Dune 2 - Stream rent $4.99

[iamwhatiseem]

Kinda surprised there isn't a thread on this already?

Anyway - Dune 2, like Dune, is beautifully shot. The cinematography is top shelf. The best.
The special effects, like Dune, is also done very well. Not too much reliance on CGI.. but the right amount to look pretty freaking cool.
But.... then there is the script.
Watching Dune and Dune 2 is like sitting down to your absolute favorite meal. You are starving - but you are only allowed to take one bite per minute, and you must chew it 50 times before you swallow.
And that is Dune2. It moves like pond water. It is obvious the creators jumped the shark before they started. Written to stretch the story out to three, or even four 2.5 hour movies.

In the end - it is still worth watching. But curb your enthusiasm. It is going to be a long ride.

 

[EvilEyeFleegle]

Kinda surprised there isn't a thread on this already?

Anyway - Dune 2, like Dune, is beautifully shot. The cinematography is top shelf. The best.
The special effects, like Dune, is also done very well. Not too much reliance on CGI.. but the right amount to look pretty freaking cool.
But.... then there is the script.
Watching Dune and Dune 2 is like sitting down to your absolute favorite meal. You are starving - but you are only allowed to take one bite per minute, and you must chew it 50 times before you swallow.
And that is Dune2. It moves like pond water. It is obvious the creators jumped the shark before they started. Written to stretch the story out to three, or even four 2.5 hour movies.

In the end - it is still worth watching. But curb your enthusiasm. It is going to be a long ride.

They destroyed the story, in the ending.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

They destroyed the story, in the ending.

I read Dune in the early 80s... I remember very little. I remember the floating fat guy, the worms etc.
Then the original Dune movie came out and what a bomb that was.
I hated it. It was more about making a 2 hour MTV video than a movie.

This time around, they are more interested in trying to create another franchise like Star Wars, than telling the story. Let's sell toys!! T-Shirts!! Coffee Mugs!!!

 

[Dadoalex]

Kinda surprised there isn't a thread on this already?

Anyway - Dune 2, like Dune, is beautifully shot. The cinematography is top shelf. The best.
The special effects, like Dune, is also done very well. Not too much reliance on CGI.. but the right amount to look pretty freaking cool.
But.... then there is the script.
Watching Dune and Dune 2 is like sitting down to your absolute favorite meal. You are starving - but you are only allowed to take one bite per minute, and you must chew it 50 times before you swallow.
And that is Dune2. It moves like pond water. It is obvious the creators jumped the shark before they started. Written to stretch the story out to three, or even four 2.5 hour movies.

In the end - it is still worth watching. But curb your enthusiasm. It is going to be a long ride.

Dune would have been better served as a series rather that a few movies.

The complexity of the story combined with learning and understanding Arrakis and, the Bene Geserit, the Fremen, the structure of the empire...

There's simply too many moving parts to do justice in 6 hours of cinema.

 

[EvilEyeFleegle]

I read Dune in the early 80s... I remember very little. I remember the floating fat guy, the worms etc.
Then the original Dune movie came out and what a bomb that was.
I hated it. It was more about making a 2 hour MTV video than a movie.

This time around, they are more interested in trying to create another franchise like Star Wars, than telling the story. Let's sell toys!! T-Shirts!! Coffee Mugs!!!

Yeah, I get that.
Original story. Alia has been born and is about 2-3 years old..she kills the Baron Harkonnen with a Gom Jabbar in the climatic ending scenes. Chani understands her role as a concubine...so Paul can marry the Princess Irulen and take the throne. In fact, The last quote in the book is a remark from Jessica to Chani..that history would see them for who they were.
Movie has Paul killing the Baron--Alia not born yet and Chani leaving Paul.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Dune would have been better served as a series rather that a few movies.

The complexity of the story combined with learning and understanding Arrakis and, the Bene Geserit, the Fremen, the structure of the empire...

There's simply too many moving parts to do justice in 6 hours of cinema.

No
You cannot make a movie like a book.
It doesn't work that way.
And when they try - it is paaaaiinfully long and drawn out.
When you read, your brain "illustrates" what is happening in your mind, and it does it for free and lightening fast.

They are two different mediums.

 

[Dadoalex]

No
You cannot make a movie like a book.
It doesn't work that way.
And when they try - it is paaaaiinfully long and drawn out.
When you read, your brain "illustrates" what is happening in your mind, and it does it for free and lightening fast.

They are two different mediums.

It's more than pictures.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

It's more than pictures.

Sure - but each persons imagination creates a story best suited for themselves.
In a movie - there is only one story, illustrated and told by a handful of people.
They make the movie how they want, with the constraints of how much it cost.
No movie is ever going to beat the book.

 

[strollingbones]

hubby wanted to go to dune 2...I was like you got to watch dune first ..he made it about an hour

 

[Dadoalex]

Sure - but each persons imagination creates a story best suited for themselves.
In a movie - there is only one story, illustrated and told by a handful of people.
They make the movie how they want, with the constraints of how much it cost.
No movie is ever going to beat the book.

What, in anything I said. makes you think I believe the movie could be better?

I said the Dune would be better served as a series rather than a movie

BECAUSE

A series allows exploration of aspects a movie cannot cram into a few hours.

 

[1srelluc]

I'll catch tonight on MAX.....Is it any brighter than the first one?

It's supposed to be on a desert planet yet it must have been the darkest desert planet ever.

When compared say to Lawrence of Arabia where colors of the desert popped off the screen Dune fell short.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

What, in anything I said. makes you think I believe the movie could be better?

I said the Dune would be better served as a series rather than a movie

BECAUSE

A series allows exploration of aspects a movie cannot cram into a few hours.

I reread your post, and you are right... I mistook what you said.
I only drank about half a cup of coffee at that time.

Cheers.

 

[petro]

It's been years since I read the books. But I found the movie a stunning visual representation of what I imagined when I read it.

A few missing components, but I believe a good job of what was considered an unfilmable novel. Just too many elements to explain.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

It's been years since I read the books. But I found the movie a stunning visual representation of what I imagined when I read it.

A few missing components, but I believe a good job of what was considered an unfilmable novel. Just too many elements to explain.

The visuals in both movies were outstanding.
The story telling, however, was drawn out and so slow moving that at times - it really was boring.

 

[petro]

The visuals in both movies were outstanding.
The story telling, however, was drawn out and so slow moving that at times - it really was boring.

Without the explanation of the Butlarian Jihad and the complete ban on thinking machines, or the Spacing Guild and the grotesquely spice evolved Pilots, those that didn't read the books had to be especially lost.


Myself, I didn't find it boring at all. Just wanted more mention of those missing elements to the story.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Without the explanation of the Butlarian Jihad and the complete ban on thinking machines, or the Spacing Guild and the grotesquely spice evolved Pilots, those that didn't read the books had to be especially lost.


Myself, I didn't find it boring at all. Just wanted more mention of those missing elements to the story.

I read the original book 44 years ago. Like I said earlier, I only remembered the part about the "floating fat guy" and the worms. That was about it.
And yes, there was very little backstory told to the viewers so it was pretty confusing at times.
And why they picked a little 5 foot soy boy to be the main character is odd. Looking up his character in the books, he was only 15, but the book specifically said he was "strong and fast". The actor they chose is more suited to be a horse jockey

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

I read the books long ago. Then I tried to watch the (original) movie. It was so god-awful that I couldn't finish it.

I don't think I can subject myself to that again.

 

[Zavulon]

As for me, the original book was simply nice, hardly more. Further sequels turned the story in some kind of terrible nonse. Some fanfics were great, like "The true story of Dune" by Andrew Lyakh.
---------------------
I do not know why I wrote this book. Who cares now that God knows when, in an unknown wilderness, a long-forgotten emperor ruined himself, his state and his people in a mad war? What does anyone care about the oddities of an era that has long been forgotten in itself? The emperor's name was Muad'Dib, the planet was called Dune, the kingdom of spice, and now it seems to me that nothing but false fairy tales and legends could grow on its barren soil. Nowadays, by an inexplicable whim of fashion, these chronicles sewn with frankly white threads, thickly sprinkled with lies, or even hastily composed for someone's need, suddenly became incredibly popular and gave their re-cut and repainted heroes a rebirth.
But what is really behind these stories? Official textbooks will tell you more than sparingly in different versions about the following: as a result of the Fourth STR, the spice economy and spice means of communication have given way to more advanced computer technologies. That's how they suddenly gave in. You can also find out that as a result of the transformations, the imperial system of government ceased to exist. That's all.
The second, incomparably more voluminous group of sources are books and films about the romantic emperor of Dune, the young Paul Muad'Dib–Atreides, who performed miracles of heroism, as well as miracles just like that, in the fight against the villains of the Harkonnens and for the glory of the desert people of the Fremen. These fabulous adventures, invented by a whole team of authors and repeatedly edited by responsible officials, are now being presented as a true story of events, and in this form they are an undoubted success with the vast majority of the public. The technique is far from new – let's recall how the footage of the storming of the Winter Palace from Eisenstein's "October" was passed off by the authorities for a long time as a documentary chronicle. But even quite sane people who see what rotten beams are propping up this whole historical farce are inclined to say: "Why touch it? This is already a cultural tradition, this is an epic. Leave it! "
And indeed, who needs the truth? It is inconvenient, it interferes with many people's lives. The path to it is difficult, full of troubles, and often outright dangers, and even when found, it tends to deceive the expectations of her paladins, because it is incomprehensible, paradoxical and does not at all strive to conform to human ideas about her. So is the game worth the candle? Why destroy a beautiful legend with the callous, crude prose of a document? I don't know, but I can say one thing: the thirst for truth is indestructible, just as the simple desire to tell at least someone how it really happened is irresistible.
Lying about Dune has always been beneficial to everyone. All these warring clans that succeeded each other on Arrakis–the Harkonnens, the Atreides, the Harkonnens again, the Valois, followed by the emperor, the Landsraat, and so on–actively played along with each other in writing all sorts of fables about the spice homeland, passing the baton of lies along the chain. The Harkonnens invented a fantastic story about terrible wild Fremen to make it easier to hide their machinations with melange from the emperor. Muad’Dib desperately needed a hastily concocted tragic detective story about the treachery of the Harkonnens to hide the truth about his own father's death. The hired scribblers of the Landsraat composed a fairy tale about the heroic Arrakeen revolution and the dashing Muad'Dib, since it would be extremely inconvenient for the leaders of the parliament to tell how this revolution was actually carried out and with whose money. And it would be absolutely unpleasant for all participants, without exception, to announce the true background of the terrible fratricidal massacre on Arrakis and the details of the elimination of the emperor who had become unnecessary.
This chain of deception, omissions and falsifications forms what is called the "official version" – the basis of legends and TV series.
----------------

What about the screen adaptation? Ok, as for me, the first part was not impressive. I'm not sure if it is really necessary to watch the second one.

 

[ScorpioRising007]

Kinda surprised there isn't a thread on this already?

Anyway - Dune 2, like Dune, is beautifully shot. The cinematography is top shelf. The best.
The special effects, like Dune, is also done very well. Not too much reliance on CGI.. but the right amount to look pretty freaking cool.
But.... then there is the script.
Watching Dune and Dune 2 is like sitting down to your absolute favorite meal. You are starving - but you are only allowed to take one bite per minute, and you must chew it 50 times before you swallow.
And that is Dune2. It moves like pond water. It is obvious the creators jumped the shark before they started. Written to stretch the story out to three, or even four 2.5 hour movies.

In the end - it is still worth watching. But curb your enthusiasm. It is going to be a long ride.

I loved reading the books as a kid. I enjoyed the recent Dune movies. One thing I enjoy about the newer remakes is how much better the special effects are compared to the older ones.