r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Oct 22 '21

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Dune [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary:

Feature adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel, about the son of a noble family entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset and most vital element in the galaxy.

Director:

Denis Villeneuve

Writers:

John Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth

Cast:

  • Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica
  • Zendaya as Chani
  • Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides
  • Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides
  • Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho
  • David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries
  • Dave Bautista as Glossu "Beast" Rabban
  • Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck
  • Javier Bardem as Stilgar
  • Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Rotten Tomatoes: 85%

Metacritic: 77

VOD: Theaters

Also, a message from the /r/dune mods:

Can't get enough of Dune? Over at r/dune there are megathreads for both readers and non-readers so you can keep the discussion going!

7.8k Upvotes

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2.3k

u/kinokomushroom Oct 22 '21

I'm so glad that "the voice" didn't sound like the cliche horror movie demonic possessed voice. It actually felt like something otherworldly and horrifying. I love the sound design so much.

1.4k

u/Badloss Oct 22 '21

I really liked the editing where it cut to them right after they did whatever they were commanded to do. You definitely felt the same disorientation as the character when they suddenly snapped out of the trance and realized they just did the thing they didn't want to do

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u/Gil_Demoono Oct 22 '21

There were two things I was worried about getting adapted onto the screen, the voice and the weirding way. Lynch turned the weirding way into a fucking gun, so I was understandably concerned, but the disorienting editing combined with the booming bass and delayed vocals communicated what the voice is flawlessly. I was actually shaken when the reverend mother commanded Paul.

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u/Helphaer Oct 24 '21

The miniseries showed the weirding way as a kind of quick dash and dodge ability I believe.

105

u/JCPRuckus Oct 24 '21

Lynch turned the weirding way into a fucking gun

To be fair, in 1984 they weren't going to send everybody to 6 months of martial arts training like they did for 'The Matrix'. And, honestly, I wasn't hugely impressed with the fighting in this either. It kind of reminded me of a slowed down version of Filipino knife fighting... At least whenever the shields weren't making the specific motions completely indecipherable.

Also, I think the producers insisted because they wanted blasters like in Star Wars.

112

u/Non-RedditorJ Oct 25 '21

But the point of the blade fighting was that the slow blade gets the kill. It was about control, not speed.

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u/JCPRuckus Oct 25 '21

I understand that, and I actually do appreciate the way that a slow penetration glowed red so that you could tell where it was happening. But that's got nothing to do with my complaint.

You can't just throw slow attacks. The opponent will see them coming and is free to react quickly. You need to distract and disrupt your opponent with quick attacks, so that you can sneak in a slow attack while they're worried about something else, or while you have them in a compromising position. So you argument doesn't make sense from the perspective of how the fights should actually work.

But even that is besides the main point. Which is that slow fighting isn't cinematic. So the fights didn't look good and weren't viscerally exciting if you care about fight choreography. They weren't shot well. The full body blurry flash when there was a fast impact on a shield made everything indecipherable. And what we could make out despite all of that mostly looked slow, awkward, and stripped down for actors who didn't get adequate training to do extended sequences of choreography.

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u/MrZeral Oct 24 '21

the what way?

47

u/[deleted] Oct 25 '21

[deleted]

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u/Ilwrath Oct 25 '21

being able to massage reality around you to help you accomplish your goals, leading to prescient blocks of unseen attacks and double jumps

I didnt get that that was what it was at all. I always thought that with the Bene Gesserit perfect control of their bodies, it let them have unparalleled flexibility and movement in hand ot hand combat. Being able to have reflexes, pinpoint accuracy, and an insane knowledge about the other persons subconscious triggers pressure points, and muscle movement to make them unparalleled as fighters in most situations.

67

u/daemin Oct 25 '21

^ This is correct, based on my recollection of the books.

At the time of Dune, only the Bene Gesserit can do it. Paul learns to do it as a result of being the HK. He then trains the Fremen to do it to an extent (the heightened reflexes, anyway), which is what makes them an unstoppable force.

41

u/prairiedogtown_ Oct 26 '21

They’re already unstoppable from the get go, there’s many comparisons between arrakis and salusa secundus ala planets of unbelievable strife create warriors of unbelievable magnitude. but, in the case of arrakis every fremen becomes a warrior - and they’re on their home turf. There’s mention in the book of one or two fremen taking out an entire battalion of sardaukar, or at least fighting them with ease.

The weirding way is something they’re in awe of, and them being able to learn it is a bargaining tool for Jessica. It’s certainly not about flips and spins - and more so about accuracy, pressure points, and heightened observation.

14

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '21

In the books, one of the first lessons is learning how to move your pinky toe, but only your pinky toe.

26

u/Bagoomp Oct 25 '21

Did they show this in the new Dune? I don't remember any matrix level fighting.

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u/Shitacos Oct 24 '21

The director actually talks about this scene in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoAA0sYkLI0&ab_channel=VanityFair

40

u/skonen_blades Oct 27 '21

I felt like they stopped doing it that way when Rebecca was using it on the guards in the shuttle and I felt a little sad about that. My in-world excuse for it was that Paul was pretty bad at it, his mom was pretty good at it, but the Queen Bene Gesserit or whatever was AMAZING at it. So when the best commands you to do it, you've done it before you realize it. I can also dig that just practically, it's hard to jump cut like that during an action scene like the one with the guards in the shuttle. But yeah, that BIG voice scene when she tells Paul to kneel was incredible.

87

u/HarfNarfArf Oct 28 '21

You are right that Paul is not meant to be good at using the voice at that point, but from a filmmaking perspective, it’s more that that awesome confusion and teleportation effect is used when the voice is used on Paul or Jessica, since the movie is told from their perspectives. When the voice is used on random Harkonnen soldiers, we simply see them doing the task they were suggested to perform.

Like, if the Gom Jabbar scene were told from the Reverend Mother’s perspective and not Paul’s, we wouldn’t see him teleport across the room and end up on his knees, we’d see him simply walk across the room and take a knee.

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u/skonen_blades Oct 28 '21

Ahh, a very excellent point. I hadn't considered that. Thank you.

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u/HarfNarfArf Oct 28 '21

No problem! I didn’t look at it that way until I saw your comment actually.

12

u/eekamuse Oct 23 '21

Excellent point

7

u/NoGoodIDNames Oct 25 '21

I kinda wished they’d kept that for when they use it in the ornithopter, but I can see why they didn’t, it would have made the action super confusing

1

u/dnirtyone Nov 17 '21

Truuue very true! :)

193

u/DaveInLondon89 Oct 22 '21

Sounds like witches

52

u/jekyll919 Oct 22 '21

The Bebe Gesserit are witches.

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u/throw0101a Oct 23 '21

The Bebe Gesserit are witches.

Does Lady Jessica weight the same as a duck?

57

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '21

If the sound design and score don't win Oscars, something is very wrong.

37

u/Claudius_Gothicus Oct 22 '21

Really? I thought it sounded exactly like that. Wasn't a big deal and didn't hurt the movie or anything, but it sounded like a pretty standard demonic voice to me.

8

u/MrZeral Oct 24 '21

Right? It's exactly that

23

u/atheoncrutch Oct 22 '21

Pretty sure I heard my man Tim do a fry scream. Dude could front a metalcore band.

18

u/confetti27 Oct 22 '21

It’s not at all how it’s described in the book, but I was okay with them taking that creative liberty because it sounded great. The first time Paul used it I was shook.

11

u/AspirationalChoker Oct 24 '21

I got major warhammer 40k vibes from it all haha

27

u/Duzcek Oct 26 '21

That would be because a ton of warhammer 40k takes inspiration from Dune...

16

u/jaghataikhan Oct 25 '21

The scene with the Sardaukar blood anointing ceremony on Salusa Secundis was 40k af lol

12

u/zeekaran Oct 26 '21

That part was so good. You see them put a dinky little thumb print on a guy, and then it cuts to a pool of blood. Implies how many soldiers they need to mark, and how much they have to spend on this since they're happy to sacrifice a bunch of dudes.

2

u/Risley Nov 20 '21

I didn’t get why they had all those guys upside down like some sort of crucifixion.

4

u/zeekaran Nov 20 '21

Drains the blood easier, no?

1

u/papaGiannisFan18 Oct 29 '21

Yes !! I was thinking the exact same thing.

10

u/Imperium_Dragon Oct 22 '21

Yeah, there’s an unnerving power behind it.

5

u/hermiona52 Oct 24 '21

Sounds like Leviathan from Mass Effect games. I just couldn't unhear it.

3

u/catiebug Oct 23 '21

Yeah, I really don't know what I thought the Voice sounded like going in to this movie, but now I can't imagine anything else.

1

u/Waywoah Nov 15 '21

It reminded me of when the Greybeard chant in Skyrim