By Nina Heyn
Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has always made interesting films. After his intriguing sci-fi tale Arrival, he was brave and talented enough to make Blade Runner 2049, which is a sequel to the iconic Ridley Scott’s dark vision of an AI-populated future. If you have not seen Dune: Part One directed by Villeneuve in 2021, it might be a good idea to check it out before seeing the second part that has just hit the theaters. Already with that first installment, Villeneuve managed to bring Frank Herbert’s vision to our modern times, outdistancing the flawed adaptation from 1984. Dune: Part Two has become an instant box office success, garnering over $370M in the first fortnight of its worldwide release.
I liked the old version of Dune. Having read the book, my only complaint was they tried to squeeze the book into one movie and had to chop too much, if that is what was meant by flawed. That being said, the old movie had marvelous costuming and scenes, was inventive and, as I recall, was fairly true to the book. It was an ambitious undertaking for the time and technology and deserves respect.
Been viewing this numerous times to catch the many layers, 1 such being the use of eclipses in critical scenes in part 1 and 2 & what’s all this hubbub of next month’s eclipse?
Next to dolby the 70mm imax viewings are a must as alot of the filming is lost in regular screens.
‘Great seeing these films bring viewers back to reading even if its the audio version, the books are rich in practical approaches at tackling life as noted by the many Herbert quotes in fan group pages.
Hopefully HBOMax’s Dune: Prophecy in the fall brings more flavor to what fans are looking for.