I'd say opening the movie with that fight would be a good way to bookend the whole thing since it also ends is a knife fight, Also a means to give a re-entry into the plot by checking in with the other Atredies survivors; first Thuffir, and then Gurney before reintroducing Paul in his new visage as the fierce, almost spectral desert warrior he's become with the scene where they take the smugglers.
IMO it's sensible not to overload the movie with characters that are irrelevant to the thrust of the story. Keeping Feyd, Irulan, and Shaddam in reserve for the next film is the right thing to do. They can act as a pivot for placing the events on Arrakis in the context of the larger universe. I doubt the Fenrings will feature at all, which is a pity but they're a sideshow akin to the Tom Bombadil and Goldberry section in LotR. In Dune, the Fenrings are a diversion that mainly reveals more about the Bene Gesserit and their meddling with the human gene line. The TV miniseries and Lynch's version were overstuffed with characters too early on and this unbalance could be confusing to those not familiar with the book. A movie adaptation of Dune likely needs a trilogy to capture most of the essence of the novel but that was never going to get financed. We'll be lucky to get a part 2.
Well in this case to be fair: Kevin Smith smokes a LOT of weed. After a while, almost anything can seem like a good idea.
Touché, sir. Touché.
Honestly, I've often thought that paper money was kind of a strange thing. Pieces of paper that some randomly decides are worth this much or that much of something.
British bank notes state on them "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of X pounds" (where X is five, ten, twenty, or fifty) - the problem is that if you go to a bank, you can only receive that sum as other similar pieces of paper or coins, or as numbers in a bank account. It's really a meaningless phrase. However, without currency of some description, physical or electronic, good luck with having any form of functioning society. The Federation seemingly do without money, being a sort of communist utopia where everyone's needs are met (like Marx's "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"), but how they got rid of avarice, corruption, and lust for the accumulation of personal possessions is never really described. The Dune universe is fundamentally feudal, so I expect most people are basically serfs, indentured servants, or slaves. Exceptions are the smugglers and the Fremen. Even mentats and Suk doctors appear to be constrained to working for a single house for their lifetime - unless captured, of course.
Still just lords and their servants though. The Bene Gesserit, Tleilaxu, and Ixian setups seem to allow somewhat different models of governance but I believe they're all authoritarian and non-democratic. In particular, the Tleilax appear to be the Taliban on steroids regarding the treatment of women. Perhaps the Ixians are less feudal? There is probably more detail in the books but I've only read Dune and Dune Messiah more than once. In any case, thousands of years pass and societies can evolve. I'm discounting any detail given in the BH&KJA tomes as I regard those as fanfic written by people who just don't seem to understand the intent of Frank Herbert's novels nor indeed respect it.
Oh yeah, I understand why we need money, I was more talking about just the very basic idea.
Recordings exist of Frank Herbert pronouncing such words as Tleilaxu:
Stories and songs will be told about this day.I've written my review in the ratings thread and to sum it up - the movie is awesome!
When i came out of the theater and on the way to the parking lot i tripped over the curb and faceplanted onto the walkway - left knee, elbow and right hand hurt like a mother but i took an Ibuprofen like a Fremen to write through the pain and bring you the news - i hope you appreciate it.
I've written my review in the ratings thread and to sum it up - the movie is awesome!
When i came out of the theater and on the way to the parking lot i tripped over the curb and faceplanted onto the walkway - left knee, elbow and right hand hurt like a mother but i took an Ibuprofen like a Fremen to write through the pain and bring you the news - i hope you appreciate it.
Did I mention how much I hate you? I'm glad you skinned your knee.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Will you be going back to see it again, or waiting for streaming?
