movies

Just got back. It has been close to two decades since I read the books, but I will say that this is probably among the better adaptations I could imagine actually getting made. Focusing on Paul's resistance to his "destiny" but his leaning into it once it was obvious no better path was presenting itself was well done., as was the theme of turning faith to selfish ends, and how it all ends up muddled in a stew of motives deserving varying degrees of sympathy.

The plot was obviously compressed, and while I feel that Chani's feelings of betrayal were kind of amped up to the point where it was a weakness, I can see it as an early attempt to show us the consequences of Paul accepting the KH role. A bit clumsy, but thematically logical given what DV focused on. At the very least, the romance itself felt earned. Certain other aspects felt a bit rushed, as was inevitable maybe, but I did think it was a pretty decent curation and adaptation of the source material, and it's a miracle the pacing and plot coherence were as good as they are. Sound and visuals were amazing and definitely capital-T "There" but without providing an excuse for bad storytelling.

On a couple of lighter notes: First, I think DV with these movies has mastered the art of finding the precise minimum, neither more nor (and this is critical) less, of humor and humanity to keep a movie from feeling like a joyless slog. Second, not to body shame a movie star, but everything that made Austin Butler feel "off" to me as a casting choice in Elvis and Masters of the Air worked perfectly as Feyd Rautha. He still sort of looks like a carnival caricature drawing of 1980s Val Kilmer, but those features complemented the Harkonnen makeup in exactly the right way. As a piece of production design, Austin Butler is unimpeachable, LOL.