Dune: Part Two

Killer. Movies are grand and sexy and thought provoking and fun again we're so back. The first hour or so of this felt like dune 1 part 2 which had me worried but there's a flipping point (iirc when chani asks paul to promise to not become the messiah and when geidi prime is finally shown) where this becomes dune 2 the next film. And everything from that point starts and only goes up. Nothing to say that hasn't already been said but I'll repeat it: the sets and scale are grand, beautiful, and work perfectly, but at the expense of characterization and personality, similar to the first film, which is disappointing because I hoped this film would be much more personal now that the setup was finished but I forgot how much more setup was still left. Every character from Paul to the harkonnens (including feed) to EVEN jessica feel flatter in this. This film deviates from the book much more than the first, to both beneficial and detrimental effects. Some decisions allow the themes to be better highlighted, some cause them to be obfuscated, mostly due to it all leading back to the grand issue of personal, grounded characterization that the book is just as famous and beloved for. I don't know if it was studio interference, or denis not trusting the audience enough, or what but even though I loved this film and understand its the best adaptation we'll ever get, I miss the perfect adaptation that would bypass the brutalist minimalist style of the auteur a bit to get to show more of the heart and soul of this epic. Last three thoughts: first that Christopher Walken was horribly miscast. Is he really what you think of when you think of the grand emperor of the known universe? Could you not have found any other old white guy? Was the commitment to only casting a-listers really that strong? Second lea and florence should've been switched. Lastly, I'll be horny on main and say that timothee and zendaya fucking in the sand? Unbelievably hot. Same goes for my queen lea seydoux. Tldr from another guy: Boy, Villeneuve really did mean every single he said about not caring about dialogue. I've never seen such a good film with such a shit script. Ironically though, the best scenes of the movie are dialogue heavy (Paul's speech, Feyd and his Bene-Geserit gf). The actors did most the heavy lifting for this movie, Chalamet especially impressed me.