Random fact: I was given a copy of Dune one summer in the early 90s by a distant cousin visiting from a distant land. In 2005 the same cousins made me an unexpected job offer in their family business and I moved to that distant land...
Random fact: I was given a copy of Dune one summer in the early 90s by a distant cousin visiting from a distant land. In 2005 the same cousins made me an unexpected job offer in their family business and I moved to that distant land...
what makes Dune interesting in the books doesn't translate well into movies... and by that i mean inner dialogue. it's in one of the versions (TV?) of an "extended" Dune where the scene pauses and there's a voiceover ie the characters inner dialogue. I personally like it as it is more faithful and fleshes out the plot. ie Herbert explained lot of background in the inner dialogue, hence some conversations may seem very terse.
but like one version of bladerunner with voiceover, the "masses" are thought to hate it. Much of the politics is embedded in that inner dialogue. Action is secondary.
But I like Denis V - if anyone, he has the best chance. that said, Dune is not Dune without Dune 2 (messiah) and dune 3 (children). Dune 1 is the hero's journey, but herbert destroyed the hero in 2 and 3 - you don't get the full story. and I have my doubts we'd ever see a movie version Dune 3 (outside of the sci-fi channel miniseries).
Very excited for this... be interested to see what Denis V's take on 'the wierding way' is - hopefully not more sonic weapons (although they were transposed into the Dune video games!).
Only thing I found lacking in the trailer (probably deliberate) is the complete lack of any reference to Feyd-Rautha.
Who can compete with the mighty Sting!
Books that were deemed unfilmable have been made into movies semi-successfully at least, so Dune is not unique in that sense. Cloud Atlas and Life of Pi comes to mind, both were acclaimed bestsellers, with complex plots and surreal or abstract characters and situations that were deemed impossible to film, but both were made into films. Cloud Atlas the movie had a somewhat of a mixed reception (but I still liked it) but Life of Pi was critically acclaimed.
Mind you it doesn't mean its gonna be an easy or trouble-free film development, but it is possible for complex non-linear novels to be made into movies, if the screenwriter(s), producer(s) and director are talented enough.
Agree, and i would venture to say I enjoyed Cloud Atlas the movie as much as the book if not more. I HOPE Denis V will do a great job and i'm sure he will try to do it justice, BUT at the same time, I see that the very things that make Dune interesting (inner dialogue whether with self or with inner lives) is not appealing (or seen to be) by "American audiences" and therefore studios will always try to avoid this path.
I love the Lynch version Dune with such an amazing cast even though Lynch hated it and fans will understandably say it is not faithful to the books (the weirding module is now a sonic weapon) - I can overlook those things because I think he still got the spirit of Dune 1 pretty well. and Toto's theme song works for me. not like the stuff i heard in the new trailer.
Mind you, I'm still gonna watch Denis Dune and probably will love it as I will appreciate any attempt at bringing Dune to the world of film (even TV - yes, I even liked parts of the TV miniseries while not admiring it as a whole).
Some things are easier to explain in the brief duration of a movie, such as non-linearity: fades, color shifts, accents, the entire tableau. Other things are completely impossible to bring into a movie from a book due to the time constraints. Example: omission of Tom Bombadil from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the one guy who could resist the ring's power. And Arwen stole Glorfindel's thunder in the movie. What was Jackson thinking? Never rely on movies.
I hope this Warner Bros movie doesn't disappoint. And it will be at least a little bit similar in plot to the book by Frank Herbert.
Watched it this morning. Pompous twaddle that is visually enthralling but too slow and far too much - this is a good highborn family v the evil empire.
If you pick out who you think will be killed as a character is introduced the overt signaling makes it hard to suspend disbelief enough. After 2.5 hours I still didn't care for any of the characters. Visually very impressive.
Agreed - felt like 4 hours long. Sore bum. Had enough of close ups of Timotheeeeee