I put off watching this because of warning from friends who love the book as much as I do.
To start, the orthnihoptners are awesome. The sand worms not so much. 3 appearances of the sand worms, 2 reminded me of return of the Jedi “where you will be digested for a 1000 years”.
Costuming must of had a low budget, or the designer didn’t bother reading the book. Lady Jessica is dressed like an extra from little house on the prairie. The 3 armies seen (Atraides, Harkonnen, and imperial) all seem to shop at the same store. Same armor, with different colors and helmets.
They went for a moody , brooding feeling to the movie. We are half way through the movie (so they say) but only about 20% of the way through the book. Gonna race to the end? They leave out what is causing Paul’s dreams which is significant and lady Jessica and her former teacher discuss this.
So many important facets of the book are left out - zensunni religion spread as part of the breading program - the feud between house atreides and harkonnen. Zero introduction and explanation of the mentats or the navigators or where all the tech is. Might of helped if the screenwriter had read the book instead of watching the 1985 version.
Acting is all trying to be brooding (Dark knight styling). Jessica always seems scared. The only saving grace so far has been Zendaya who can actually produce the correct facial expression for the scene.
Not as horrible as the 1985 version (I’m still trying to forget that one).
While the SyFy channel version had flaws, so far it’s still light years ahead of this one.
Of course I will watch part 2 with low expectations, hoping to be surprised. Maybe they will decide to stretch it to 3 movies. Please don’t
