Dune: Part One (2021)

[kate_nepveu]

Despite the advertising, the title card very specifically says "Part One." So, there's the first thing to know—well, and that Part Two has not been green-lit yet.

Chad, SteelyKid, and I watched this on HBO Max last night. Chad is the only one who's read the book; he and SteelyKid both enjoyed it, while my main reaction was, "Is this movie actually incredibly slow, or is my fundamental impatience with the story it's telling getting in my way?" I mean, when Jason Momoa (playing the improbably-named Duncan Idaho, and having fun in a way that no one else appeared to be) is saying how he lived with the Fremen and how much he admired them, I leaned toward Chad and said, "They're very Noble Savages…" And though the movie apparently tweaks things to be more sympathetic to the Fremen and what they've suffered under Imperial rule, it's still at base a story about the sensitive white boy who's prophesied to save the natives [*]. So, you know. (The fact that SteelyKid liked it does suggest that the pace was partly me, honestly, as patience is not a distinguishing characteristic of SteelyKid's approach to media.)

[*] Who are heavily coded as Arab and Islamic, which is a complicated thing that's been thoroughly hashed out with regard to the novel. Paul's reactions to his prophetic visions are kind of interesting to me, not having read the novel, but again, this is Part One.

Visually, it's very big and expansive and horrifically monochrome, I went and rewatched an episode of the Heaven Official's Blessing donghua just to get some color in my eyes. Possibly there's a worldbuilding statement being made there, but we don't see any Fremen interiors for contrast, so it's hard to say.

Additional content notes: blatant fatphobia WRT a villain; non-gory torture; occasional mind control; death, including deliberately self-sacrificial.

In conclusion:

John Rogers jonrog1
11:00 PM · Oct 23, 2021
My God we are in the very depths of the This Is Serious Sci Fi So It’s Slow And Portentous part the cycle, aren’t we.

Kate Nepveu katenepveu
11:04 PM · Oct 23, 2021
... did you also watch DUNE tonight?

(His response: "There are a few choices for that tweet.")

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Comments

[mkozlows]

The intro voiceover went on a bit about how the Harkonnens were harsh colonial masters even by the standard of an imperial colonizing system, and when the Atreideses arrived, there was talk about how the Fremen were lined up for them because they were used to the punitive Harkonnen style.

[kate_nepveu]

oh yes, true, I was thinking about the Harkonnens specifically with respect to Atriedes in response to that comment!