I loved the first one. It was maybe the best sci-fi book-to-movie ever made. They just nailed it.
But Dune 2 felt pointless. Nothing much happens. It falls prey to sci-fi’s giant religious blind spot. The genre just can’t come up with an angle that doesn’t either make prophecy concrete and thus …
I loved the first one. It was maybe the best sci-fi book-to-movie ever made. They just nailed it.
But Dune 2 felt pointless. Nothing much happens. It falls prey to sci-fi’s giant religious blind spot. The genre just can’t come up with an angle that doesn’t either make prophecy concrete and thus eliminate “faith” as a thing, or it turns religious texts into a video game walkthrough. Battlestar Gallactica was the worst offender on both. Dune 2’s biggest offense is it’s dull repetition of the same conversation over and over:
Person A: prophesy is real
Person B: no it’s not
A: yes it js
B: no!
As Scott points out there’s a conflict between Fremen who believe in prophesy and those that don’t, but it’s the lowest stakes conflict imaginable. It isn’t even in the book- it feels like it was added here to pad the run time. But if there was anything else going on in the movie you wouldn’t even notice this “conflict”. It takes place solely in Chani’s head; she’s the only Fremen who ever rejects even the idea of prophetic mumbo jumbo (she knows the Bene Gesserit planted religion on Dune; HOW she came by that knowledge is never addressed). She keeps claiming that this is part of a wider dispute between her more nationalist people and “southern” Fremen, but you never see it. You never even hear anyone else talk about it, and it never impacts the Fremen during the war in any way. The factions aren’t remotely opposed.
The movie also has amazing sword fighting. That’s about 90 seconds of run time. The rest is 2 hours 15 minutes of “Prophesy is real/no it’s not” discussions, wailing on the soundtrack, and Christopher Walken’s jarring appearance as the Emperor.
I was worried this was going to happen. I love the book, but once it starts talking about religion I start skipping chapters. The movie would have don better to skip it and spend more time with the emperor and his court; Lady and Count Fenrig are interesting characters for instance. But they get shortchanged, as does the emperor. All you really know about the triumvirate of Harkonens is that they murder one of their servants/slaves/soldiers every time they’re on screen in case you need to be reminded that they’re the bad guys. Again.
Alia and Thirfir Hawat don’t make an appearance even though both were critical in the final showdown with the Emperor in the book. The smugglers barely get a mention. Stilgar doesn’t do much other than be A to Chani’s B, though again, without any actual conflict between the two that might threaten to be interesting.
I’d give it a pass, particularly if you liked the first one.
I saw Dune 2 last night. Really, really bad.
I loved the first one. It was maybe the best sci-fi book-to-movie ever made. They just nailed it.
But Dune 2 felt pointless. Nothing much happens. It falls prey to sci-fi’s giant religious blind spot. The genre just can’t come up with an angle that doesn’t either make prophecy concrete and thus eliminate “faith” as a thing, or it turns religious texts into a video game walkthrough. Battlestar Gallactica was the worst offender on both. Dune 2’s biggest offense is it’s dull repetition of the same conversation over and over:
Person A: prophesy is real
Person B: no it’s not
A: yes it js
B: no!
As Scott points out there’s a conflict between Fremen who believe in prophesy and those that don’t, but it’s the lowest stakes conflict imaginable. It isn’t even in the book- it feels like it was added here to pad the run time. But if there was anything else going on in the movie you wouldn’t even notice this “conflict”. It takes place solely in Chani’s head; she’s the only Fremen who ever rejects even the idea of prophetic mumbo jumbo (she knows the Bene Gesserit planted religion on Dune; HOW she came by that knowledge is never addressed). She keeps claiming that this is part of a wider dispute between her more nationalist people and “southern” Fremen, but you never see it. You never even hear anyone else talk about it, and it never impacts the Fremen during the war in any way. The factions aren’t remotely opposed.
The movie also has amazing sword fighting. That’s about 90 seconds of run time. The rest is 2 hours 15 minutes of “Prophesy is real/no it’s not” discussions, wailing on the soundtrack, and Christopher Walken’s jarring appearance as the Emperor.
I was worried this was going to happen. I love the book, but once it starts talking about religion I start skipping chapters. The movie would have don better to skip it and spend more time with the emperor and his court; Lady and Count Fenrig are interesting characters for instance. But they get shortchanged, as does the emperor. All you really know about the triumvirate of Harkonens is that they murder one of their servants/slaves/soldiers every time they’re on screen in case you need to be reminded that they’re the bad guys. Again.
Alia and Thirfir Hawat don’t make an appearance even though both were critical in the final showdown with the Emperor in the book. The smugglers barely get a mention. Stilgar doesn’t do much other than be A to Chani’s B, though again, without any actual conflict between the two that might threaten to be interesting.
I’d give it a pass, particularly if you liked the first one.
Interesting and well-reasoned take.