[WGH]

Denis Villeneuve nailed it. Massive and epic, the visuals in Dune are awe inspiring on the big screen. The story follows the novel faithfully and ends about 2/3 through the first book, there will be a lot more to tell in Part 2.

Forget about HBO, go see Dune on the big screen, preferably a Cinemark XD (Extreme Digital) with state-of-the-art-sound. My home theater doesn't do that. Composer Hans Zimmer has crafted a soundtrack that will not only max out your subs but also has the best example of Atmos and surround sound of any film I have seen, the ethereal music and sound effects completely immerses the viewer in Arrakis.

 

[Tyson]

Agreed, Dune was great.  Saw it with my daughter this afternoon and we were both blown away.

[Mike B.]

I read some comments from other viewers at another site. Those who had read the books were positive about the film. Those who did not found it confusing and hard to follow. They did complement the scenery and acting.

[WGH]

I read some comments from other viewers at another site. Those who had read the books were positive about the film. Those who did not found it confusing and hard to follow.

I could believe that. My brother and wife are coming over on Sunday to watch it and eat my homemade barbecue ribs. They don't have HBO and I have a 7.1.4 setup. He hasn't read the books so I'll have to do a running dialog. Since I have seen the film I won't mind talking and distractions. If it was my first viewing I would go bonkers with all the interruptions.

My suggestion: re-read the novel, go to the theater to see Dune as the directer and composer intended then watch it again with relatives who will tell you to turn the volume down, Hans Zimmer would hate them.

[Wayner]

I'm a big fan of the original movie. May have to venture out to the theater to see this version.

[BobM]

watched it on HBO MAX last night, but agree this is a good big screen movie. Probably awesome in the theater.

[Letitroll98]

I read some comments from other viewers at another site. Those who had read the books were positive about the film. Those who did not found it confusing and hard to follow. They did complement the scenery and acting.

This is encouraging.  I've always felt the failure of all the previous treatments was that they tried to explain everything which just bogged down the flow of the movie.  Nobody wants a history lesson in a movie, even about a mythical universe.  Leave all the intricacies of politics and social convections to the book and just film the adventure.  Hopefully from the description they've done this.  I was walking around the house yesterday thinking there's something I wanted to do today, now I remember, thanks.  I'll wait till Monday or Tuesday to avoid the crowds.

[mg8]

Couldn't wait for theater.  Watched HBO Max yesterday.  Loved it.  The cast was excellent.  The storyline emphasized the important things of the epic and the special effects were perfect, not overpowering more realistic.  Will see it in the theater!

[artur9]

It would be interesting if they make a prequel to this, not necessarily based on any of the books. that provides some context.

[WGH]

It would be interesting if they make a prequel to this, not necessarily based on any of the books. that provides some context.

There is an entire Dune story line that starts 10,000 years before the first Dune novel. I read the original 3 books and stopped there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(franchise)

[WGH]

Leave all the intricacies of politics and social convections to the book and just film the adventure.  Hopefully from the description they've done this.  I was walking around the house yesterday thinking there's something I wanted to do today, now I remember, thanks.  I'll wait till Monday or Tuesday to avoid the crowds.

Most of the intricacies are left out, some are hinted at and go by quickly which will confuse the casual viewer. All-in-all Denis Villeneuve does an excellent job explaining the intricies of a very dense novel, he has put a lot of thought into screenplay. Some events in the book are necessarily combined to keep the story moving with a few very small plot changes that most people won't notice. I finished the novel at 10:30pm the night before I saw the film so I am very familiar with the changes and they didn't bother me, I was impressed.

How many people under 70 have read Dune? Most people won't have a clue what is going on, my brother will watch Dune because it is science fiction and he heard it has sand worms, he just wants to see the worms. These days who would want to read a moldy old 55 year old science fiction book your grandfather read? I'm curious. Although I did overhear 3 excited teenage geeks coming out of the theater after watching Dune talking about the plot, they obviously read all the books.

The matinee show was almost empty, maybe 20 people but I expect as word gets out the shows will start filling up but I think HBO will siphon off most of the theater viewers, the distributor made a real bad decision streaming Dune at the same time it is in theaters.

I made my reservations online, got to pick my seat and avoided waiting in line with the great unwashed masses. Make reservations today for next week to get the beat seat in the house, you will be happy you did. The Cinemark XD theater has reserved seating, I don't know about the smaller venues. The only downside to showing up on time is the 1/2 hour of previews of every film coming out in the next 6 months.

[artur9]

There is an entire Dune story line that starts 10,000 years before the first Dune novel. I read the original 3 books and stopped there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(franchise)

Oh, I know.  I was just hoping for a bit including the Battle of Corrine that sets the stage and some other things.

[Letitroll98]

Ah, I remember the days of reserved seats and recliners.  Since moving up to the mountains last year all that goes away, the biggest theater around has four screens and nothing's been updated since the seventies.  Saturdays and Sundays in the fall are for football, but Monday is $5 all day Day, whoo hoo.  Sounds exactly like I've always thought it should be filmed.  I was mostly wondering about how they'd pull off not finishing book one, no one who's seen it seems upset.  I agree with splitting it up, just didn't remember a good spot to do it.  Looking forward to it, thanks for all the reviews guys.

[SoCalWJS]

I'm a fairly big fan of the Dune novels. I have read all of the ones written by Frank Herbert and several of the ones written by his Son Brian in collaboration with Kevin J Anderson. I am not a big fan of the Lynch/"Smithee" movie, and while I enjoyed the Sci MiniSeries, it also had many issues.

When this version was announced, I was quite optimistic. I liked some of Villeneuve's work. The Cast was shaping up.

When I read of some of the changes for the sake of PC, I was disappointed. I can never understand the desire to change things around, and then the Writer/Director can't understand why the Remake isn't received well or as successful as they thought it would be.

Watched it last night at home on HMOMax. Good thing. I stopped the showing several times making comments about how they had screwed it up. Between leaving out key dialog and/or Scenes, changing characters around, spoiling suspense, and a couple of other things (not very impressed by the Score and I didn't like the choice of a couple of the Actors/Actresses), I was fairly disappointed.

The Visuals were pretty impressive. The Escape into the Desert was well done (but again spoiled by a couple of key changes), and I liked most of the performances.

Didn't like the "Floating" Baron (again). Hated Liet-Kynes (Sex change and ruined the suspense of who "Liet" was - was referred to as Kynes only to the knowledge of the Atreides).

The list goes on. Dune is one of my 2 Favorite Sci Fi Novel series of all time and the messages that Frank Herbert was writing of are even more relevant today, but the changes weakened it.

It was pretty good. Hopeful that part 2 is made/finished and released. I will see it if it does come out.

[Tyson]

I'm a fairly big fan of the Dune novels. I have read all of the ones written by Frank Herbert and several of the ones written by his Son Brian in collaboration with Kevin J Anderson. I am not a big fan of the Lynch/"Smithee" movie, and while I enjoyed the Sci MiniSeries, it also had many issues.

When this version was announced, I was quite optimistic. I liked some of Villeneuve's work. The Cast was shaping up.

When I read of some of the changes for the sake of PC, I was disappointed. I can never understand the desire to change things around, and then the Writer/Director can't understand why the Remake isn't received well or as successful as they thought it would be.

Watched it last night at home on HMOMax. Good thing. I stopped the showing several times making comments about how they had screwed it up. Between leaving out key dialog and/or Scenes, changing characters around, spoiling suspense, and a couple of other things (not very impressed by the Score and I didn't like the choice of a couple of the Actors/Actresses), I was fairly disappointed.

The Visuals were pretty impressive. The Escape into the Desert was well done (but again spoiled by a couple of key changes), and I liked most of the performances.

Didn't like the "Floating" Baron (again). Hated Liet-Kynes (Sex change and ruined the suspense of who "Liet" was - was referred to as Kynes only to the knowledge of the Atreides).

The list goes on. Dune is one of my 2 Favorite Sci Fi Novel series of all time and the messages that Frank Herbert was writing of are even more relevant today, but the changes weakened it.

It was pretty good. Hopeful that part 2 is made/finished and released. I will see it if it does come out.

That's crazy, Liet-Kynes was one of my favorites from the entire movie.  And I thought the score from Hans Zimmer was exceptional his very best since Inception.  I hated the floating baron in the Lynch movie but I thought it was well done here. 

One other thing I especially liked was that the movie made it VERY clear that this whole story is a metaphor for the West's relationship with the Middle East, and spice as a stand in for oil.  And by West, I mean not just the US and Europe, but Russia too. 

[WGH]

Watched it last night at home on HMOMax. Good thing. I stopped the showing several times making comments about how they had screwed it up. Between leaving out key dialog and/or Scenes, changing characters around, spoiling suspense, and a couple of other things (not very impressed by the Score and I didn't like the choice of a couple of the Actors/Actresses), I was fairly disappointed.

Well, anyone going into this film expecting it to be note-for-note identical to the novel will certainly be disappointed. Books and films are two completely different forms of art. Books are in your imagination, what you saw in your mind is different that what I saw. The film got the essence of Dune right. The religious subtext will have to wait until Scorsese remakes Dune without any action sequences. Even the excellent Battlestar Galactica series lost a lot of viewers when religion became a major plot point in later seasons even though it was always present. 

And watching it on HBO Max completely destroys Hans Zimmer's score and soundtrack unless you have a Dolby Atmos setup. I would be disappointed and underwhelmed too without the immersive aspect (and a sub). The soundtrack in Dune is just as important as the visuals, one without the other makes it just another confusing blah action film.

[poseidonsvoice]

WGH,

Once again, thanks for the review. We’ll be watching it as a matinee today in the theaters. Looking forward  to it.

As to your distinctions of books vs movies, I completely agree. You can make similar analogies to 2ch audio & Live music. They really are 2 different experiences that should be appreciated in their own contexts. There are some aspects of Live music you would like in your 2ch system but certainly not all. In Live music there is no real imaging specificity or a soundstage/soundscape, etc…but there is that feeling of being “there.”

Best,
Anand.

[SoCalWJS]

And watching it on HBO Max completely destroys Hans Zimmer's score and soundtrack unless you have a Dolby Atmos setup. I would be disappointed and underwhelmed too without the immersive aspect (and a sub). The soundtrack in Dune is just as important as the visuals, one without the other makes it just another confusing blah action film.

Unfortunately, here on the California Central Coast (SLO area), we do not have a Movie Theater that is very high quality IMO. Maybe some "OK" ones, but every one I've been to has a mediocre LOUD sound/music system and a so-so Picture.

I will take my setup over any of them. Denon 4500 w/Dolby Atmos, GR Research Super 7's, Thiel Powerpoint surounds, JL Audio f113 & Turbo MFW-15 Subs, LG OLED 77" CX. Completely dark viewing room.

No way to really tell how compressed the HBO Max feed was. Some of the dark scenes looked compromised.

[jriggy]

Speaking to cinematography and how the way something is shot can affect what we think or how we end up feeling about a scene or whole movie… Its shooting style was very reserved and channeled into a somewhat basic, even and representational nature; no up angled shots, no down angled shots,  not a lot of 3/4 view, favoring straight ahead, not a lot of panning in or out etc, etc.. This crates a lack of dynamics visually speaking.
Because of this, I feel they missed opportunities to help build tension and help the drama and emotion. It was so channeled into this style that it became visually predictable to me.

I did really enjoy it though! Even though I thought it lacked some emotion and a lil impact due to the lack of this type of visual dynamics, I was still saying ‘wow’ through out.  I just feel the presentation chosen ultimately hurt the film to a small degree. But still, really smooth and most of it just flew by.


 

[routlaw]

We watched this last night on HBO Max as well. Have not read the books so came into it with no preconceived notions, so just took the film for what it was. Visuals were excellent, sound track was great too, the story line and plot were a bit more difficult to follow and understand however. This probably due to the fact I didn't have any background information. Like most of these types of movies I felt it was long on form and a bit shorter on content, yet fun and entertaining. The biggest complaint however was the center channel dialog which both my wife and I at times had a very difficult time with what the actors were saying. Normally I run my center channel around 1.5-2 db louder than the fronts and this usually suffices to provide a very clear dialog. Not so with this film. Even bumping the center up a couple more notches did not always provide enough pronounced dialog.

Might watch it again, but not without changes levels to be more appropriate.