Dune (2021)

[sholio]

Yes, this is a Star Wars icon, but it has a desert in it.

I enjoyed it, although -100 points for lack of orange-haired, knife-fighting Sting. It's absolutely wild to me how much I remember of the original David Lynch version, because I know I haven't seen it since I was a teenager and I didn't think I had watched it more than once or twice. If you had asked me to describe basically any scene from the original movie cold, I don't think I could have, and yet I remembered nearly all of it as I was watching - allowing for adaptational differences, of course. There were some scenes (e.g. the box scene) where I could even anticipate most of the dialogue.

I had absolutely no idea the new movie wasn't the entire book, though! At roughly the point when I was thinking "Wow, if we're no farther along than this, this must be one heck of a long movie," it just stopped. So, uh, I guess I'll be watching the next one at some point.

It's a pretty movie, although I would have liked more colorful, less generically sci-fi visuals - it's very monochrome, not just because of the desert but also because everyone dresses in shades of black or brown most of the time. (The future apparently spends its budget on floating tactical monoliths and not on paint.) But the visuals are really beautiful other than that, the ornithopters are really cool, and there was genuinely quite a lot of character focus, more than I was expecting. Lots of well-known actors in this, at least known for niche SF things; it was a constant parade of "Hey, it's them!"

Then I looked up the fic on AO3 for both this and the original movie just out of curiosity to see what kind of things people are into, and was amazed that Feyd/Paul isn't the runaway pairing for the original movie. Either fandom was really different in 1984, or it's out there but not on AO3. The dominant pairing? Paul/Jessica. Also kind of a surprise. (The fic for the remake is very unsurprisingly dominated by Paul/Duncan Idaho.)

Comments

[muccamukk]

I still need to watch the rest of this. It wasn't really catching me as of 20 minutes in.

I love the Paul/Duncan shippers, especially the ones who haven't read the book. They're all like "fixit fic!" and I'm just, "I've good good news, and I've got bad news on that front."

[sholio]

I was mostly doing other things during the first part of the movie and didn't really sit down and watch until they got to Arrakis, which probably helped. Any situation is improved by the addition of sandworms, or at least made more exciting.

[sovay]

and was amazed that Feyd/Paul isn't the runaway pairing for the original movie. Either fandom was really different in 1984, or it's out there but not on AO3.

I had also concluded from cultural osmosis that it would have been. How interesting. I wonder if it was just old enough not to be inherited by the internet and therefore have a chance of percolating to AO3.

[grammarwoman]

I've seen Lynch's Dune lots of times, so that was definitely playing in the back of my mind as I was watching the 2021 version. I've also read the books a few times.

I wonder how lost people are watching the 2021 version if they've done neither, because there is so much going on that doesn't seem to be explained.

[ilyena_sylph]

+mutter mutter+ Come on people, please give me the Leto I/Duncan....

<3

[rachelmanija]

I also would have expected Feyd/Paul for the 1984 movie, and was disappointed that it's basically nonexistent. There is some for the book (and it's good) but... STING.

I enjoyed this but the 1984 movie has a slight edge for me... okay largely because of Sting, but I also preferred its Shadout Mapes and visual design. Plus it had the total batshit element of the Atreides pugs and Jean-Luc Picard Gurney Halleck charging into battle clutching a pug. Kyle MacLachlan also fits my idea of Paul better, even though he was too old for the role.

But I adored the ornithopters and desert mouse in this one, and far preferred Duncan Idaho and Liet Kynes and their death scenes. And Stilgar.

I'm not surprised by Paul/Jessica. I'm super not into mother/son, but I got weird vibes from the scene where they were changing in the desert. It felt exactly like if they were a potential couple with UST.

ETA: Oh wait, you meant the 1984 film for Paul/Jessica. Okay, in that case I got nothing.

[rachelmanija]

Hahahahaha.

[rachelmanija]

Yes, that has got to be it.

[sholio]

Yeah, I think the color visuals and general batshittery of the original (and Sting) give it the edge for me as well, because when you strip all of that out, you are basically left with a gloomy, dramatic, and ~very serious~ SF movie that looks like all the other gloomy and self-important SF movies. Aside from a couple of scenes, there's not a lot about it that's particularly memorable. Meanwhile, the 1980s one is so memorable that it's impossible to scrub some of it out of your brain even if you wanted to. It's unique in both the best and the worst ways!

Oh wait, you meant the 1984 film for Paul/Jessica. Okay, in that case I got nothing.

RIGHT? And yet. (I did get the same weird vibe off the undressing scene, though. I could see a son being weirded out by seeing his mom naked, but SHE was the one acting weird about it! This is your kid! You've probably seen him naked a million times! STOP MAKING IT WEIRD, MOM!)

The desert mice were great - Orion and I were both making lots of AWWWW noises during all their appearances. And this version of Duncan Idaho is a huge improvement over the original.

[sholio]

Sometimes fandom provides, and sometimes, alas, it does not.

[sholio]

To be fair, I'm not sure if the 1980s one makes that much sense by itself, either. But I think more was explicitly explained.

[sholio]

Yeah, that would be my guess also.

[sholio]

Oh, I remember there was someone in a recent exchange who requested the pugs - was that you?

[lyr]

Yeah, I also missed knife-fighting Sting in leather underwear. But I've happily read a few of those Paul/Duncan fics from the remake, so that's a plus.

[rachelmanija]

Yes it was.

[sholio]

I have found your Dune requests in Chocolate Box! Oho, I see Feyd/Paul is also in here.

You should request Dune more often! I haven't thought about it in so long that I was paying absolutely no attention at the time.

[sholio]

p.s. Canon-specific DNW: Baron Harkonnen's boils. LOLOLOLLLLLLL. (Extremely valid.)

[sholio]

There were definitely pluses and minuses to both versions!

[rachelmanija]

I will! It's an old favorite of mine.

[sealie]

I found that the Dune (2021) constant bombardment with famous actors ruined it (for me). It’s not Duncan Idaho, it’s Ronon/Aquaman. It’s not Duke Leto Atreides, it’s Oscar Isaac aka Poe Dameron/Apocalyse. Oh, lookee Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista – Avengers Assemble? Zendaya…. Oh another person from the superhero camp. I was stunned that the didn't have Benedict Cumberbund creeping around the set. Do they keep actors in stables? The only person I didn't recognise was the wee baby Paul.

It made it difficult to suspend disbelief. I never forgot that I was watching an adaptation of one of my favourite books. The David Lynch version is widely panned, and the ending is over-rushed and ridiculously messianic, but I have always found it gloriously bonkers, whilst 2021 was stripped and slow. I also was checking the timing thinking Oh, FFS this is a two parter Hey, but at least I know and can picture--in muted sand colours with a whole host of well-known faces exactly what will happen.

Balancing the complexity of the novel is difficult, and, yeah, they missed a lot. As did Bonkers!Dune (1984). I remember watching the 1984 movie with a mate who had not absorbed the book and she did not have a single clue what was happening. I remember leaning over to her and saying "Dr. Yeuh has been conditioned not to betray the Atreides but he is, and because he had been conditioned, the Atreides are never going to think that this is possible, this is critical to the plot." And her face was (´･_･`). I *think* that 2021 was more accessible?

[aelfgyfu_mead]

They're all like "fixit fic!" and I'm just, "I've good good news, and I've got bad news on that front."
Hee hee!

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Good to know. I seem to be one of the very few who thought the earlier movie was not terrible. And it won't be the same without Sting. But lots of very pretty and talented people in this one, so someday I'll get to it! Maybe even before the second half is out!

[liz_mo]

As someone who has neither read the books nor seen the old movie and the only thing I knew about Dune was "sandworms" I can tell you that the movie worked very well.
Character names were a struggle but it takes me forever to learn them with everything, so no problem.
The concept of houses I knew from GOT, so no problem.
No, I don't know who, what or how the Besserit are, nor the emperor, the navigator guild or anything that's going on in that galaxy far, far, away...uhm, I mean, wherever, BUT I don't need to to "get" the immediate story. Diving into the lore is something I can do now or leave it to be curious about to learn more in the next movie.