Villeneuve is too concerned with his visual cinematography, and not concerned enough with the adaptation of the actual book‘s story and characters.

He feels like a smarter version of Zack Snyder in a lot of ways. Both need someone standing over them.

Luckily, Dune’s story is so bloody good because Herbert was a fantastic storyteller, than the film doesn’t fail because of Villeneuve’s storytelling shortcomings.
 
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Pagusas

Elden Member
Nope he’s not.

Take the difference between Blade Runner and 2049.

Blade Runner’s plot is extraordinarily simple. This allows the film time to explore the themes it does effectively. Scott was a good storyteller, who knew where the balance should lie.

But Villeneuve wants a complex plot and to explore all those themes at the same time. He can’t do both. Hence a film that feels meandering, confusing and poorly paced.

With Dune, Villeneuve is too concerned with his visual cinematography, and not concerned enough with the adaptation of the actual book‘s story and characters.

He feels like a smarter version of Zack Snyder in a lot of ways. Both need someone standing over them.

Luckily, Dune’s story is so bloody good because Herbert was a fantastic storyteller, than the film doesn’t fail because of Villeneuve’s storytelling shortcomings.
Omg that’s the best analogy I’ve seen to date on him, he’s basically a better Zack Snyder, he needs someone reminding him “dude… remember, K.i.s.s.”
 

Shubh_C63

Member
Wow boy was I excited for this movie but...it was a visual audio treat, very light on the story aspect.

I relate this movie to Mad Max FR. But in that the barrage of ideas back to back kept you on edge where story was carried by characters.

Dune went opposite with spectacles with no insight of ideas and a very basic outline of the story.

I think they tried their best, I had no idea what Dune was, about spice, trailer spoiled few scenes for me but eagerly waiting for the sequel.
 
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GeekyDad

Member
Not better than the David Lynch movie. Looked very cool but overall I’m disappointed
Not to make light of your reaction to the movie, but I could tell by the first trailer it was a straight up cash cow. Good acting, great cinematic presentation, very little inspiration. No surprise or disappointment here.
 
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TonyK

Member
.Overall it's that lack of emotion that really bothered me from time to time. Even though I knew the plot there was a dryness to the fall of House of Atreides and I was hoping to feel a little bit more in these pivotal scenes. I'd argue that Dennis is not a very emotion-oriented film maker and all his movies have a certain coolness in them. It worked well in Blade runner universe full of robots imitating humans, it felt odd in the Arrival and it feels odd here as well. Everyone acts so right and straight that everyone is basically a Mentat (the movie doesn't talk about Mentats at all and you can't tell that someone is a Mentat from their dialogue at all which is just a bizarre choice).
Totally agree with this. Yesterday I was speaking just about that, about how cold (and unreal and not likeable) are usually the characters from Villeneuve films. I loved it in Enemy and subsequent movies, but it started to feel weird and forced in The Arrival (movie I really like), and now with Dune. I ended the movie not feeling any empathy or emotional connection with any of the characters. And personally, I think that it's a mistake for a movie that pretends to be a trilogy.
 

Bragr

Banned
3 things that bother me with the film:

- The Spider-Man girl is not a good actress, she gets part because of clout, she looks like an ugly smurf and can't act well.
- There are too many atmospheric shots, while there are some great-looking scenes, every other shot is in slow motion with some mysterious music kicking in, they overdo this.
- The biggest issue I have though is the sword fighting. The shield apparently blocks bullets but not blades but it's just a dumb excuse, no matter how many reasons you have, it's obviously a cheap plot to have more dramatic fights, I assume the writer of Dune loved fantasy too. And most of the sword-fighting is this unrealistic over-the-top corny movie sword fighting with jumping moves and spinning and shit. It's just dumb.

Still, it's a perfectly fine movie, I enjoyed it.
 
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