When watching movies, I always try to differentiate between my personal enjoyment and the inherent merits of the movies. There are a lot of bad movies, which I totally and thoroughly enjoy watching, and some really great movies, which I don’t enjoy that much, but still can respect/appreciate.

With this prelude, I totally do not get the positive reactions to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies. At the time I am writing this question, part two has 94% critique and 95% audience score at Rotten Tomatoes, 9.0 at IMDB.

In my opinion, Dune 1 and Dune 2 have obviously high production values and good special effects. What I do not like is the acting, the pacing, the total flat/simple characters and the whole narration, which is for me a trivial love story between Chani and Paul, plus becoming a leader and get some revenge. I could simply replace the ‘Dune’ theme with a standard war theme and a few tribes, and I would have exactly the same movie. Also the battle scenes at the end of part 2, they are for me totally cookie cutter war movie/battle aesthetics. (Total waste: There are big Sandworms after all, and combat with personal shields etc.).

My question is, especially if you very much enjoyed watching the Dune movies:

  • Why did you personally enjoy the movie?
  • Do you think this movies have some inherent merits?
  • How do you like the acting/plot/pacing?
  • wolf@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
    61·
    8 months ago

    I loved the original book. I just think it’s unfilmable. A lot of it is about getting inside peoples heads to hear their thoughts and machinations.

    I found the art direction, costuming, and casting of Lynch’s movies brilliant. Even the soundtrack was a nice surprise.

    This!

    I really enjoyed the first 3 Dune books for the peoples heads. For me, Dune loses its direction a little bit later, in the following books.

    I also totally enjoyed Lynch’s movie, quite bold and an experience.

    Yeah, seeing Mr. God Worm Dude will have me rushing to the cinema! :-)