Clayton Wikoff

The soundtrack and visuals were as perfect as I could have hoped for. The only downside in this area was perhaps overuse - too many dramatic pauses for scenery and loud music. The storyline, however, was severely lacking. Since I have read the book, I could fill in the (many) holes, otherwise I would not know what is truly going on. Initially I was excited when I learned that only half the book would be covered in the movie. More time for character development, capturing the depth of the political chess game being played between the Atreides and Harkonens, and building the power and importance of Jessica's Bene-Gesserit training and Paul as the Muad'Dib. ....Unfortunately this is not the case. Instead, someone who has not read the book sees Paul have some sort of "voice" power and goes to a sand planet for some reason, and there's some fat guy that seems bad, but they are ambushed by the Emperor? Then Paul kills a Fremen who are apparently powerful, but they were killed by just a boy. Also, the cast that a non-Dune fan came to see all died in the first half of the movie. The time that could have been spent building the foundation of these events was instead spent with prolonged visions from Paul, spoiling every upcoming surprise. I personally was disappointed. The great opportunity for a patiently and deliberately developed storyline was squandered here. I hope Part 2 does not make the same mistakes.