Review of Dune (2021) by Lionhearted — 04 Nov 2021

Where is Feyd Rautha, Paul's equal opposite? Where's the music? Where are the mentats of the spice mining guild? For that matter where's more than 2 lines of dialogue for Thufir Hawat and Piter De Vries? But really the most disappointing is the backstory and lack of character building and plot depth of Wellington Yueh who should have had the single-most pivotal role of the entire first chapter. what was the purpose of leaving all that essential narrative out? Minimalism? for 30 extra minutes of watching Jason Momoa fight?

Where's the thematic difference in the houses? No aristocratic depth, no totalitarian depth. Where is the weirding way? Perhaps worse is the 'Hey, dude' dialogue. Aside from that I counted 3 times they bring up the idea of 'desert power', which in David Lynch's 1984 adaptation had empathetic meaning, which in David Villeneuve's version comes off more like in-phrase. 'Like, it's all about the desert power dude.'

The sound is borked also, where you have to turn it way up to hear some of the crap dialogue only then to have it blow your speakers out when the 'Tha-wumps' happen. Was this done on purpose to stand -in because they weren't really interested in creating something with any actual depth?

Why did Paul's mother have to coax him on his 'rite of passage'? Dumbed down for feminism? Why was the intro so poor, like kindergarten exposition?

Ok, now onto what they got right. While the dialogue is poor, they did emphasize a sense of seriousness. No Jokey smurfs on this run, kiddos. The scenic widescreen shots were very good, the computer generated tech was amazing. the engagement with the Fremen was decent as it demonstrated the brutal nature of their people and the cost to earn their trust. But probably the most empathetic thing I find with this 'B' action flick is a lack of 'woke' overtones.