So, we saw Dune on Friday at the IMAX.
This is difficult as I've read the book, played some of the games and seen the David Lynch film a number of times, so I know quite a lot about the material. Also saw the TV movie, though that has little bearing on all this as I barely remember it.
I agree with something that was said above by [MENTION=2625]randombs[/MENTION]; the Lynch movie in my case was closer to how I pictured, for example, House Atreides, in my head. Opulent, wealthy; like Tsar-era Russia transplanted to the far future. Baroque, ostentatious, with architecture of dark marble interspersed with gold filigree.
But this is someone else's vision and I think it's great; the sense of scale is enormous. Truly epic. And the characters feel more like real people, whereas the older movie was acted in a theatrical style, more like the biblical epics of the 50s.
It was, however, truer to some of the themes of the original book. For instance, the Bene Gessirets in the original movie are portrayed as a religious order who are trying to create the messiah on Dune; in the book, they're a cold, clinical organisation who has seeded every planet with stories of a Messiah so where-ever it happens and where-ever they go, they are revered and worshipped. And the idea that Paul is afraid of his destiny, because he sees, if he gives in to the natural flow of events, that he will lead an army that will utterly destroy all humanity, burn away all remnants of it and leave him alone to dance in the ashes. In the Lynch film, as a remnant of Jorodowsky's original treatment, Paul is seen as more a Jesus figure, when in practice in the book he stands on a knife-edge between ushering in a new golden age for humanity and ensuring its destruction. The newer movie managed to carry these elements much more closely to the book.
Also I'm keen to hear more from people who haven't seen/read it, because there were some elements that were really brushed over, like using the spice to fold space - which is actually really important to the story.
(spoilers for the story of part 2 follow)
Like, it didn't really go into any detail about the spacing guild navigators, and how they fold space.
That's problematic because of a big part of what the Kwisatz Haderach is - they're a single human who is both a Navigator and a Bene Gessiret, and that's maybe going to either need explaining or be left a little "lite" in the 2nd movie.
This is difficult as I've read the book, played some of the games and seen the David Lynch film a number of times, so I know quite a lot about the material. Also saw the TV movie, though that has little bearing on all this as I barely remember it.
I agree with something that was said above by [MENTION=2625]randombs[/MENTION]; the Lynch movie in my case was closer to how I pictured, for example, House Atreides, in my head. Opulent, wealthy; like Tsar-era Russia transplanted to the far future. Baroque, ostentatious, with architecture of dark marble interspersed with gold filigree.
But this is someone else's vision and I think it's great; the sense of scale is enormous. Truly epic. And the characters feel more like real people, whereas the older movie was acted in a theatrical style, more like the biblical epics of the 50s.
It was, however, truer to some of the themes of the original book. For instance, the Bene Gessirets in the original movie are portrayed as a religious order who are trying to create the messiah on Dune; in the book, they're a cold, clinical organisation who has seeded every planet with stories of a Messiah so where-ever it happens and where-ever they go, they are revered and worshipped. And the idea that Paul is afraid of his destiny, because he sees, if he gives in to the natural flow of events, that he will lead an army that will utterly destroy all humanity, burn away all remnants of it and leave him alone to dance in the ashes. In the Lynch film, as a remnant of Jorodowsky's original treatment, Paul is seen as more a Jesus figure, when in practice in the book he stands on a knife-edge between ushering in a new golden age for humanity and ensuring its destruction. The newer movie managed to carry these elements much more closely to the book.
Also I'm keen to hear more from people who haven't seen/read it, because there were some elements that were really brushed over, like using the spice to fold space - which is actually really important to the story.
(spoilers for the story of part 2 follow)
Like, it didn't really go into any detail about the spacing guild navigators, and how they fold space.
That's problematic because of a big part of what the Kwisatz Haderach is - they're a single human who is both a Navigator and a Bene Gessiret, and that's maybe going to either need explaining or be left a little "lite" in the 2nd movie.
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