Dune

I was really eager to watch this movie and at the same time a wee bit concerned because I knew that I would be hugely disappointed if it turned out to be another movie massacring a classic source material. I have to admit that it was a very long time since I read the Dune books but I have to say that the movie was mostly true to the books, as I remember them, and also reasonably free of agenda driven rubbish apart from the odd replacement of some characters with “gender correct” ones for no real good reason. There is really not much point in me saying much about the story. It should be well known for any science fiction fan and it is a great story and really good material for a big screen movie despite some “critics” at Rotten Tomatoes moaning about it and calling it unwieldly etc. Probably too big a book with too many words for the small, agenda driven, brains of Rotten Tomatoes “critics”. No surprise there. The movie as a whole is wonderful to watch, the scenery is oftentimes very beautiful and the décor, the buildings, the machinery is very well done. I was surprised that the world of Caladan was portrayed as a rather austere Scottish looking landscape but after getting over the initial surprise it worked very well actually. I also like that the Harkonnen, especially the Baron, are not turned into some exaggerated comical figures but, although disgusting and despicable, they are actual humans. Overall the casting was quite good and everyone played their roles well. At the beginning I felt that Paul was a bit too wimpy, from what I remember of the book he was quite well trained and skilled already from the start, but he picked up as the movie went along. It is a science fiction, borderline fantasy, movie so there should be some special effects, right? This is a difficult movie to make special effects for since this universe is a weird mix between futuristic science fiction, fantasy elements and old-fashioned traditions. I have to say that they succeeded quite well though. The atmosphere felt just right, ships, spice harvesters, buildings looked cool and fitting the story. The way they implemented the personal shields was very nice. They didn’t go overboard on special effects and weird designs. The ornithopter was of course totally ridiculous from a scientific point of view but at least it looked pretty cool. If I should complain about something, although that is not the fault of the movie but of the source material, I have never understood how, in a universe which is obviously driven by hidden agendas, machinations and assassinations, the Atreides could just pick up everything, leave their home and put all their important eggs in one basket at Arrakis. One more small thing that I could complain about would of course be that we now have to wait two years, from what I have read, until we get to watch the next movie to get to the part were the really cool stuff happens. Bottom line, this was movie is definitely in there vying for the title “best movie that I have watched this year”.