gregu

I am a great fan of Frank Herbert's Dune and everything he wrote about it. I have read the main novel perhaps a dozen times back to back and some fragments many more times. So please bear this in mind that I will be confronting what I saw in "Dune: Part One" with what I imagined over the years Dune and its characters and would be like.

Also I do not want to compare this film to the earlier adaptation, which I found detached way too much from the novel - no more words on it :)

*The Plot* Book lovers will find most of the important aspects of the book. Unfortunately it is difficult to portray the internal monologue of the characters, which is crucial for understanding of what happens. The movie manages this by adding a dialogue or two in between and everything clicks quite nicely.

I was especially surprised at the accuracy of the second part of the movie, when Paul and Jessica are out in the desert. The Shai-Hulud crossing was exactly as I imagined it.

There are some small inconsistencies with the book (e.g. The fight with Jamis was not taking place in the open, but in a cave used as a temporary camp). One notable scene missing is the big reception dinner organized by the Atreidis. In the book it was setting the political scene somewhat.

*The Scenery* Wow! Just wow! The locations, the sets, the CGI - everything is fantastic! Dune is very industrial, dry, sandy. Giedi Prime is as ugly, as it can get. Salusa Secundus is a hell-hole (but with rain).

The machinery, especially the ornithopters, are very well designed and have a utilitarian look about them. Nothing is flashy just for the purpose of being flashy.

*The Actors.* I would not have cast Timothee Chalamet as Paul. It's not that he is doing anything wrong - I just envisioned Paul differently. Jessica is spot-on, most of the Atreidis staff also. The Fremen, while we see very little of them in Part One, seem to be cast perfectly.

Actors' play is at worst adequate, but mostly good. Several scenes are difficult due to their psychological content and yet the actors deliver.

*The Music* Hans Zimmer. This says it all :)

*Overall* A great movie for a book lover and I think it will be also enjoyable by someone completely unfamiliar with the Dune universe. Although a friend who knows the book will definitely help to explain a thing or two.

Can't wait for Part Two!

One of the worst action movies I've seen in my life...

The plot: it is ridiculous to the extreme. The number of plot points created just to make a flashy explosion or an "interesting" fight is so big, it seems forced. The romance story is forced, trivial and badly acted. It just does not make sense as a whole.

The acting: sometimes average, but mostly mediocre. In a couple of cases just outright wooden and bad (many mention Ruby Rose - I agree). The SAS operators behaving completely amateurishly in a fight is a dead giveaway.

The scenery: a couple of nice aerial views (with one CGI'd so badly, the Eurotunnel seems to turn 90 degrees downwards just to get underwater). The rest is studio-made and a selection of creative filters were applied to make it look more "actionly".

If I wanted to watch a superhero movie and willingly abandon all logic, I'd watch some fantasy flick or a Batman movie. This movie aspires to be at least plausible, but is so far fetched, it does not make sense.

TL;DR - don't watch it. I did so you don't have to.

If you liked the book as much as I did, you will most probably feel disappointed by the movie. The script has flattened the story so much, it is barely understandable for those that did not read the book, and even if then only in the most important parts. The rest is just Sci-Fi showmanship or gibberish.

The book spends a lot of time on Ender's character development, his relationship within the family and the dynamics of his relations with multiple Battle School characters. The movie shows you only a very small part of it, and usually badly. The casting was not really fortunate: book's Ender was 6 when he joined Battle School, here he is a teenage boy from start; Bonzo Madrid was several years senior and much more developed physically, while in the movie he is a foot shorter... These are only examples. Nowhere you can see the immense work put by Orson Scott Card into describing the way Ender developed his Dragon Army, what kind of a leader he's been, why was he respected by his soldiers, etc. Col. Graff's character is flat, although very nicely played by Harrison Ford.

There is a limit to artistic liberty in interpretation of acclaimed works. This film is way beyond that limit. Watch it at your own risk. You may very well like it, but if you liked the book, this is not very probable.