This movie is a visual masterpiece that will be studied for decades. The colors are vivid, the lighting is gorgeous and the cgi is mostly indistinguishable from reality.
That said, despite being almost 3 hours long, the story felt hugely condensed. It felt like each scene gives you the bare minimum to understand what's happening, but elaborates on nothing. It felt like it wants you to immerse yourself in a unique and complex world, but gives every setting only a few minutes of time before hopping straight to the next. For example, the training of Paul. We never see him learn how to ride the sandworm, so when he succeeds, it doesn't feel as triumphant as it would have otherwise. The Harkonnens are also much less intimidating than they were before. Most of their screentime is comprised of them trying and failing to farm spice on Arrakis, until they are defeated by Paul and the Fremen at the end without much difficulty. They should have put up more of a fight. Lastly, I know from sources that an ecological message the was very important in the book was emmited completely from the film. The Fremen speak of bringing green back to Arrakis, but that's all we ever see them do.
Part of it may be a limitation of the format. If one must adapt a book full of complex lore, than either a trilogy or even a serialization may be the better option as you get more time to explain everything. I know that a third film is coming but it's not based on the same book anymore, and while I haven't read any of the books, I don't believe I should. I believe that film should stand on its own two feet, and this one does. Its legs are long and slender, with just the bare minimum of muscle required to stand, but it stands nonethelss :)
That said, despite being almost 3 hours long, the story felt hugely condensed. It felt like each scene gives you the bare minimum to understand what's happening, but elaborates on nothing. It felt like it wants you to immerse yourself in a unique and complex world, but gives every setting only a few minutes of time before hopping straight to the next. For example, the training of Paul. We never see him learn how to ride the sandworm, so when he succeeds, it doesn't feel as triumphant as it would have otherwise. The Harkonnens are also much less intimidating than they were before. Most of their screentime is comprised of them trying and failing to farm spice on Arrakis, until they are defeated by Paul and the Fremen at the end without much difficulty. They should have put up more of a fight. Lastly, I know from sources that an ecological message the was very important in the book was emmited completely from the film. The Fremen speak of bringing green back to Arrakis, but that's all we ever see them do.
Part of it may be a limitation of the format. If one must adapt a book full of complex lore, than either a trilogy or even a serialization may be the better option as you get more time to explain everything. I know that a third film is coming but it's not based on the same book anymore, and while I haven't read any of the books, I don't believe I should. I believe that film should stand on its own two feet, and this one does. Its legs are long and slender, with just the bare minimum of muscle required to stand, but it stands nonethelss :)