Raw Pax

This is a review of The Movie as a book adaptation, not a reivew of the cinematography (Which is incredible) As an adaptation I think they missed out the most important elements of this story, for instance the dinner scene and the various scenes that show the politics and importance of water, the overal environmental message underlying the first book and the complex dialogue, psychologies and world building. Villeneuve tried to stay away from explaining the world or having narration but imo he went too far the other way and the end product is basically just another Hollywood sci fi product. The elements of dune that are unique to dune (such as the internal monologues, the genetic and psychological technologies and the political intrigue of the world) are all vitally important to the story. A more adventurous or experimental director would have easily adapted these to the big screen, as film is a very versatile medium for story telling. I just think Villeneuve either didn't understand the first book Dune or wasn't able to adapt it. That interview he did where he said that they decided not to include any internal monologues kind of surprised me, thats literally more than half the book, you really cant ignore half a book while trying to adapt it. Dune is all about the inner world and the mind but you wouldn't know it from the movie, any indication that the story is about psychology is gone, its all surface level, how difficult would it have been to have translated the internal monologue sections to film. Answer: not that difficult. Its such a copout in my opinon, science fiction is about much more than big epic set pieces and cool looking technology, its about introspection and thinking about things differently. Why they would miss out what in my opinion is the most important scene (the dinner scene where paul pours out the glass of water) and all the politicial intrigue that is going on around it baffles me, it's high drama, it's literally perfect for cinema. Such a wasted opportunity to get the audience on board and invested in this universe. Instead we just got more explosions (with no explanation for how the shields work either). Overall i think its a good movie but a very poor adaptation of Dune. What makes dune interesting is the science fiction, you can't just show that you have to explain it to the viewer in some way so that they understand the full implications. Villeneuves Blade Runner sequel (one of his best works) benifited from that kind of show-but-don't-tell worldbuilding but Dune is a much more in depth story with a much more intricate world, Aesthetics just aren't enough, and theres plenty of drama that could have been adapted that was not shown in the final product. The idea's are what made Dune interesting to begin with, without them it's meaningless. Villeneuves Dune failed to convey the story and world of Dune to the common viewer, and that in my opinion was it's biggest mistake. Dune resorts to wink wink nod nod fan service in it's most authentic moments.