qlog

just watched dune the movie. and now am going to rant in great detail about the things i didnt like about it...and the things i really did like :D

characters
the duke's german accent put me off him a bit...but lady jessica wasnt bad...acc to imdb glenn close turned it down because she thought lady jessica was a weak character or some such thing...maybe her character didnt translate too well to the screen...or maybe people just dont get it. wiki says that the books have been criticised by feminists...and thats just conked...to be adressed later! the real highlight of the movie was kyle maclachlan as paul tho! for sure! ah the nuances, the subtleties...all maintained...gah he annoyed me on sex and the city...probly cause sex and the city annoys me in general..nothing to do with him...sting as feyd was amusing...wasnt wat i had in mind but a good thing :D patrick stewart i cant think of him as anyone other than star trek man...so that was a bit strange...ooh liet kynes was good. shmal part but excellently done. the casting of the female characters was v david lynch. irulan being the lost highway chick and all. and sean young as chani...made me think of blade runner...and ridley scott was once to direct dune :D and oh yes alia! st alia of the knife! very nice!

plot
the movie uses more than half the film to tell the tale of the first 1/4 maybe 1/3 of the book. which leaves not enough room to see the evolution of paul...him becoming accepted by the fremen...lady jessica becoming the reverend mother...her relationship with chani...all the intricacies get a bit lost.....the movie focusses more on the overall spectacle of the thing. the big picture. paul triumphant over the emperor and avenging the death of his father. overusage of that word tho: avenge! father father! i will avenge your death...blah blah...

ludicrous bits
*definitely on the top of the list has got to be paul training the men in the weirding way which in the book is basically a heightened sense of awareness and muscle control and things...highly developed in all senses...but in the movie: its harnessing the power of sound to destroy large blocks of stone :D v wtf moment! like like the end when he kills sting the normal way. with the knife. all fine. then decides to yell at him and makes the floor crack?! haha!
*the rain at the end...ah paul has triumphed and with his mind calls rain upon the planet! lol!
*the baron floating about in midair...his suspensor things were just to help him walk by talking on some of the weight of his rolls of fat...so that he could stand and walk! ..and the random killing of a youth in front of many people...and his facial disease...but i get it...was for a visual...oh look the harkonnens are so disgusting effect.
*paul drinking the water of life in ceremonial fashion with everyone watching out in desert!
*the thopter being a box like affair...where were the wings? the beautiful non fixed wings...

good bits
*the simpler scenes involving paul...like the gom jabbar at the beginning...and his relationship with the spice...and catching the hunterseeker...
*alia and the reverend mother and alia killing the baron with the gom jabbar...
*the waves on caladan to highlight the diff between caladan and arakkis.
*the voice overs...good try at replicating the book complex dialogue of speech and inner monologues and different povs..but the dialogue was a bit retarded and overly simplistic at times.
*the sense of water works well at times...when paul sees the water in the sietch and whispers treasure...and its clear and water drips slowly causing bootiful ripples...
*the worms!

bits left out
*gurney believing lady jessica to be the traitor
*idaho had a really small role...i dont think his death was focussed on at all.
*paul's fight with jamis
*paul and chani having a son etc

the ideal dune movie
i would say it would have to be directed by michel gondry/wes anderson and written by schwartzman, anderson and roman coppola...for the complexities of dialogue as in hotel chevalier where what was said was not all that was said. and pauls visions could be filmed in the manner of the paul mccartney vid directed by gondry...layering footage over footage to show the present and what he sees...it would be surreal and funny and light...it would be less about the grandeur of the sets..more about people in the desert...more relationship oriented.

and finally to all the daft people who think that dune is anti feminist or whatever
*the bene gesserit [all women] control everything through their breeding schemes
*they have the power of the voice, to control...much power...all the prana bindu stuff...so much. and their truthsayer roles as well.
*the religious leaders of the fremen are women
*the lady jessica rebelled against the bene gesserit and was her own person and chose to give birth to paul 'the kwisatz haderach'...ok you could say why do they seek a man who can see where women cannot? ok paul is powerful. more powerful than the reverend mothers. but then alia has his powers and more. she is st alia of the knife.
*alia just oozes strength and power...she killed the baron when she was 4 or something. she is the god like being that pilgrims come to worship.
*and chani is not just some fool who does nothing but exist for paul. she is fremen. and very much her own person. as is paul. as i do not enjoy thinking along gender lines. dune is a book full of complex characters: male and female.

note [just about the after effects of dune - the book]
dune makes you rethink water...like today when i emptied the container in the dryer where the water from the clothes goes, i thought of it as 'reclaimed' [a very dune word] water and felt miserable when i emptied it into the sink...next time i will probably feel impelled to go out into the garden and water some plants with it :)