I had no problems watching the whole movie despite it's long duration. Everything looks and sounds amazing, and it's easy to believe I'm really there. However, I'm not sure how much I care. Dune 1 had an emotional presence, it felt like a fairy tale. The hero entered the desert and discovered his legacy. It was powerful in such a way that I wrote my own life and legacy into the film and found it about myself. I didn't feel this with Dune 2.
Ithink Dune 2 should have been more emotional and psychological, for example I think the Water of life ceremonies should have been more explicit and taken us into Paul and Jessica's minds to show us what they saw in their visions. Seeing as the Water of life completely changed Paul and transformed him into almost a super human, we should have seen more of how the psychoactive water really worked.
Also, when Paul is instructed to experience and getting to know the desert by himself, suddenly Chani is there and the next thing we know they are back in camp. I thought he would have to spend 3 weeks or something in the desert. It was more like 3 hours. The atomic bomb part also seems more like filler material than something essential for the story.
In my opinion Chani and Paul look like adolescents, and I don't really feel anything or particularly care about their relationship and bonding. I don't buy into how Chani effortlessly kills scores of nasty, top trained enemy soldiers. I also found it disrespectful and out of place when Chani storms into the cave where Paul lies after drinking the Water of life. She yells at everyone and doesn't seem to understand at all why Paul drank it, yet for the viewer it's totally obvious, and she should have known that, too! In stead she acts like a fool.
This is why I don't really care much when Paul asks for the emperor's daughter's hand at the end.
It might have been a mistake to introduce a third villain. The baron and his nephew from Dune 1, Glossu Raban, should have been developed more to show their nastiness and evil. Instead there is another, more psychotic nephew as the Dune 2 main villain. I didn't like how Glossu Raban basically was portrayed as raging lunatic in some scenes, and a coward running away from battle in others.
For me, the movie got better as Paul got his act together. I liked the scene where Paul convinced the masses of fundamentalists in the south by reading their minds. By the time the movie was over, I already looked forward to Dune 3.
All in all not a bad movie, but a perfect 10? No.
Dune 1 I could have watched over again, but I don't think this one. I suspect it more lies the ground for Dune 3, so let's hope it delivers.
Ithink Dune 2 should have been more emotional and psychological, for example I think the Water of life ceremonies should have been more explicit and taken us into Paul and Jessica's minds to show us what they saw in their visions. Seeing as the Water of life completely changed Paul and transformed him into almost a super human, we should have seen more of how the psychoactive water really worked.
Also, when Paul is instructed to experience and getting to know the desert by himself, suddenly Chani is there and the next thing we know they are back in camp. I thought he would have to spend 3 weeks or something in the desert. It was more like 3 hours. The atomic bomb part also seems more like filler material than something essential for the story.
In my opinion Chani and Paul look like adolescents, and I don't really feel anything or particularly care about their relationship and bonding. I don't buy into how Chani effortlessly kills scores of nasty, top trained enemy soldiers. I also found it disrespectful and out of place when Chani storms into the cave where Paul lies after drinking the Water of life. She yells at everyone and doesn't seem to understand at all why Paul drank it, yet for the viewer it's totally obvious, and she should have known that, too! In stead she acts like a fool.
This is why I don't really care much when Paul asks for the emperor's daughter's hand at the end.
It might have been a mistake to introduce a third villain. The baron and his nephew from Dune 1, Glossu Raban, should have been developed more to show their nastiness and evil. Instead there is another, more psychotic nephew as the Dune 2 main villain. I didn't like how Glossu Raban basically was portrayed as raging lunatic in some scenes, and a coward running away from battle in others.
For me, the movie got better as Paul got his act together. I liked the scene where Paul convinced the masses of fundamentalists in the south by reading their minds. By the time the movie was over, I already looked forward to Dune 3.
All in all not a bad movie, but a perfect 10? No.
Dune 1 I could have watched over again, but I don't think this one. I suspect it more lies the ground for Dune 3, so let's hope it delivers.