Could a good Dune movie be made or not
- Thread starter Hypaspist
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I already watched the miniseries so i am already spoiled.
Ebert made it sound like it's a confusing mess story wise.
For the uninitiated the execution is a bit obfuscatious, but if you've already seen the mini series, you shouldn't have a problem. Most of the familiar players are there and the major story beats are more or less the same.
Which four books?
Are you playing dumb or are you serious?
Oh I don't mean any offense. A lot of people act deliberately obtuse just to be dicks. Sometimes you can't tell.
Anyway I have read and I recommend the first four from Frank Herbert: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune.
They are all great. Some people will tell you that Dune Messiah is bad. I don't know why. It isn't as adventurous as the first, and it's true that it subverts the first book in a lot of ways. It's really good though.
Anyway I have read and I recommend the first four from Frank Herbert: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune.
They are all great. Some people will tell you that Dune Messiah is bad. I don't know why. It isn't as adventurous as the first, and it's true that it subverts the first book in a lot of ways. It's really good though.
OK, thanks. I thought it was unclear whether you mean LoTR+Hobbit, since you'd just been talking about Tolkien, or Herbert on the other hand, but there are six (main) Herbert Dune books, obviously, and you'd said "all four books."
I think all six (main) Herbert Dune books form a collective masterpiece. I found the final book of the series to be much better than I'd bargained for. I still think that the first book, though, stands above the rest. You're right that Dune Messiah is good. I think they're all good.
ConfusedEbert is confused.
I think he was just confused since you said *all* four books when there's actually six. It's like saying you've seen "all four Star Trek movies."
Yeah, "all four books" is confusing and nonsensical in the context of the Dune series, so I can understand the desire for clarification!
Yup.
I like the David Lynch movie. "Long live the fighters!"
Me, too. Very enjoyable.
I think he was just confused since you said *all* four books when there's actually six. It's like saying you've seen "all four Star Trek movies."
"What kind of music do you usually have here?"
"Oh, we got both kinds. Country and western!"
A familiarity with the material will go a long way in avoiding the confusion. Dune is such a thick read (the original book has it's own concordance) that a film will be spitting out unfamiliar terms at a rapid pace get them established in the world.
LOTR is an apt comparison, but reading TT and ROTK was helpful to get better insight in to the movies.
I liked the mini-series a whole lot, but I think more could be done.
Read the book before you see the movie. That way, you'll know which parts of the movie don't make any sense.
Neither the movie nor the miniseries did a good job of portraying the Sardaukar. These are supposed to be elite soldiers, trained on one of the most unforgiving planets in the Imperium. Instead, the first reaction of most audiences when they see them is to laugh.
There are six.
One of the overarching themes of the Dune series is that Frank Herbert was cautioning the readers to beware of blindly following charismatic leaders, no matter how benign and noble they might be at first. They are only human, and will one day fail their subjects. People who feel betrayed by their leaders tend to be angry and sometimes that can lead to war.
Both Duke Leto and Paul were portrayed in Dune as charismatic leaders. Duke Leto fell, and Paul took up his position as Atreides Duke, with the added mantle of the Fremen Mahdi (a messiah who would free them from the Harkonnens and make it possible to turn Arrakis from a desert planet to one green with plants and open water).
Dune is Paul's struggle to avenge his father and gain power. Dune Messiah is his struggle to figure out how to use that power after he's got it.
BTW, there are some deleted scenes online from the Lynch movie. You can safely skip the one where Gurney plays the baliset, unless you like to listen to awful music and wonder why everyone onscreen is smiling as though they're enjoying it.
But an essential deleted scene is the "history will call us wives" one that takes place at the end. That's where the Lynch movie should have ended, instead of the idiotic way Lynch chose to do it. That's an important little scene, since it sets up part of the conflict in Dune Messiah.
Well Giger's art is merely conceptual artwork and would undoubtally have been changed for the final movie, but I do like the organic look of his art. And yes the Saudaukar were badly done but there's very little in the way of descriptions of them in the books.
And serveral editions of a fan edit that go further than the "Alan Smithee" version done under the name of "Spicediver"
After seeing Enders Game, I thought Asa Butterfield would make an excellent Paul.
I remember the handout well, a single sheet front and back glossary explaining things like "mentat," "Fremen" and so on. It had pronuncitations, because I remember my friends and I saying something like "'Benny Jez-a-rit?' I thought it was 'Bean Guess-a-rit!'"
That opening night concession aside, the '84 Dune wasn't afraid to just drop the audience into the deep end, and I give them some credit for that. Star Wars was in a galaxy far away, but its clear pastiche of older movies and genres helped ground the audience in more familiar territory. With Dune it was more like "Yeah, this is going to be bizarre, it's another world, deal with it." Some of the "disturbing" stuff seemed a little gratuitous, and some choices were just silly (why would the evil honcho have a "heart plug" installed in himself where a little kid could just yank it out? And the emperor and his generals on their little merry-go-round, yeesh...). But overall I liked the world-building look and details of the movie. The script, editing, performances and so on, not so much. I'm not too fond of much of the music, either.
Probably the best memory I have of that movie was watching it a year or so later one night with the whole family after it came out on video. Completely bewildered, my mom reacted by cracking jokes and had us all laughing pretty good.
That opening night concession aside, the '84 Dune wasn't afraid to just drop the audience into the deep end, and I give them some credit for that. Star Wars was in a galaxy far away, but its clear pastiche of older movies and genres helped ground the audience in more familiar territory. With Dune it was more like "Yeah, this is going to be bizarre, it's another world, deal with it." Some of the "disturbing" stuff seemed a little gratuitous, and some choices were just silly (why would the evil honcho have a "heart plug" installed in himself where a little kid could just yank it out? And the emperor and his generals on their little merry-go-round, yeesh...). But overall I liked the world-building look and details of the movie. The script, editing, performances and so on, not so much. I'm not too fond of much of the music, either.
Probably the best memory I have of that movie was watching it a year or so later one night with the whole family after it came out on video. Completely bewildered, my mom reacted by cracking jokes and had us all laughing pretty good.
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