Dune - What am I missing?

Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
in Movies & TV

So the hype train for the second Dune film is in full effect and many are saying it's the greatest achievement in science fiction storytelling ever. When I was 19 or so I read the first novel, and it didn't connect with me. Sometimes with age I'll go back to something, see if it changes for me. I hate the David Lynch adaptation and I'm a massive David Lynch fan, it's his only bad film. Here is the thing, Denis Villeneuve is a masterful filmmaker. I have loved everything I've seen of his. I decided on a recommendation that I watch the first of his Dune adaptation, so I did last night and.... it's a beautifully made film, I imagine it would have been better in the theater, but still a total bore where I just don't care if the imperial colonizers who are supposed to be the hero's just all get eaten but the giant sand worms. I feel zero connection, I don't feel sorry for the privileged kid, I don't like the mother, I find the fat floating guy to be a really cliche and boring villain... I just don't get Dune and it makes me feel as if I have to be missing something, like how can so many people be wrong? Someone here surely idolizes Frank Herbert. Tell me, what am I missing here?

Comments

  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian

    Its not for you.? I have never been able to read Dune because it was too dry for me but I do really enjoy those types of universes, BattleTech and 40k, even if I don't actively participate in them.

    For me I enjoyed the movie over all because it felt like they totally nailed the universe. A feudal galaxy that can move slowly and grind the population of an entire planet up for power and control because people are just another resource to exploit but on a planetary scale. The story of Dune is one where multiple factions that have been planning for something over 1,000s of years are getting dunked on hard. I don't feel like I am gonna sell you on it but its the kind of high level aspects that really interest me regarding the long plot. Like 40k where a planet decides to not pay tribute and they think their freedom is true but in reality the paper work hasn't gotten high enough up in reports to warrant a space marine squad or inquisitor to show up and murder the entire ruling class and replace them. The grander scale of a galactic empires that have funky quirks in how they would operate due to scale and time is my interest.

    I hate Blade Runner, original movie, but the book really pulled me in.

    Cliff_Forster
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian

    I appreciate that insight. It's not so much that I'm looking for a sell on it, but I'm legitimately scratching my own head going "what am I not seeing here" - A friend of mine today said his thought was that Frank Herbert was ahead of the curve on the "subversion of expectations" trend. You have a protagonist that isn't particularly good or bad, he just is there to give you someone to see the universe though, and I thought that was interesting. I've had things in the past where I didn't initially enjoy them, then I went back years later and saw something new. I remember paying to see Pulp Fiction and thinking, "I don't get what the big deal is" and years later I watch it and go, okay, I get it now... The Matrix was like that for me, first time I saw it, just didn't see what the big deal was, a decade passes re watch it and go, oh yeah, this is pretty fantastic. I get it now... Dune, I really felt like I'd have that AhHa moment and see what so many people obviously do, but it's just not happening for me and I sort of feel like I'm missing out here?

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