Villeneuve's DUNE

[badbu 123]

amazing trailer!!!

I need a new cue from the score now!!!!!

[badbu 123]

https://screenrant.com/dune-2-movie-preview-sandworm-reactions/ 

[Tallguy 3,398]

Wait... Feyd is ELVIS?!?

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Only just finding that out?

[Tallguy 3,398]

2 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

Only just finding that out?

 

YES! And the only reason I recognized him here was because I just watched Masters of the Air!

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

I'm looking forward to hearing how much he sounds like Elvis in Dune. Because I'm not hearing that kind of voice with Feyd.

[Jay 37,369]

Some new pics:

 

https://www.gamesradar.com/dune-part-two-exclusive-images/

[Jay 37,369]

LOL:

 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

That idea would have been perfect for an Alien film.

[Jay 37,369]

Big interview with Villeneuve

 

https://time.com/6589871/denis-villeneuve-dune-part-two-interview/

 

He says he wants to direct Dune 3 (based on the second book) and then dip out

[Jay 37,369]

New promo video

 

 

[A24 4,339]

[badbu 123]

https://fandomwire.com/i-can-say-that-with-confidence-denis-villeneuve-has-a-promising-update-for-dune-2-soundtrack-by-hans-zimmer-that-fans-arent-ready-for/ 

[badbu 123]

 

[badbu 123]

sadly, not a „new“ cue but it looks amazing!!! 

[Mephariel 451]

This film just looks spectacular. I only skip through that preview because I don't want to be spoiled. But I seen enough to know it looks great. Can't wait to experience how the soundtrack evolved from the first. One thing that excites me that Zimmer will actually use the opening vocals of "House Atreides" in the actual film this time and not just present it in a sketchbook album, as seen in the Jimmy Kimmel clip.  

[Tallguy 3,398]

Hadn't we gotten two or three of the seven soundtracks that Zimms released by this time for the last movie?

[badbu 123]

52 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

Hadn't we gotten two or three of the seven soundtracks that Zimms released by this time for the last movie?

Yes

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Got my tickets!!!! I can't wait

[badbu 123]

me too!!!! 28.02 🙏🏻

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

I'm In Dublin then, so I'm going the 1st!

But what better way to start a new month by seeing my most anticipated film of the year

[Jay 37,369]

 

[Tallguy 3,398]

We watched Dune last night. I was totally blown away. (I've seen it before, just not in a long time.) There was a brief hitch when we are told that the Harkonnen's have more money than the Emperor from the spice (NO!) but then I just let the movie take me away.

 

As relaxed as the movie appears to be it's actually rather hurried. The two scenes that stood out for me, because they are the ones that are most allowed to unfold and breathe, are the scene with Liet in the ecological station, and the encounter with the Fremen and the duel. They're also the best scenes with Paul. Oh, and the harvester scene is still a highlight.

 

My wife said after Jessica was having her third freakout over Paul (after he tells her that she's pregnant) "She's a very nervous person". It made me die a little. I hope Jessica is better in the second film.

 

Also, I've been wondering why I'm not into the Zimmer score as much as I was a couple of years ago. I mean, it's still good and effective. But I played that thing into the ground when it came out. This morning I put on the Sketchbook instead of the "score". And all the magic was back. Zimmer didn't write a score as such. As he's probably the first to admit, it's a collection of musical colors that is used to paint the film. It isn't Star Wars (for example) where every note serves a purpose.

 

I have a feeling I'll be listening to this the rest of the week, at least.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

I love the music on itself, but the film is cleary overscored - at one point I had exactly seven pieces in mind that, if you took them out of the film, would fix this issue.

[badbu 123]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3Vg31lNphk/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again 

[Tallguy 3,398]

Why is Rebecca Ferguson a better Jessica on the red carpet than she is in the movies? (Well, Part One anyway.)

 

Florence Pugh makes Josh Brolin look like a normal sized person. (I suppose in Hollywood he is.)

 

Someone take the Sorayama books away from Zendaya's designers. EDIT: OK, that was supposed to be a joke. Looking up the spelling I see it's literally where they took the design from.

 

Oh and Austin Butler is cosplaying as a really comfortable looking version of Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday. And he makes it look good. 

[Mephariel 451]

Reviews are in. And they are spectacular.

 

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dune_part_two 

[Tallguy 3,398]

I just hope the box office is. (Assuming it's good, of course.)

 

Got my tickets for next Sunday.

[MaxMovieMan 273]

The spice must flow!

[A24 4,339]

Good news for JWFaners!

 

Quote

The sequel, while impressive, loses the restraint and elegance of the first film, leaning more towards a blockbuster experience. The quiet confidence of Part One has morphed into unshackled bravura in Part Two. | Rating: 3.5/5 | Wenlei Ma

 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

What does that mean? Good news?

 

What a weird thing to post

[Faleel 5,355]

30 minutes ago, JNHFan2000 said:

What does tgat mean?

A24 is saying that means that it's a JWfan type of film.

[Jay 37,369]

 

 

 

 

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

On 21/2/2024 at 1:14 PM, Mephariel said:

Reviews are in. And they are spectacular.

 

Yes I'm sure the whole thing simply breathtaking. 

[Chen G. 3,949]

I must say, I'm less taken with this than I was with part one, and its not the novelty of part one being the first. Both films are very slow, meditative with a mystical atmosphere, but in this film, where all this plot is meant to come to a head, it feels a little counterproductive: a whole laundry list of important new characters have to wait to the 100 minute mark to be introduced.

 

I also think Villenueve, because he wants to make Dune Messiah, emphasized everything that would suggest there's more of this story to be had. I'll be curious to see if that way of playing it out pays off.

[Tallguy 3,398]

57 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

I must say, I'm less taken with this than I was with part one, and its not the novelty of part one being the first. Both films are very slow, meditative with a mystical atmosphere, but in this film, where all this plot is meant to come to a head, it feels a little counterproductive: a whole laundry list of important new characters have to wait to the 100 minute mark to be introduced.

 

I also think Villenueve, because he wants to make Dune Messiah, emphasized everything that would suggest there's more of this story to be had. I'll be curious to see if that way of playing it out pays off.

 

Not having seen the film yet, you seem to be describing the book fairly well. The unfinished section of the book after the events of Dune Part One is a lot of thinking and deciding and then a whoosh of resolution.

 

Four more days for me!

[PrayodiBA 517]

Just saw Dune Part Two in IMAX.

 

Visually, it truly is a SPECTACLE. This is what cinema was made for.

 

But I was quite surprised of how strong the religious tone in this part. 

Being a muslim, I knew from the part one movie that they borrowed some of Islamic elements; the Lisan al-gaib, etc.

But here, it was pretty on your nose.

This is not a spoiler of course, but in this movie, Paul often repeatedly called "Mahdi" and then to watch his quick accession to that title, is truly scary and goosebump-inducing (For those who has seen the movie, you know what scene I'm referring to)

Scary because it's pretty similar to our faith, that it is right before the end of time, a leader called "Imam Mahdi" will rise and will lead around 7-9 years "holy war" on evil; which is basically the same with what's going on in this movie.

And seeing it in theatre full with mostly muslim, and to hear their faint gasp and awe (acknowlodging how it's similar to the faith), is truly something.

 

One main issue in this movie is the editing,

I think like above has mentioned as well; the first act moves so slow, and then, the second and third act moves jarrringly quick and jam-packed with many plots.

The main battle in third act, it's already visually stunning of course, but I can't help but feel it could've been better with a more steady pace, like Lord of the ring.

 

But nonetheless, it's a 9/10,but can't decide whether it's better than the first.

I think in the end it's better, just because of its sheer spectacle.

 

 

 

 

[Chen G. 3,949]

19 minutes ago, PrayodiBA said:

Being a muslim, I knew from the part one movie that they borrowed some of Islamic elements; the Lisan al-gaib, etc.

But here, it was pretty on your nose.

 

I thought so, too!

 

All these Arabic and Farsi terms - which clearly were the epitome of the exotic to Herbert and to Villenueve - come across pretty funny to a native, especially in what's supposed to be an otherworldly setting.

 

[Tallguy 3,398]

 

I do think this is pretty cool

[Tallguy 3,398]

2 hours ago, PrayodiBA said:

The main battle in third act, it's already visually stunning of course, but I can't help but feel it could've been better with a more steady pace, like Lord of the ring.

 

(I love writing about a movie I haven't seen yet! )

 

Well, in the book there is a huge build up to the battle and then it all happens off the page!

 

2 hours ago, PrayodiBA said:

And seeing it in theatre full with mostly muslim, and to hear their faint gasp and awe (acknowlodging how it's similar to the faith), is truly something.

 

That's kind of... Cool? I don't have the right word.

 

It's funny that they "knew enough" to take the word "jihad" out of the first movie (I don't know if it comes up in the second). It's all over the book. But it sounds like that was only considered offensive not because it was offensive to Arabic or Farsi speakers but because the film makers knew westerners knew what it was. Or maybe just THEY knew what it was.

[SF1_freeze 131]

The film was good, but sadly no masterpiece. I would still give it 4 from 5 stars.

Chani and Paul and the Fremen storylines were the highlight. This was done very very well. The visual spectacle was amazing and the sound effects great.

My favorite scenes were magical moments, like when Paul talks to Chani about Caladan before their first kiss or when Paul unites the Fremen but honours his late father and fully embraces his Atreides legacy.

 

The Emperor was badly played and badly shown, as a very weak feeble old man manipulated by the Bene Gesserit and his daughter. He was a weakling and i didn't like this portrayal at all.

 

The music was servicable but in the end very dissappointing. The love theme was the best part, but it all sounded so artifical and overproduced but still somewhat reduced in scope and was really badly mixed. At the potentially most promising and beautiful track at the end of the film, the epic chimes could hardly be heard, because the mix was atrocious and it ruined it all as lots of instruments were covered by a big nasty wall of noise.

Sometimes i think that since Hans Zimmer went on Tour, he lost the last bit of touch in terms of orchestral film scoring and now fully emraces the cheaper sounding loud and overproduced Zimmer on Tour Sound.

This includes lots of artifical instruments, loudness, main melody lines carried by soloists and orchestral elements dissappear behind a wall of noise into the background.

 

Visually the film looks somehow bland and boring, devoid of any colour and wonder.

This works ok for the planet Dune but fails for the bigger galaxy stuff.

 

The set design for Dune was great, for the Harkonnen planet ok and bland, but for the rest of the locations (Emperor planet) the set design was really weak and again far too ancient/stoney looking, like in a low budget medieval film. 

The Emperors residence was done like in a low budget tv show without a single full establishing shot showing anything apart from the outside of the residence building. No sprawling Imperial city, no metropolis or space port, nothing....

 

The Emperors Throne room was also horribly designed like a dark, worn down old damaged temple hall. This looked nothing like a throne room of a galaxy wide ruler...

 

I really missed a sense of wonder and awe visually and in the set design, which is something i expect from a science fiction film which takes place in outer space and on different planets.

This holds the film back and the feeling of a sprawling galaxy wide epic never came.

[PrayodiBA 517]

11 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

(I love writing about a movie I haven't seen yet! )

 

Well, in the book there is a huge build up to the battle and then it all happens off the page!

I’ve never read all of the books,

but if that’s the case, then the movie is already giving too much 😄

So I guess this is in keeping with “Dune-style” which is fully atmospheric 
 

11 hours ago, Tallguy said:

It's funny that they "knew enough" to take the word "jihad" out of the first movie (I don't know if it comes up in the second). It's all over the book. But it sounds like that was only considered offensive not because it was offensive to Arabic or Farsi speakers but because the film makers knew westerners knew what it was. Or maybe just THEY knew what it was.

Jihad also wasn’t mentioned ever here in the second movie, I don’t know whether they will in the third.

 

And yes correct, I also get why they didn’t, as Jihad has a very strong essence in Islam, and of course for westerners it’s post 9/11

[Mephariel 451]

I just got out seeing the film. I would give a a 8.5/10, and I think it is a very well made film, but just short of being one of my favorites. It is hard for me to imagine how any film this year can match the visual spectacle that is of Dune 2. The visual effects and cinematography goes extremely well together, and every shot was well crafted. The music was just about perfect. I especially like the use of the sweeping sand in the seduction scene (like a gentle but twisted push) and Feyd-Rautha's satanic introduction in the arena. The main theme didn't appear that often, but was used nicely during the kiss scene montage and the end with kissing of the ring. 

 

I think what held the film back a bit was that it struggled to develop all those characters in the second half. Austin Butler was incredible as Feyd, but didn't do much outside of the intro and the final fight and ultimately was a missed opportunity. It was cool seeing Walken as the Emperor, but again, he didn't really have much of an impact. Florence Pugh did a great job as Princess Irulen, but her story only got interesting at the end of the film. On the other hand, I really enjoy Lady Jessica's story arc, but still wish she has more conversations with Chani so they could have slowly developed their animosity.

 

The final climax was rather short, but welcome in a sense that we seen so many drawn big battles before. Overall, a very well made film that made me curious how the series will move forward, but I don't think this competes with The Dark Knight or Terminator 2 as the pinnacle of sequels. 

[MaxMovieMan 273]

Just got out of the theater. What a trip. Honestly this is the kind of film I’ve been waiting for. Sci-fi on an epic scale that actually has deep, meaningful messages and thoughts. The novel of Dune has some excellent philosophy on the dangers of messiahs and Denis chose to focus on that aspect. As opposed to following the book one-for-one he took the plot of the novel and developed it to follow this message. Messianic figures can sway the way of history. It’s been proven time and time again in our own world and the message is just as important now as it was when Herbert first wrote the novel. These figures are powerful and with that power comes consequences.

 

The film itself as a movie experience goes was miles ahead of Part One. Way more action, a solid three-act structure, better characters, more intrigue, and overall a more engaging narrative. There was also a lot of much needed levity. The humor mostly came from Javier Bardem as Stilgar (My personal favorite character) and while it wasn’t overplayed (As it would be in a Marvel film) it definitely brought a balance to the darkness of the picture. This is a dark and depressing film. The ending is not happy and overall I would call the film a tragedy. There is an unavoidable outcome and it’s painful to see it slowly unfold. Another thing improved over the first film are the villains. I liked what they did with Raban and Austin Butler’s new character Feyd Rautha was a scene stealer. Rebecca Ferguson’s Jessica became way more interesting this time around as well as Paul himself. Chalamet steps up to the plate as a messianic hero. Zendaya’s character Chani after getting built up so much in the last movie actually turned out to be a great addition. She’s kind and gentle but also extremely badass and independent when need be. The special effects and sound design are out of this world as expected and Greg Fraser continues to prove he’s one of the best working cinematographers right now. Every frame could be a wall paper.

 

The music I loved. I loved the score in the first one and I love the score even more here. It works absolute magic in the film and my favorite cue, “Southern Messiah,” ended up playing in the most perfect way possible. Lots of unreleased cues and the new motif that I thought was for the emperor turns out to be for something much more sinister; the Kwisatz Haderach.

 

I heard there were a few major changes from the book so I went in expecting this. However every single change I think benefited this version of the Dune story. I personally loved that Denis adapted this work for the modern times by making Chani not so one-note and really delving into the dangers of Paul and what he means. Compare this film to Lynch’s where Paul is akin to Luke Skywalker. Here Paul is portrayed for what he is. My favorite kind of storytelling is that of fallen heroes. Death Note, Attack on Titan, and Breaking Bad are excellent examples of this. We haven’t had a great epic film to portray this sort of tale on a massive scale since the Godfather films. Now Dune has brought it back. I think it’s truly important for audiences to see that “heroic” characters are not always heroic to all sides and that there are consequences to radical belief. So I’m so glad we have films like this that show the two sides of the coin (Or rather that there are no sides). The Reverend Mother says so herself. Oh and there is one big change to a certain character from the book but I think it was for the best. It would’ve been unfilmable in my opinion.

 

This movie cements both parts of Dune as all-time great sci-fi films and also as a whole with both movies combined I would say this becomes an all-time epic in general. I don’t think Denis could’ve done a better job with this and this is definitely his magnum opus. Dune: Messiah will be very interesting because the ending of this film leaves one major plot thread in a different place than the books. This plot thread is literally the driving force of Dune Messiah so I honestly don’t know how they would even adapt the book without completely changing the plot. I think what Denis did with the change was better than the book’s ending but Dune Messiah hinges on this thing that Denis changed. Who knows. For now we have two films that are for sci-fi what Lord of the Rings was for fantasy.

 

My favorite part of the film was actually just a line:

 

Spoiler

It was when Paul spoke the true Fremen name of the planet Arrakis to prove that he’s the One:

 

"Dune."

 

Absolute chills.

 

Also every time Stilgar screamed, "Lisan al Gaib!!!" Fricken hilarious but sad at the same time lol.

[SF1_freeze 131]

40 minutes ago, MaxMovieMan said:

This movie cements both parts of Dune as all-time great sci-fi films and also as a whole with both movies combined I would say this becomes an all-time epic in general.

...

For now we have two films that are for sci-fi what Lord of the Rings was for fantasy.

 

I couldn't disagree more with you on this.

 

Dune is no where close to the real Sci-Fi or Fantasy epics like Starwars or LotR, because it lacks the basic ingredients that made them great:

• A visually appealing and sprawling technologically advanced galaxy, with different societies, planets and eco-systems, that are shown in a way appropriate to the story.
• A musical thematic score that covers the whole scope of an epic and not like Dune only includes 2 or 3 themes within a big pot of loud and noisy nondescript action material or just atmospheric background "music" which is more sound design than anything else.

 

The films design and scope only works great on planet Dune/Arrakis themselve (which is of course also the most important part)!

 

For all other parts (other planets, societs, cities, technology, space travel, space scenes), which a real sci-fi epic should have, Dune failed hard.

I guess this can't be due to budget, but more due to a lack of vision and design capabilities on Villeneuves part.

Tell but don't show doesn't work in a sprawling Sci-Fi epic unless you never visit the bigger planets and the more powerful societies.

But if you do show them, you have to make it convincing not like a small budget indie-film or a low budget TV-show.

 

Caladan should have big cities, a big space port, industrial areas, civilian live, etc..

In Villeneuves Dune Caladan is visually completely boring and badly designed. 

• It is shown as an empty planet with a small medieval castle on a rock, with no cities, no civil life and no sense of visual awe and wonder
• As a viewer from their Home planet it makes no sense that this house could have a powerful army or any influence on the other great houses.
• Then suddenly they show the Atreides army and ships on a remote landing field again without any buildings, hangars, cities or a space port acommodating them. This makes no sense.

 

The Imperial Homeworld with the Emperors residence is even worse.

Nothing is shown there, like in a low budget tv show. Only one residence building carefully filmed that you don't see anything away in the distance, like as if they had no budget for any visual effect shots.

It's feels like a remote small residence complex on a lonely planet without anyone else there.

This is the opposite of what a real sprawling Sci-Fi epic would do and this undermines Dunes scope in a big way. 

 

The Harkonnen Homeworld at least shows a big industrial and city complex, but it doesn't feel real and lived in.

It feels like a big facade so that Villeneuve can do his artsy cinematography.

You never have the impression that anyone could really live there or that there is any civil life or society there, that would make any sense.

 

[Tallguy 3,398]

35 minutes ago, SF1_freeze said:

Dune is no where close to the real Sci-Fi or Fantasy epics like Starwars or LotR

 

I am firmly in the "YES Star Wars is sci-fi" camp but this is silly.

[SF1_freeze 131]

 

15 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

I am firmly in the "YES Star Wars is sci-fi" camp but this is silly.

 

It's so funny when people, who are not able or don't want to enter a meaningful debate, instead try to put other people's opinion down like bullies. 

 

Let's hope you just had a bad day and that's not your standard behaviour, when encountering differing opinions you don't seem to agree with.

[Chen G. 3,949]

1 hour ago, SF1_freeze said:

Dune is no where close to the real Sci-Fi or Fantasy epics like Starwars or LotR, because it lacks the basic ingredients that made them great:

• A visually appealing and sprawling technologically advanced galaxy, with different societies, planets and eco-systems, that are shown in a way appropriate to the story.
• A musical thematic score that covers the whole scope of an epic and not like Dune only includes 2 or 3 themes within a big pot of loud and noisy nondescript action material or just atmospheric background "music" which is more sound design than anything else.

 

I definitely wouldn't deny it the moniker of "epic" in our usual sense of the word: none of the three fits the original, literary definition of "Epic" in the sense of epic poetry in a certain metre, and all three only fit the "epic" label in the more infantilised sense of anything remotely legend-like or "cool." But it is "epic" in the sense of the cinematic genre that's defined by abstract notions of grandeur. Its as big a film as anything, and certainly far bigger feeling than any Star Wars film I can think of off hand.

 

Yes, I also found the realisation of the Emperor's home disappointing, albeit elegant-looking. My real issue with the film is that, unlike Part One where you don't expect all the story threads to come to a head too much and so can indulge in this pensive, mystical atmosphere, here a huge amount of plot gets pushed into the second half of the film.

 

And yes, I also don't like the score particularly. There's some lovely Duduk writing for Chani, but a particular low was the chanting during the final assault: I was whisked out of Arrakis and straight into the pit in The Dark Knight Rises. But a film's right to the term "epic" is definitely not defined by its score, and I don't think Zimmer's efforts discredit Denis mise-en-scene.

 

This may be a less popular notion but I also find Denis casting overly-glitzy: even a rather hamfisted cameo for the mature Alia had to involve stunt-casting Anya Taylor-Joy. Seydoux is in here very briefly for what's frankly a nothing part.

[Mephariel 451]

2 hours ago, SF1_freeze said:

 

I couldn't disagree more with you on this.

 

Dune is no where close to the real Sci-Fi or Fantasy epics like Starwars or LotR, because it lacks the basic ingredients that made them great:

• A visually appealing and sprawling technologically advanced galaxy, with different societies, planets and eco-systems, that are shown in a way appropriate to the story.
• A musical thematic score that covers the whole scope of an epic and not like Dune only includes 2 or 3 themes within a big pot of loud and noisy nondescript action material or just atmospheric background "music" which is more sound design than anything else.

 

The films design and scope only works great on planet Dune/Arrakis themselve (which is of course also the most important part)!

 

For all other parts (other planets, societs, cities, technology, space travel, space scenes), which a real sci-fi epic should have, Dune failed hard.

I guess this can't be due to budget, but more due to a lack of vision and design capabilities on Villeneuves part.

Tell but don't show doesn't work in a sprawling Sci-Fi epic unless you never visit the bigger planets and the more powerful societies.

But if you do show them, you have to make it convincing not like a small budget indie-film or a low budget TV-show.

 

Caladan should have big cities, a big space port, industrial areas, civilian live, etc..

In Villeneuves Dune Caladan is visually completely boring and badly designed. 

• It is shown as an empty planet with a small medieval castle on a rock, with no cities, no civil life and no sense of visual awe and wonder
• As a viewer from their Home planet it makes no sense that this house could have a powerful army or any influence on the other great houses.
• Then suddenly they show the Atreides army and ships on a remote landing field again without any buildings, hangars, cities or a space port acommodating them. This makes no sense.

 

The Imperial Homeworld with the Emperors residence is even worse.

Nothing is shown there, like in a low budget tv show. Only one residence building carefully filmed that you don't see anything away in the distance, like as if they had no budget for any visual effect shots.

It's feels like a remote small residence complex on a lonely planet without anyone else there.

This is the opposite of what a real sprawling Sci-Fi epic would do and this undermines Dunes scope in a big way. 

 

The Harkonnen Homeworld at least shows a big industrial and city complex, but it doesn't feel real and lived in.

It feels like a big facade so that Villeneuve can do his artsy cinematography.

You never have the impression that anyone could really live there or that there is any civil life or society there, that would make any sense.

 

 

Like seriously, what? Dune isn't a sci-fi epic? The design, cinematography is far more epic than Star Wars. Like real epic. With great use of contrasting colors, shadows, and volumes of space. With a sense of scope, real danger, real feel of location, people, and architect. When the characters goes into a canyon or rides a sandworm, it feels like a real ecosystem where in Star Wars, it is basically, "Where can I put a lovable creature here for someone to ride?" Star Wars is one big CGI painting with flat lightning and color and you know it is a fantasy right off the bat. This is a universe where a 9 year old is screaming out of joy in a cockpit but you are telling me that Dune doesn't feel real? James Cameron and Christopher Nolan would disagree with you. 

 

And Zimmer did a great job with Dune 2 and his music fits the film. It is as thematic as it needs to be. No matter how you feel, there are no rules that state you need certain amount of themes to make a sci-fi epic. 

 

You are right that Dune isn't as good as LOTR, but neither is Star Wars and most other sci-fi. LOTR's production design, music, and acting are leagues above most other films. It is disingenuous to argue you need to be as good as LOTR to be epic sci-fi.  

 

Lastly, when was the last time there was a "great" Star Wars film? Empire Strikes Back in 1980?

[Chen G. 3,949]

1 hour ago, Mephariel said:

You are right that Dune isn't as good as LOTR, but neither is Star Wars and most other sci-fi. LOTR's production design, music, and acting are leagues above most other films. It is disingenuous to argue you need to be as good as LOTR to be epic sci-fi.  

 

Frankly, I find the oft-touted comparisons to Lord of the Rings very, very misplaced. The sensibility of the books, the adapted screenplays, the mise-en-scene of their respective directors and the pulse of the editing are starkly different across both properties. There's really no concrete point of comparison except they're both seminal "genre" works, grand of scale and serious in tone, which is pretty generic as a common ground to invite comparison.

 

I also think Villenueve's take on Dune will probably not prove as durable as Jackson's on Tolkien: Jackson personally wrote and directed six films (the shortest of which being as long as Dune Part 2 which is hillarious to me) and his interpertation of Tolkien is soon to be joined by a seventh film and counting. Villenueve will be lucky to get Dune Messiah and that prequel television series made, and beyond that? The sequel novels from Messiah on sound increasingly ridiculous, frankly.