I love the "Feyd-Rautha's best birthday ever" sequence: 1) Get to kill some Atreides in the arena (one without drugs, even) 2) Get governorship of Arrakis 3) Experience extreme pain 4) Bang Lady Fenring
True, but nowadays you can look up how to pronounce things online. I kinda judge ppl who do video essays but still dont look up words they dont know well.
This is my policy for people speaking different languages. Its always so annoying hearing people criticize someone's accent when speaking another language as if everyone should be able to speak every language with every accent flawlessly
@@mediumvillain I agree man, I really, reeeeeally dislike that RUclipsr shtick where they say names wrongly or say "I won't try to pronounce this cus I'll butcher the name", to try and seem quirky and funny, and I don't even hold it against legitimately people that present themselves as quirky and funny, but there are some more serious RUclipsrs that do this and doesn't seem to fit their video personalities. Tl;dr: just look it up how to pronounce it online lol
19:26 "... sand mountain." I feel like there's another word for "sand mountain." Dang it, it's right at the tip of my tongue. They should have named the book and movie after it so we wouldn't forget. Sorry, couldn't help myself.
There’s an interview with Bautista where he says that Denis pulled him aside and told him that he was a very good actor but he needed to stop holding back. I think the results of that are very evident in his performance.
@@BrahmaDBAarguably I think The Rock is casted to be the Rock and Bautista is casted to be a giant hulking behemoth with depth. He's got a very expressive face unlike The Rock who just looks like the Rock and overacts for comedic purposes. Comedy timing is one of the hardest things to do in acting, so I wouldn't shortsell it as a non-challenging role. However the range of emotion switching in Bautistas performance in this was impressive
There's another one where he said he told Denis that he didn't quite understand the character, and he said "he's a coward." And then everything clicked.
@@brooklynnewyork23 I like Bautista and I agree about the depth. He displays emotions so subtly you miss it sometimes but if you watch his eyes you can see it.
Really glad George mentioned why it stays above the sand :) In addiition, when your hook pulls back a section of the worm's skin it also *rolls* so the exposed area is as high up and AWAY from the sand - *that's how they get on top of the worm* in the 1st place too.
@@anathardayaldar they ride them to exhaustion. fremen measure long distances in terms of the number of worms they will have to ride to exhaustion to get there
I'm not sure if someone commented it already but Austin Butler who played Feyd-Rautha came up with the idea himself to speak like Stellan. I think there was an interview where the other main actors said they knew they had to step up their game once they heard Austin talk like that on set. He also trained 4 months with an ex-marine before the film. I love his dedication
I have read the book a long time ago and I don't remember that part. Can you tell us why ? Is it because of the waste ? Like you are so filthy we don't want your water maybe ? Thanks
@charlotteinfj4412 basically, what erikd2628 said. In a culture where water is so precious that spitting in front of someone, or shedding tears over a corpse are signs of respect, letting a body rot in the desert is a gesture of disrespect
@@charlotteinfj4412 The importance of that also comes from what was done to Dr Kynes. In the book, Kynes is released in the desert by the Harkonnen with no suit and dies in a spice blow. Letting the Baron rot in the sun is vengeance for Chani's parent (something the movie completely left out)
Austin Butler, who plays Feyd-Rautha, did copy the Baron’s voice. Austin felt that since his character was raised by him, they should sound similar. He’s a very talented voice actor if you guys end up watching the Elvis movie that he stars in. I think Simone will completely swoon over him in that one.
Let's not forget that he lived in the Elvis voice so long that he actually needed help with a voice coach to STOP doing it even a year after he finished the film.
@@dj_daem0n reminds me of something from South Park. There's an episide in season 3 where Cartman is doing a southern accent and Trey claims it ended up affecting Cartman's voice for the rest of the series.
To know the future is to be trapped by it. Paul sees all the paths where he doesn't do what needs to be done. A path where he doesn't attack the Emperor and just lives in the south Chani and his children die in almost every scenario. He sees a future where he loses to Feyd and dies and the Fremen still wage a holy war with him as a dead martyr with no one to guide their ambitions. His personality is so different because he is now a man without a choice.
Its so generous of existence/fate to carve out the one possible path for him where he literally *must* be emperor of the known universe,or else..😂... not unlike any other narcissistic manipulator in history
Oh I suppose it was his narcissism that caused him to be born into that family in just that time as the gender he was. Being raised as he was, being manipulated strategically for the benefit of others. To be ensnared is a lot different than having low consequence choices. You do have a point that some talented people make bad choices and Frank was trying to tell us power attracts the corruptible.
Poor Chani. BUT, at the end of the book, lady Jessica pulls Chani aside and tells her “history will remember us as wives” she explains Irulan who is technically Paul’s wife, will never feel tenderness or love from Paul, and she will live as “less than a concubine”. Meanwhile the ones who the great leaders, Leto I and Paul, loved in reality were the unofficial wives.
One thing I Love about the end fight is: Paul and Feyd were, if the plan wasn't altered by Jesica, supposed to marry. Paul was supposed to be a girl and their child was supposed to be the chosen one, so this is the intimacy of violence taken to a weird Freudian point, and I love it!
I nearly laughed out loud in the cinema. "I'm not the Messiah!" "He is the Messiah!" "OK so I am the Messiah!" "He is the Messiah!" To be fair, Life of Brian was made after the Dune. And it's funny because it's true.
I am so glad that you guys truly understand the depth of these movies and what they are trying to convey. Like Frank Herbert said: I wrote the Dune series because I had this idea that charismatic leaders ought to come with a warning label on their forehead: "May be dangerous to your health. “No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero” -Frank Herbert
In a sense, by walking away from a charismatic leader, Chani passes a test far greater than the Gom Jabar, one that makes her the only true human in the movie.
@@jerryward3311 And then he hammers it home in Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune. Authoritarian leaders -- especially authoritarian theocrats -- create societies that lie well beyond mere "shit-shows" and exist in "nightmare-fuel" territory.
@@jlworrad Religious fervor and fanatism are exculisively human states of mind, her walking away from that actually makes sets her outside of humanity. Also all this bullshit about blind faith in charismatic leaders only works if the said leader is not a human super-computer with the collective knowledge of all of his ancestors bred for 90 generations to obtain the power to predict future. Not being blindly fanatic about him would be like seeing Jesus Christ raise someone from the dead and be like "yeah not impressed, I am a big brained nihilist and do not follow charismatic leaders".
I really liked Chani’s change for a visual medium… Paul’s doubts in the book are so internal, that we needed a character to ‘externalize’ his inner conflict, and Chani is perfect for that. She also has more agency and complexity in the movie vs the books, and becomes a more interesting character for it… the same goes for the Fremen, the movie made them more nuanced and not just a monolith who all believe the exact same thing in the exact same way. Love this movie, and yes, A LOT of people are missing the point of Paul’s character arc, just like when the book first came out! 😂
@@markmaioli4I didn’t mind it, but I can certainly see why it didn’t work for some… the one that did make me chuckle a bit was Christopher Walken and his very distinct way of saying things! 😆
One thing I appreciated about the film was the portrayal of Feyd Rautha. In the books, the knife fight was heavily one-sided in the favor of Paul, resorting to Feyd trying to cheat with a poison barb. In the movie they made him a crazy fella that loves a good fight and could back it up, unlike Rabban who got curb stomped. The "you fought well, Atredies" was a nice touch.
I always like a villain who can respect their enemy's abilities. The whole "credit where credit is due" mentality really shows how different he is from Rabban
I like the evolution of Chani's character as a plot device to cover ground and provide a perspective that they don't have time for in the movies vs. the books. This was beautiful. Thanks for the great reaction.
@@Nava9380 It's more like oil when liquid, and likely not pure spice, just a mixture. Remember that he bathes in it after Oscar Isaacson hit him with the poison in part 1.
26:10 "of course the Harkonnen have gladiator battle things" Remember how Paul's Atreides-side grandfather died? Showing off in a bull-fight. The Atreides and Harkonnens are a contrast, but they're also just different sides of the same coin.
Paul Atredes: *sneezes* Stilgar: "That's exactly how the Lisan al-Gaib would sneeze!" Chani: "Ugh. I don't believe in sneezing, it's a plot to control us."
Stilgar being the constant hype man was comical throughout the film but it's also sadly true heroes and leaders can get to a point where they can do no wrong in the eyes of their followers. That level of fanaticism is hard to defeat.
Villeneuve has been working on the script for Messiah for many months now, as his initial pitch with Legendary was that he'd make it a trilogy with a Messiah adaptation, if the first one was a success. That said, even prior to production kicking off for Part Two, he had been saying that he would want to take a break from Dune between Part Two and before returning to Messiah, to do something different, for his mental sanity, and to come back to it with fresh ideas, as well as to let the actors age a bit and gain further experience on other movies. Now that even Part Two has already been a massive success, Villeneuve is adamantly doubling down on not wanting to rush into making Messiah just for the sake of it. He does not want to commit to it until he believes the script is perfect enough and that he will know he can make it a better movie than the first two. So my personal guess is that he'll do at least one movie in-between, which will most likely be Rendevouz with Rama (think Arrival but 10x cooler), or a film based on the recently published book "Nuclear War: A Scenario" (a book detailing step by step how the world would end over the course of 2 hours, in a guaranteed nuclear chain reaction, started by an out of the blue attack at the US by North Korea as the example), as he had been alluding to a "secret but urgent film project" in interviews a few weeks prior to the news of the movie rights for the book getting acquired by Legendary Studios for another Villeneuve production. And I honestly don't know which of the two I'd be more excited about. Regardless, I'm also hyped for the inevitable Messiah film of course (Villeneuve literally says it's his favorite Dune novel) and I have massive respect for him hesitating from just going into it to bank on the momentum the way everyone wants him to.
@@rhysbevan429 have you read "Story of your life"? Because I feel like Arrival elevated it and sort of made its own thing out of it. And I imagine an adaptation of Rama could go some very interesting places with a similar apparoach.
pounding the sand in different locations does have a purpose -- it's to find "drum sand" that emits a kind of hollow signal that territorial worms will react to.
Yeah, it's something that's referenced in the first film when Paul and Jessica are making their way across the desert. I'm surprised that George didn't make reference to it, since he's read the books.
And it's TOTAL nonsense. Like Neil deDrasse Tyson said, even the thumpers can't physically work that way in the sand because the sand mutes soundwaves and vibrations, so mere pounding into the sand would achieve NOTHING! Also the weird walking is totally unnecessary.
@@xylok_dnb2444 Everyone knows the best fantasy sci-fi stories are the ones who always strictly follow objective reality and physics! ACKCHUALLY, did you know there's no way they could ride these sand worms either? SO contrived! Takes me right out! I'd rather watch Dehydrated people march in lock step across an empty desert. And don't even get me started on spice being the key to space travel! How else am I supposed to be immersed if it isn't like everyday life?? Where are all the traffic jams and 9-5 jobs??? I'm with Sgt. Buzzkill on this one! lol Long live "nonsense".
I saw this twice in IMAX. The battle scene at the end was insane on the big screen. Also, this was a reunion of sorts between Josh Brolin and Jaiver Bardem. Who both starred in No Country for Old Men.
I was initially confused by Chani’s characterization the first time I saw this. On second viewing it clicked: Chani is the audience surrogate for how we’re *supposed* to feel about Paul
I feel like Denis wasn't either sure the audience would get Frank Herbert's point or maybe thinking will this story continue? "Charismatic leaders are dangerous." That was one of Frank's points.
yes, and I hate that decision, not only because I never liked Zendeya as Chani in the first place, but also because is nothing like Chani in the books, and a tragic character like Paul needs the support of someone like the Chani of the books. The way Chani is in the movie is so out of place and so contemporary. Yep, is the only thing that really didn't like in the film, and I am far from being alone on this.
@@mahmudmurad4655 There have always been people who have questioned religious figures and who have been critical of their leaders. Otherwise there wouldn't be so many peasant/slave-rebellions and so many heretics to kill. What is really "contemporary" is pointing at something that has always existed and assuming it only exists now.
@@Painocus Not quite, and your point it doesnt change my mind on the poorly choice of Zendaya as our POV, I dont want her as POV at all. and his petty rebellion, is pathetic honestly.
@@mahmudmurad4655 How can an actor be a 'poor choice for a POV'? It sounds like you just have some nebulous personal beef with the actress. Also she is not the POV character, Paul is the main POV character if anything. "I dont want her as POV at all." If by that you mean you want literally nothing from her perspective, then honestly you shouldn't have watched a move where she plays Chani in the first place. Apparently it's not possible for people to grow discontent with their leaders without instantly, magically summoning up a full blown rebellion? (Except "contemporary" I guess.) Would you like the movie more if it ended with Chani completely changing the plot by staging a full rebellion against Paul? I doubt it, so why are you asking for it? The main reason for Chani's change is this; Herbert had already started writing Dune Messiah by the time he finished Dune. Meanwhile Villeneuve said he wanted to make is so Part One and Two could stand on there own if he never got to make Messiah. Chani in the film is meant to express a smaller version of the themes of Messiah if that film is never made, or to serve as a preamble to it if it is. Herbert compared the structure of Dune, Messiah and Children to a fugue. And if so Chani in the film serves as a "false entry" an incomplete introduction of a subject to anticipate it's true introduction later.
As a book reader, every single change either was better than in the book or made sense as a change from book to movie, different medium require different ways to tell a story and pace it. But it works because it stays 100% true to the message of the book and expands/develops parts even Frank Herbet wished was better (being more direct, dude basically made messiah out of spite of people not "getting" the damn book)
I mean a lot of changes made sense but I wouldn’t say they were better than in the books, for exemple I don’t agree with not including a bigger time jump where Paul already has a newborn son that gets killed in the invasion.
This princess is probably the character that impresses me the most. She's not just looking pretty on the sidelines, she comes across as someone who does a lot of the heavy lifting for ruling the galaxy.
Yeah it kinda surprised me how the emperor came off as just “a guy” and he really looked to her for wisdom. Also, Her costumes were my favorite part of the movie
@@EventHorizonMK In the book, the Emperor appeared younger than his years and radiated vitality. He was not the tired, world-weary character in the movie. Villeneuve enlarged Princess Irulan’s role (like he did for Chani). Book Irulan was a failed Bene Gesserit (not Reverend Mother Mohiam’s best student) who aspired to be a historian. The Emperor did not rely on her for advice. The director downplayed the patriarchal feudalism in the story. Of course there were strong female characters like the Bene Gesserit and Fremen women, but men held traditional leadership roles in the Dune universe. Another thing in the book: the Emperor actually admired Duke Leto. He didn’t think he was a weak man/weak leader. If he believed that, then he would not have eliminated the Atreides in the first place because they wouldn’t be a threat to his rule. He thought the Duke was worthy enough to marry his daughter if she had only been older. Book Leto was a strong and popular leader. This popularity made him the Emperor’s political enemy by necessity, no matter how much he liked the Duke as a person. Furthermore, in Part One, Mohiam and the Sisterhood wanted Paul to be saved and so she asked the Baron to spare him when the Harkonnens attacked Arrakeen. In Part Two, she tells Irulan that the Bene Gesserit were behind the elimination of the Atreides because they were defiant and couldn’t be controlled. Mohiam contradicted herself. If that’s how the Bene Gesserit truly felt about the Atreides bloodline, then why bother asking the Baron to spare Paul, the last member of the Atreides family? It would make sense that she would instead agree with the Harkonnen plan to kill Paul along with the rest of his family. Therefore, she had no need to visit Giedi Prime to plead for Paul and Jessica’s safety. It’s these particular changes by Villeneuve, making the Bene Gesserit completely amoral and changing the nature of some characters, that created contradictions in the storyline and potential confusion about characters’ motives.
@@SunsetRogue thanks for the info. I’m not a book reader so all that gives me more to think about. Regarding the emperor, I can understand increasing Irulans role but it really struck me how this man who is at least at surface level, politically inexpert,is the emperor of the entire universe (still a mind blowing concept to me). Also, at the start Irulan says the Emperor loved Leto like a son, however at the end he obviously calls him a weak man. Why did he say that? The heat of the moment because his position was being challenged?
@@SunsetRogue Yes. And the book specifically says that the emperor did not want the duke to be killed - only discredited and politically and militarily weakened. He considered it uncivilized for nobles to be killed by other houses, not to mention setting a bad precedent. The emperor even tried to have his daughter assassinated as punishment for some slight or other. That's just the way they do things. He knew of course, that in all probability, the assassination attempt would fail, due to her Bene Gesserit training and her personal guards, but that's the way noble families send messages among themselves in the imperium.
"I guess I have to set aside my fantasy smut books." Don't worry, Simone. Read through the Dune series and you'll get plenty of fantasy smut moments in the later books.
Massive Dune books fan. I cannot stress how happy I am with this film version. Two of the best sci-fi films I've ever seen. Love your reactions guys, keep it up.
For the most part, the changes made from the books were good and made sense given the time constraints. I'm really glad they changed the Alia character. She was always pre-born after getting exposed to The Water of Life so the way it was implemented in the film made sense. Even when reading the source material I thought "damn... Frank Herbert was on some spice the day he wrote this". George is right there's a lot of things in this universe that are out there and Alia being a Weird Murder Baby was one of them. Jessica talking to and conspiring with her child in womb was an extremely effective way of showing how villainous and twisted Lady Jessica is post water of life. Paul killing the Baron instead of Alia was far more satisfying as well.
Addendum: In Namibia, there are the roaring dunes of Hoarasib Canyon. If you walk down them or, better yet, drive down in a Land Rover, they make a fairly loud groaning noise. This is due to the air spaces between long-settled sand grains. Or you can call it "drum sand", if you wish. No worms, but sometimes well-adapted lizards or snakes.
@@maestro92and the second one for the museum, the third one for the missing bundle (if running the CC route), and the others for enchantments. you'll never get enough of the shard
This was one of the very few movies in recent years that I absolutely took the time and effort to go and see it in theater and to make sure it's a specific theater with an actual good audio setup. Totally worth it.
Herbert had to release Messiah because people didn't understand that Paul wasn't the hero. That's why they changed Chani, because they needed someone to express those ideas in a bit more of a concrete way than it is in the books.
@@lucasrizor3251 Absolutely, but I have faith in the writers and director tbh. They really made her character changes work in this movie, so I'm sure they can do it again. I hope so anyway.
@@lucasrizor3251not necessarily, Paul himself says in this movie that ‘she’ll come back” or something like that… it just gives her character more agency, vs the simpler ‘ride or die’ character she was in the books. Her choosing to come back would be much more interesting in my opinion.
I always pronounced it "CHAH - nee" in my head. The other way reminds me of Dick Cheney too much. Frank Herbert took inspiration from more than the Middle East and "Lawrence of Arabia". He also was inspired largely by a book called "The Sabres of Paradise", about the Mujahideen who fought against the Russian Empire in the Caucuses.
As much as I love this movie, when stilgar says Paul is too humble to admit he's the messiah, all I can think of is the Life of Brian when she says "only a true Messiah would deny his divinity"
Austin butler the one who played feyd actually suggests that feyd should sound like his uncle(stellan skarsgard) because since he grew up with the Baron, the Baron would be a big influence on him in many ways
Harkonnen's are not bald in the books, Feyd-Rautha for e.g. is described as round of face, with dark sullen eyes and black ringlets of hair if memory serves (I've not read it since the early 80's). Villeneuve's decision to shoot the arena scenes in Infra-Red to highlight the light of the black sun is a stroke of genius though, so the bald heads obviously work much better for his vision of them.
@Nulli_Di Fully authoritarian, with no room for dissent, so the sameness of everyone, male and female, being bald is fitting. Much like Camazotz in A Wrinkle In Time.
Denis clearly didn't want to tackle the Alia story line from the book, so he accelerated several years into under 9 months. He also left out the spice orgy after Jessica drank the Water of Life, and that was where Chani saw Paul and her future together in a spice induced vision. She did not know the specifics of it, just that she and Paul were partners that had to navigate difficult times, and would find only respite from it together. By sharing that vision with him, she was more like Stilgar was portrayed in the movie, but not out of belief in prophecies, because she saw the future Paul envisioned.
George, yes, Dune Messiah has recently been officially confirmed by studio Legendary to be in the works (it only had been rumoured until early April). Anya Taylor-Joy will play the role of Alia, most certainly. And you know who is likely going to make a comeback as well! And yeah, as others have pointed out, entire Geidi Prime exterior scenes were shot in infra-red, hence the very different look than the usual black and white. I really don't know how that works, seeing as infra-reds aren't visible to the human eye, surely there's some other manupilation here, but it truly gives the entire thing a unique look.
"I do think the movie... had to rush through the experience and change Paul and Jessica had." I have to agree with George here. I mean, Chani is pointing out how Paul doesn't know how to properly walk across sand, and only months later (as his sister isn't even born yet) he's leading enough Fremen to overpower the combined Harkonnen and Sardaukar forces in that final battle. In the book, it's much longer. I understand why it was done this way as there is only so much time in a film. Still, that is one of the few gripes I have, and I kinda wish Villeneuve did a few years time jump halfway through or something.
It’s also why Chani is pouty in the end. In the book Jessica is her friend and she is fully prepared to be Paul’s concubine. Because they rushed the time among the fremen, chani couldn’t develop the way she did in the books. It’s a little sad, since it will either be immediately undone or be forced to part wildly from Messiah.
Probably didn't want a talking baby. Looked silly in the 1984's version. Different in books than on screen. Having a foetus speak telepathically is more "accessible", in a weird way. That's my guess to why they did this anyway. Maybe it's something else.
@@TheGavraelI don’t think that’s why chani is like she is. I think it’s because they wanted a character that points out the artificial nature of the prophecy and is skeptical of the whole thing.
I never thought of Stilgar as Morpheus until this movie. I’ve probably read Dune a dozen times. The beauty of DV’s love for the source material is that even when he changes things, he pays so much respect to the original work in the way he does it. The rebellious youth Chani and her friends, are critical to the movie goers ability to understand an important theme of the book: prophecy is destruction. Paul knowing in this movie that his relationship with his love will be damaged by the choice he eventually knows will be his only possible one, is foreshadowing how that choice will play out in the third movie. Brilliant. Just brilliant.
The pronunciation for Chani matches how you would pronounce it in French, and the first time Denis Villeneuve read the novel, it was the French translation
@SorcerSundryFrank didn't reveal how he pronounced the names till a ways after, and when he did he said he was fine with everyone pronouncing them how they wanted. Half of the readers have been pronouncing it the way the movie did for years--and it sounds better.
“Chah-Nee” seems to me the best pronunciation. She is Fremen and the Fremen were heavily inspired by Arabic culture and language. It makes sense that it’s not a long “a” sound and that it matches the vowel pronunciation of “a” in words like Sayyadina, Sihaya, and Stilgar.
Written as it is, and given the Arabian vibes of the Fremen culture, I think the French pronounciation wouldn't be far off. The English one, on the other hand...
'Only the Mahdi would deny he is Mahdi'. Lovely Monty Python joke here: from 'Life of Brian' : Fanatical follower: 'Only the messiah would deny he is messiah, and I should know, I've followed a few!' Brian: 'What chance does that give me, then? Oh, alright, I AM the messiah!' Crowd: 'He IS the messiah!' This book and two movies are about how all charismatic leaders come with a 'danger to your health' warning.
denis was actually gonna have austin who plays feyd speak with his normal voice like dave who plays rabban did but austin insisted on training his voice to sound like stellan bc obviously feyd grew up with vladimir and would likely sound like him
The sand riding scene was almost all practical effects. The huge dune was artificial and underneath it were trucks with buckets the created the collapse of the dune. They actually filmed the stunt guy falling into it.
I appreciate the film version of Chani over the book version. In the book, Chani is a passive and complete supporter of Paul. Also, in the book, Paul is consistently questioning the ethics of the path he's being steered toward -- but these doubts are all inside his head. Transferring those themes of doubt from Paul's head to Chani's voice was an elegant solution for the film adaption -- and it makes Chani a more interesting character as a bonus. The other major change from the book to the film that I'm not 100% on board with is how they shortened Paul's time with the Fremen. Instead of squeezing the timeframe down to Jessica's length of pregnancy, in the book he's with the Fremen for YEARS before running into Gurney Hallack again. But I can guess they rushed it in order to avoid having to include Paul's toddler sister running around doing creepy things in the film (book spoiler: it's not Paul who kills the Baron).
the pacing is a bit weird ye. i find zendayas performance the weakest to be honest. not much going on there. batista has a limited role, but that's more the character i think. the visuals are rediculously good though:-))
Personally idc about the shortening of time since I’m the book we skip over soooo much stuff so cutting that big time skip out and making all the scenes flow felt better
@@ConClasher3I think internally the pacing works well in the film, but his acceptance among the Fremen and rise with the Fedaykin would make far more sense over a longer time span than the few months it’s given. I personally think it was the right choice to make that trade off though, avoiding having to try pulling off the absolute miracle it would’ve taken for general audiences to at all accept “wizened stabby toddler” in a film with this serious of a tone. It works a lot better being able to focus on the already weird enough for non readers suspension of disbelief for what they went with.
As far as the sludge bath, it is unique to the movies. I assume since the first time we see him in it is after he survives Leto's poison it is some sort of therapeutic treatment. Practically it does a good job of hiding Stellan Skarsgards prosthetics.
I’d love to know where the idea came from. I’ve always had silly daydreams about a miracle cure for all illnesses and injuries, and the way it would work was always a sludge bath - that’s how the healing substances reach every part of the body. Just makes sense to me.
@@mm9773 Can't remember if that sludge bit is in the books (don't think so), but one similar thing in pop culture that comes to mind is the Lazarus Pit R'as Al Ghul uses...
For me, the key line in the movie (not included here) is Stilgar answering Paul's reluctance and scepticism by roaring "I don't care what you believe, *_I_* believe" - that's the whole thing, right there.
If I recall from the book correctly, not even the Bene Gesserit knew Jessica's parentage. Their plan was to join the Harkonnen and Atreides bloodlines via Jessica's daughter, but she defied the sisterhood and gave Leto a son, who turned out to be the Kwisatz Haderach a generation earlier than planned by sheer accident.
The BG know (they are the ones who took the Baron's seed), they just kept it from Jessica and the Baron. The long heritage of both sides is very important to their plan to create a Kwizatch Haderach. Jessica learns it through the Water, just like Paul does, and the Baron when he meets Alia (or Paul in this case).
I always thought that the Kwisatz Haderach coming a generation early is part of why Paul was flawed as a character. He was very close to being the 'chosen one' but not 100%.
Yes. Paul was supposed to be a girl, in which case the plan was for her to marry Fay Rautha, who is approximately the same age, uniting the two bloodlines.
@@LordVolkov - If I remember correctly from the novel wasn't the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam ordered by the BG to have relations with the Baron (which ended badly as Mohiam avenged her abuse from the Baron by infecting him with his disease) in order to give birth to Lady Jessica.
That leitmotif in several tracks in this film, especially how it's used in the final minutes and credits, lives rent free in my entire body. It's such a mixture of emotions, and it matches the gravity of the ending perfectly.
sietche is said with almost two syllables in the audiobooks, same with Atriedes. In this movie when they would say the name of the sietch it sounded like they were saying tabL and that’s very different from tabUr in the books etc.
I've watched the 1984 Dune, which pronounces her name CHAH-nee, and so that's how I said it in my mind as I read the books. Preparing for Dune 1, I listened to the audiobook and winced whenever I heard CHAY-nee. It would've been okay, except that all I could think about was Dick Cheney, the US Vice President during George W Bush's terms. He was a really awful guy.
Re: Pronunciation. Given that Herbert's son & granddaughter served as producers on the movie, and that Herbert personally narrated excerpts from his novel... Villeneuve was well aware of how Herbert intended to pronounce all the names.
Yes Dune Messiah has been greenlit...He told Anya Taylor Joy the same thing he told Zendaya, you will have a small part in the first movie but you'll come in the second one...I can't wait for Alia...Things are going to go off the rails.
Chani's name 'desert spring' is such because she is the daughter of Liet Kynes, descendant of Pardot Kynes, who came to Arrakis to 'green' it. The botanical testing station was one of many. Turning Arrakis green, ending the reliance on spice was a three hundred year plan. The huge underground stores of water are a major part of this. Which is almost forgotten in the two films, but not in the book. Remember the man watering the trees in Arrakeep? 'Why do it?' 'An old dream'.
These two Dune films are MAGNIFICENT!! I first read Dune in high school, in the 1980s, and I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for someone to actually do this story justice. Of all the changes made to the story for the sake of the movie, I think I dislike what they did with Chani at the end the most. It absolutely did not go that way in the book, but I won't spoil it for you. I assume, if he's doing Dune Messiah, they'll clear it up then and did that scene the way they did for a kind of cliffhanger.
Watching you two since 2020, love that you seem to be having the time of your lives every watch. It’s what keeps me coming back. Love that you enjoyed this so much, too.
47:48 I mean, they casted Tim Blake Nelson in a main supporting role and shot multiple sequences with him and they didn’t even put him in the Final Cut of the movie 🤷🏻♂️. Thufir Hawat, the mentat from the first movie is in the same boat as well. They even got a special thanks in the credits for their time.
Quick fun thing I learned about this movie: The Throne Room near the end is a practical set and is absolutely gorgeous, I recommend checking out pictures of it. Also it's kinda sad that I'm so amazed they built a set, most movies would just do green screen.
17:57: His dreams always proceed his time on Arrakis. 18:52 also thats drum sand--which are patches of sand that are easier for the worms to hear/sense the vibrations of movement; the first movie talks about it.
I always wondered how the thumpers determine if worms come straight up to eat something vs sideways to be ridden like a taxi. Is it explained in the books?
The barons bath is a spice emmulsion used to heal the baron (spice conserves life, spice prolongs life). the baron became a spice addict why he continues to enjoy prolonged bath sessions.
I left the movie with a profound feeling of "Whelp, the citizens of the Empire probably would have been better off if Feyd, the literal psychopath, had killed Paul in that Duel."
With the way he behaves i'm not sure which outcome would have the least deaths in the near future versus total deaths over the next 10,000 years - maybe he'd get murder hungry and want to massacre every single House. If sadistic Harkonnen peeps were in charge for the next 10k years perhaps the Empire would even collapse entirely, who knows.
It's a good metaphor for people in this day and age who are so miserable with their life, that they vote just to shake the system up, unconcerned if that change is good or bad--"Some people just want to see the world burn." And I doubt it would have been that much better with Feyd as emperor. We know for a fact the Emperor was dangerous but interested in stability and maintaining the status quo, something neither Paul nor Feyd were interested in, for different reasons.
Nope, that's the sad part and Paul knows it. By taking the position of the fremen's messiah he already set in motion the holy war. If he died it would be as a martyr and the war would go on without him. It was going to happen no matter what.
Paul calling his first worm always reminds me of the National Lampoon parody novel. In their scene, Paul seeing all the fremen running away was a sign that he dialed his thumper too high. :D
Great reaction guys! Yeah, Anya Taylor Joy was confirmed as Alia in the last part of Denis Villeneuve's Dune tryptich. But then, we'll also have a very nice surprise with old characters... :) In an interview (1st part promo), Timothé Chalamet was saying that he was a huge fan of Villeneuve's movies. Among the usual big movies, he named "Polytechnique" whcich he had seen and been blasted by it. I also can vouch for it.
Fun fact: the non-drugged Atreides gladiator-slave was the fight choreographer for both films
and his character "Lanville" appeared in like 7 scenes throughout Part One, but all very easy to miss lol
That's real cool
Simone saying "sand mountain" in a movie literally called Dune is gold. 😂
The movie should clearly be called "Sand Mountain" until somebody comes up with a better name for this desert phenomenon...
Frank Herbert's: Sand Mountain.
Sand Mountain: Messiah does roll off the tongue lmao
Gold. Sand gold.
@@lolmao500 Ninja Nuns
I love the "Feyd-Rautha's best birthday ever" sequence:
1) Get to kill some Atreides in the arena (one without drugs, even)
2) Get governorship of Arrakis
3) Experience extreme pain
4) Bang Lady Fenring
Lmao
All in all, pretty great bday
4) Bang Lady Fenring played by *Lea Seydoux* . 😯
Got better deal than Paul🤣
@@thomashiggins9320 is it wrong that Death Stranding ignited something within me?
I remember hearing someone say, "Never judge someone for mispronouncing a word. It means they read it somewhere." Always stuck with me.
Wonderfully wise. That will stick with me as well.
True, but nowadays you can look up how to pronounce things online. I kinda judge ppl who do video essays but still dont look up words they dont know well.
This is my policy for people speaking different languages. Its always so annoying hearing people criticize someone's accent when speaking another language as if everyone should be able to speak every language with every accent flawlessly
@@mediumvillain I agree man, I really, reeeeeally dislike that RUclipsr shtick where they say names wrongly or say "I won't try to pronounce this cus I'll butcher the name", to try and seem quirky and funny, and I don't even hold it against legitimately people that present themselves as quirky and funny, but there are some more serious RUclipsrs that do this and doesn't seem to fit their video personalities.
Tl;dr: just look it up how to pronounce it online lol
But feel free to ridicule any moron that can't spell. It means they didn't pay attention in school.
I just love that Christopher Walken is in a movie where people walk without rythm so they won't attract the worm
I'm still curious if this was one of the reasons for the casting
That still does not excuse the lack of cowbell.
@@EndlessNameless5 - I feel like it was, and it's kinda groanworthy imo.
He even talks without rhythm.
Wow! I can't not give a thumbs up for a comment that excellent. But now I'm forced to watch that music video.
19:26 "... sand mountain."
I feel like there's another word for "sand mountain." Dang it, it's right at the tip of my tongue. They should have named the book and movie after it so we wouldn't forget.
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
The Fight for Sand Mountain: Part 2
@@Norp-i7mThe Fight for Sand Mountain Part 2: Static Electric Boogaloo
Let me try. I think it's... Rune, or something along those lines. Sand Mountain sounds good.
Silicaberg
There’s an interview with Bautista where he says that Denis pulled him aside and told him that he was a very good actor but he needed to stop holding back. I think the results of that are very evident in his performance.
George's comparison of The Rock and Bautista was apt.
@@BrahmaDBAarguably I think The Rock is casted to be the Rock and Bautista is casted to be a giant hulking behemoth with depth. He's got a very expressive face unlike The Rock who just looks like the Rock and overacts for comedic purposes. Comedy timing is one of the hardest things to do in acting, so I wouldn't shortsell it as a non-challenging role. However the range of emotion switching in Bautistas performance in this was impressive
The director gave an actor directions? I am impress, much genius.
There's another one where he said he told Denis that he didn't quite understand the character, and he said "he's a coward." And then everything clicked.
@@brooklynnewyork23 I like Bautista and I agree about the depth. He displays emotions so subtly you miss it sometimes but if you watch his eyes you can see it.
45:03 That "Silence!" in dolby theater hit like a truck! Everyone got a little stunned.
I'd have to see it again, but I'm fairly sure the sound engineer literally added a roll of thunder under the voice audio for extra... extraness.
In Dolby Atmos, it really hit. When I saw it in IMAX, for some reason, that "Silence!" scene kinda hit, but not like in the Dolby Atmos auditorium.
I saw it in an enhanced sound theater and I swear to God it literally shook the seats 🤩🤩
Really glad George mentioned why it stays above the sand :) In addiition, when your hook pulls back a section of the worm's skin it also *rolls* so the exposed area is as high up and AWAY from the sand - *that's how they get on top of the worm* in the 1st place too.
"On top"
@@killerlock666 Thanks, I fixed the spelling :)
And then how do they get off?
@@anathardayaldar they ride them to exhaustion. fremen measure long distances in terms of the number of worms they will have to ride to exhaustion to get there
I'm not sure if someone commented it already but Austin Butler who played Feyd-Rautha came up with the idea himself to speak like Stellan. I think there was an interview where the other main actors said they knew they had to step up their game once they heard Austin talk like that on set. He also trained 4 months with an ex-marine before the film. I love his dedication
He sounds a little like Papa Lazarou from the League of Gentlemen.
It was nice to see he finally got rid of his Elvis drawl.
Stellan was apparently well pleased with the choice, and spoke very highly of Butler's dedication to his craft.
@@mrfrosty3 You're my concubine now!
Guy who plays the nephew comes up with the idea to speak like guy who plays the uncle. Genius.
"Bring the Baron's body to the desert" is...an extreme insult among the Fremen
I have read the book a long time ago and I don't remember that part. Can you tell us why ? Is it because of the waste ? Like you are so filthy we don't want your water maybe ? Thanks
Especially since that mf could be squished for gallons of water lmao
@@charlotteinfj4412 Correct. A person so hated they wouldn't even reclaim his water for cooling systems.
@charlotteinfj4412 basically, what erikd2628 said. In a culture where water is so precious that spitting in front of someone, or shedding tears over a corpse are signs of respect, letting a body rot in the desert is a gesture of disrespect
@@charlotteinfj4412 The importance of that also comes from what was done to Dr Kynes. In the book, Kynes is released in the desert by the Harkonnen with no suit and dies in a spice blow. Letting the Baron rot in the sun is vengeance for Chani's parent (something the movie completely left out)
Austin Butler, who plays Feyd-Rautha, did copy the Baron’s voice. Austin felt that since his character was raised by him, they should sound similar. He’s a very talented voice actor if you guys end up watching the Elvis movie that he stars in. I think Simone will completely swoon over him in that one.
Let's not forget that he lived in the Elvis voice so long that he actually needed help with a voice coach to STOP doing it even a year after he finished the film.
@@dj_daem0n reminds me of something from South Park. There's an episide in season 3 where Cartman is doing a southern accent and Trey claims it ended up affecting Cartman's voice for the rest of the series.
@@almightycinder also reminds me of how Charlie Cox had trouble looking at people in the eyes after years of playing Daredevil and acting blind.
Villanueve confirmed not long after part 2 came out that he’s working on the script for part 3 (messiah).
I also read that he wants to take some time before he films part 3. It gives him a chance to work on other projects and for the actors to age.
It isn't set in stone, he won't make it unless the screen play makes sense to him will likely take years to make.
And also he said he only wanted to do a trilogy anyway so I don't expect us to get any more movies from him in the Dune Universe.
He can take all the time he wants his films are poor adaptations its like he worked off an interns cliffnotes and not the book.
@@scorp77snakebruh wdym it’s a great adaptation into the visual medium
To know the future is to be trapped by it. Paul sees all the paths where he doesn't do what needs to be done. A path where he doesn't attack the Emperor and just lives in the south Chani and his children die in almost every scenario. He sees a future where he loses to Feyd and dies and the Fremen still wage a holy war with him as a dead martyr with no one to guide their ambitions. His personality is so different because he is now a man without a choice.
Fourteen million and sixty-five possibilities and only where we win.
Not only that, his courage isn't up to the task of doing what ultimately needs to be done, in this setting.
Its so generous of existence/fate to carve out the one possible path for him where he literally *must* be emperor of the known universe,or else..😂... not unlike any other narcissistic manipulator in history
Oh I suppose it was his narcissism that caused him to be born into that family in just that time as the gender he was. Being raised as he was, being manipulated strategically for the benefit of others. To be ensnared is a lot different than having low consequence choices. You do have a point that some talented people make bad choices and Frank was trying to tell us power attracts the corruptible.
The "black & white" scenes were actually shot using an infra-red camera.
And infrared light penetrates a bit deeper into tissue than visible light, so it adds that unearthly translucent look to skin.
@@RocketSurgn_ I was wondering why it has that odd look to it, like everyone's skin was made of silicone.
absolutely fantastic and a first. i love Nolan's movies, but Denis is quite the genius as well
I already know this is going to be the new "Viggo Mortensen broke his toe when he kicked the helmet"
@@Nitromax123 or "Kurt Russel destroyed a 145-year-old guitar on the set of Hateful Eight" :D
Javier Bardem being known as "the man who spits" is so funny because all I could see him now is "the man who shouts: Lisan Al Gaib" lol.
As written
Lisan al Gaib!
37:38 WW1 was literally all of Queen Victoria's grandchildren fighting each other.
lol yup. also don't trace all the pres. bloodlines.
Poor Chani. BUT, at the end of the book, lady Jessica pulls Chani aside and tells her “history will remember us as wives” she explains Irulan who is technically Paul’s wife, will never feel tenderness or love from Paul, and she will live as “less than a concubine”. Meanwhile the ones who the great leaders, Leto I and Paul, loved in reality were the unofficial wives.
One thing I Love about the end fight is: Paul and Feyd were, if the plan wasn't altered by Jesica, supposed to marry. Paul was supposed to be a girl and their child was supposed to be the chosen one, so this is the intimacy of violence taken to a weird Freudian point, and I love it!
I love how Stilgar goes full LIFE OF BRIAN on Paul with the whole humility thing. It's also good of Feyd to call off his picadors.
The message is important to repeat. This generation needs to hear it, as less and less people will see LOB as it fades into the past.
I nearly laughed out loud in the cinema. "I'm not the Messiah!" "He is the Messiah!" "OK so I am the Messiah!" "He is the Messiah!"
To be fair, Life of Brian was made after the Dune. And it's funny because it's true.
I am so glad that you guys truly understand the depth of these movies and what they are trying to convey.
Like Frank Herbert said: I wrote the Dune series because I had this idea that charismatic leaders ought to come with a warning label on their forehead: "May be dangerous to your health.
“No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero”
-Frank Herbert
In a sense, by walking away from a charismatic leader, Chani passes a test far greater than the Gom Jabar, one that makes her the only true human in the movie.
To be fair, "truly understanding" is made a lot easier by the film since they changed a few things to really make it obvious.
Herbert thought it was clear in the first book, but people didn't get it, so he had to spell it out in 'Messiah'.
@@jerryward3311 And then he hammers it home in Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune.
Authoritarian leaders -- especially authoritarian theocrats -- create societies that lie well beyond mere "shit-shows" and exist in "nightmare-fuel" territory.
@@jlworrad Religious fervor and fanatism are exculisively human states of mind, her walking away from that actually makes sets her outside of humanity.
Also all this bullshit about blind faith in charismatic leaders only works if the said leader is not a human super-computer with the collective knowledge of all of his ancestors bred for 90 generations to obtain the power to predict future. Not being blindly fanatic about him would be like seeing Jesus Christ raise someone from the dead and be like "yeah not impressed, I am a big brained nihilist and do not follow charismatic leaders".
I really liked Chani’s change for a visual medium… Paul’s doubts in the book are so internal, that we needed a character to ‘externalize’ his inner conflict, and Chani is perfect for that. She also has more agency and complexity in the movie vs the books, and becomes a more interesting character for it… the same goes for the Fremen, the movie made them more nuanced and not just a monolith who all believe the exact same thing in the exact same way.
Love this movie, and yes, A LOT of people are missing the point of Paul’s character arc, just like when the book first came out! 😂
I agree, it's just too bad her acting isn't better
@@markmaioli4I didn’t mind it, but I can certainly see why it didn’t work for some… the one that did make me chuckle a bit was Christopher Walken and his very distinct way of saying things! 😆
@@carlitosd.9699 yeah, Walken is a weird choice but thankfully he's not in it much
When viewing it is that way, it makes sense to have her oppose wPaul. The problem is though, it comes off like a girl power scene.
One thing I appreciated about the film was the portrayal of Feyd Rautha. In the books, the knife fight was heavily one-sided in the favor of Paul, resorting to Feyd trying to cheat with a poison barb. In the movie they made him a crazy fella that loves a good fight and could back it up, unlike Rabban who got curb stomped. The "you fought well, Atredies" was a nice touch.
I always like a villain who can respect their enemy's abilities. The whole "credit where credit is due" mentality really shows how different he is from Rabban
I like the evolution of Chani's character as a plot device to cover ground and provide a perspective that they don't have time for in the movies vs. the books. This was beautiful. Thanks for the great reaction.
Can't wait for 'Sand Mountain: Messiah'.
Perfect title, can't wait ! 😂
Children of Sand Mountain
@@BurritoFireo96 God Emperor of Sand Mountain
The Baron's bath is spice. It heals and extends life
Wouldn't it be red than?
@@Nava9380 It's more like oil when liquid, and likely not pure spice, just a mixture. Remember that he bathes in it after Oscar Isaacson hit him with the poison in part 1.
@Nulli_Di your right. There's no colours in Giedi Prime.
An on going Bacta tank, so to speak, is how someone made it in another movie series, lol!
It's not the spice. He would have eyes of ibad (blue eyes) and his consciousness would expand far more than it is.
26:10 "of course the Harkonnen have gladiator battle things"
Remember how Paul's Atreides-side grandfather died? Showing off in a bull-fight.
The Atreides and Harkonnens are a contrast, but they're also just different sides of the same coin.
I find it interesting how the Harkonnen ships look like cockroaches and the harvesters look like ticks
The Ornithopters are supposed to be patterned off of Dragonflies.
Paul Atredes: *sneezes*
Stilgar: "That's exactly how the Lisan al-Gaib would sneeze!"
Chani: "Ugh. I don't believe in sneezing, it's a plot to control us."
Pretty much describes these characters to a tee in this film.
100 percent accurate! 🤣
Stilgar being the constant hype man was comical throughout the film but it's also sadly true heroes and leaders can get to a point where they can do no wrong in the eyes of their followers. That level of fanaticism is hard to defeat.
The Fremen are just being manipulated by the crysknife-industrial complex man.
Villeneuve has been working on the script for Messiah for many months now, as his initial pitch with Legendary was that he'd make it a trilogy with a Messiah adaptation, if the first one was a success.
That said, even prior to production kicking off for Part Two, he had been saying that he would want to take a break from Dune between Part Two and before returning to Messiah, to do something different, for his mental sanity, and to come back to it with fresh ideas, as well as to let the actors age a bit and gain further experience on other movies.
Now that even Part Two has already been a massive success, Villeneuve is adamantly doubling down on not wanting to rush into making Messiah just for the sake of it. He does not want to commit to it until he believes the script is perfect enough and that he will know he can make it a better movie than the first two.
So my personal guess is that he'll do at least one movie in-between, which will most likely be Rendevouz with Rama (think Arrival but 10x cooler), or a film based on the recently published book "Nuclear War: A Scenario" (a book detailing step by step how the world would end over the course of 2 hours, in a guaranteed nuclear chain reaction, started by an out of the blue attack at the US by North Korea as the example), as he had been alluding to a "secret but urgent film project" in interviews a few weeks prior to the news of the movie rights for the book getting acquired by Legendary Studios for another Villeneuve production. And I honestly don't know which of the two I'd be more excited about.
Regardless, I'm also hyped for the inevitable Messiah film of course (Villeneuve literally says it's his favorite Dune novel) and I have massive respect for him hesitating from just going into it to bank on the momentum the way everyone wants him to.
IDK, like, I've read Rama, but Arrival is a top 10 film for me, everyone that watches is it is affected. It would be hard to beat.
@@rhysbevan429 have you read "Story of your life"?
Because I feel like Arrival elevated it and sort of made its own thing out of it. And I imagine an adaptation of Rama could go some very interesting places with a similar apparoach.
pounding the sand in different locations does have a purpose -- it's to find "drum sand" that emits a kind of hollow signal that territorial worms will react to.
Interesting.
Yeah, it's something that's referenced in the first film when Paul and Jessica are making their way across the desert. I'm surprised that George didn't make reference to it, since he's read the books.
And it's TOTAL nonsense. Like Neil deDrasse Tyson said, even the thumpers can't physically work that way in the sand because the sand mutes soundwaves and vibrations, so mere pounding into the sand would achieve NOTHING! Also the weird walking is totally unnecessary.
@@JoergWeida you mean the giant sand creature the size of a blue whale that produces magical space dust you can use to see the future isn't real? 🤣
@@xylok_dnb2444 Everyone knows the best fantasy sci-fi stories are the ones who always strictly follow objective reality and physics! ACKCHUALLY, did you know there's no way they could ride these sand worms either? SO contrived! Takes me right out! I'd rather watch Dehydrated people march in lock step across an empty desert. And don't even get me started on spice being the key to space travel! How else am I supposed to be immersed if it isn't like everyday life?? Where are all the traffic jams and 9-5 jobs??? I'm with Sgt. Buzzkill on this one! lol
Long live "nonsense".
Al Gore in Futurama: "I have ridden the mighty moon worm!"
Fry clapping: "Good for him."
Futurama; Will we ever get a toon series written that good in America again?!
I saw this twice in IMAX. The battle scene at the end was insane on the big screen. Also, this was a reunion of sorts between Josh Brolin and Jaiver Bardem. Who both starred in No Country for Old Men.
They were both in part 1 ya dunce
@sliceofgames8558 Yeah, I forgot my bad.
Me to. I've read the book (twice but a long time ago) but I still needed two viewings to let it all sink in.
There was barely a battle at the end, it was like 5 minutes, it was so disappointing.
I was initially confused by Chani’s characterization the first time I saw this. On second viewing it clicked: Chani is the audience surrogate for how we’re *supposed* to feel about Paul
I feel like Denis wasn't either sure the audience would get Frank Herbert's point or maybe thinking will this story continue? "Charismatic leaders are dangerous." That was one of Frank's points.
yes, and I hate that decision, not only because I never liked Zendeya as Chani in the first place, but also because is nothing like Chani in the books, and a tragic character like Paul needs the support of someone like the Chani of the books. The way Chani is in the movie is so out of place and so contemporary. Yep, is the only thing that really didn't like in the film, and I am far from being alone on this.
@@mahmudmurad4655 There have always been people who have questioned religious figures and who have been critical of their leaders. Otherwise there wouldn't be so many peasant/slave-rebellions and so many heretics to kill. What is really "contemporary" is pointing at something that has always existed and assuming it only exists now.
@@Painocus Not quite, and your point it doesnt change my mind on the poorly choice of Zendaya as our POV, I dont want her as POV at all. and his petty rebellion, is pathetic honestly.
@@mahmudmurad4655 How can an actor be a 'poor choice for a POV'? It sounds like you just have some nebulous personal beef with the actress. Also she is not the POV character, Paul is the main POV character if anything. "I dont want her as POV at all." If by that you mean you want literally nothing from her perspective, then honestly you shouldn't have watched a move where she plays Chani in the first place.
Apparently it's not possible for people to grow discontent with their leaders without instantly, magically summoning up a full blown rebellion? (Except "contemporary" I guess.) Would you like the movie more if it ended with Chani completely changing the plot by staging a full rebellion against Paul? I doubt it, so why are you asking for it?
The main reason for Chani's change is this; Herbert had already started writing Dune Messiah by the time he finished Dune. Meanwhile Villeneuve said he wanted to make is so Part One and Two could stand on there own if he never got to make Messiah. Chani in the film is meant to express a smaller version of the themes of Messiah if that film is never made, or to serve as a preamble to it if it is. Herbert compared the structure of Dune, Messiah and Children to a fugue. And if so Chani in the film serves as a "false entry" an incomplete introduction of a subject to anticipate it's true introduction later.
As a book reader, every single change either was better than in the book or made sense as a change from book to movie, different medium require different ways to tell a story and pace it.
But it works because it stays 100% true to the message of the book and expands/develops parts even Frank Herbet wished was better (being more direct, dude basically made messiah out of spite of people not "getting" the damn book)
I mean a lot of changes made sense but I wouldn’t say they were better than in the books, for exemple I don’t agree with not including a bigger time jump where Paul already has a newborn son that gets killed in the invasion.
@@AleksaTovarlazaThe zero time jump means they didn't have to go to the effort of finding a child actor who can behave old enough for Alia.
Paul riding the worm made the cinema vibrate. It was amazing.
And the POV shot made my jaw drop
Also in the part where he uses the voice at the end to say "Silence!" you could feel the floor vibrating.
This princess is probably the character that impresses me the most. She's not just looking pretty on the sidelines, she comes across as someone who does a lot of the heavy lifting for ruling the galaxy.
Yeah it kinda surprised me how the emperor came off as just “a guy” and he really looked to her for wisdom.
Also, Her costumes were my favorite part of the movie
@@EventHorizonMK In the book, the Emperor appeared younger than his years and radiated vitality. He was not the tired, world-weary character in the movie. Villeneuve enlarged Princess Irulan’s role (like he did for Chani). Book Irulan was a failed Bene Gesserit (not Reverend Mother Mohiam’s best student) who aspired to be a historian. The Emperor did not rely on her for advice. The director downplayed the patriarchal feudalism in the story. Of course there were strong female characters like the Bene Gesserit and Fremen women, but men held traditional leadership roles in the Dune universe.
Another thing in the book: the Emperor actually admired Duke Leto. He didn’t think he was a weak man/weak leader. If he believed that, then he would not have eliminated the Atreides in the first place because they wouldn’t be a threat to his rule. He thought the Duke was worthy enough to marry his daughter if she had only been older. Book Leto was a strong and popular leader. This popularity made him the Emperor’s political enemy by necessity, no matter how much he liked the Duke as a person.
Furthermore, in Part One, Mohiam and the Sisterhood wanted Paul to be saved and so she asked the Baron to spare him when the Harkonnens attacked Arrakeen. In Part Two, she tells Irulan that the Bene Gesserit were behind the elimination of the Atreides because they were defiant and couldn’t be controlled. Mohiam contradicted herself. If that’s how the Bene Gesserit truly felt about the Atreides bloodline, then why bother asking the Baron to spare Paul, the last member of the Atreides family? It would make sense that she would instead agree with the Harkonnen plan to kill Paul along with the rest of his family. Therefore, she had no need to visit Giedi Prime to plead for Paul and Jessica’s safety.
It’s these particular changes by Villeneuve, making the Bene Gesserit completely amoral and changing the nature of some characters, that created contradictions in the storyline and potential confusion about characters’ motives.
@@SunsetRogue thanks for the info. I’m not a book reader so all that gives me more to think about.
Regarding the emperor, I can understand increasing Irulans role but it really struck me how this man who is at least at surface level, politically inexpert,is the emperor of the entire universe (still a mind blowing concept to me). Also, at the start Irulan says the Emperor loved Leto like a son, however at the end he obviously calls him a weak man. Why did he say that? The heat of the moment because his position was being challenged?
@@SunsetRogue Yes. And the book specifically says that the emperor did not want the duke to be killed - only discredited and politically and militarily weakened. He considered it uncivilized for nobles to be killed by other houses, not to mention setting a bad precedent.
The emperor even tried to have his daughter assassinated as punishment for some slight or other. That's just the way they do things. He knew of course, that in all probability, the assassination attempt would fail, due to her Bene Gesserit training and her personal guards, but that's the way noble families send messages among themselves in the imperium.
@@EventHorizonMK The emperor was probably born into his position. He wasn’t there by merit.
"I guess I have to set aside my fantasy smut books."
Don't worry, Simone. Read through the Dune series and you'll get plenty of fantasy smut moments in the later books.
Massive Dune books fan. I cannot stress how happy I am with this film version. Two of the best sci-fi films I've ever seen. Love your reactions guys, keep it up.
For the most part, the changes made from the books were good and made sense given the time constraints. I'm really glad they changed the Alia character. She was always pre-born after getting exposed to The Water of Life so the way it was implemented in the film made sense. Even when reading the source material I thought "damn... Frank Herbert was on some spice the day he wrote this". George is right there's a lot of things in this universe that are out there and Alia being a Weird Murder Baby was one of them. Jessica talking to and conspiring with her child in womb was an extremely effective way of showing how villainous and twisted Lady Jessica is post water of life. Paul killing the Baron instead of Alia was far more satisfying as well.
Addendum: In Namibia, there are the roaring dunes of Hoarasib Canyon. If you walk down them or, better yet, drive down in a Land Rover, they make a fairly loud groaning noise. This is due to the air spaces between long-settled sand grains. Or you can call it "drum sand", if you wish. No worms, but sometimes well-adapted lizards or snakes.
The BBC nature series Africa did a long term recording of the sound made by the Sahara dunes. It's eerie.
@@zoesumra9152 Very eerie. Doesn't sound real even when you're there.
You _always_ have to find another prismatic shard. They're worth a lot and everyone loves them in the Valley.
Gotta use that first one for the galaxy sword unlock though... lol
are they playing stardew valley somewhere?? i was so shocked to hear that lol
@@jimmiejam508 Not that I know of but that would be cool to have their commentary on a playthrough
@@maestro92and the second one for the museum, the third one for the missing bundle (if running the CC route), and the others for enchantments. you'll never get enough of the shard
@@maestro92 Of course. Unlock the galaxy sword and then curse the fact that you can't put them in a crystalarium. 😅
This was one of the very few movies in recent years that I absolutely took the time and effort to go and see it in theater and to make sure it's a specific theater with an actual good audio setup. Totally worth it.
Herbert had to release Messiah because people didn't understand that Paul wasn't the hero. That's why they changed Chani, because they needed someone to express those ideas in a bit more of a concrete way than it is in the books.
Problem is that now they are doing Messiah, her character changes create big problems for continuity with the source material in Messiah.
@@lucasrizor3251 Absolutely, but I have faith in the writers and director tbh. They really made her character changes work in this movie, so I'm sure they can do it again. I hope so anyway.
i have no problems with changing Chani but Zendaya had stink face in every scene and an American accent which completely screwed her character 😢
unfortunately seeing a lot of reactors also not getting it.
@@lucasrizor3251not necessarily, Paul himself says in this movie that ‘she’ll come back” or something like that… it just gives her character more agency, vs the simpler ‘ride or die’ character she was in the books. Her choosing to come back would be much more interesting in my opinion.
I always pronounced it "CHAH - nee" in my head.
The other way reminds me of Dick Cheney too much.
Frank Herbert took inspiration from more than the Middle East and "Lawrence of Arabia". He also was inspired largely by a book called "The Sabres of Paradise", about the Mujahideen who fought against the Russian Empire in the Caucuses.
I have that book.
It's a good one.
The emperor doesn't lose in the end of it, though.
As much as I love this movie, when stilgar says Paul is too humble to admit he's the messiah, all I can think of is the Life of Brian when she says "only a true Messiah would deny his divinity"
life of brian may well have been influenced by dune
The way it was shot makes you think it’s a reference to Life of Brian, yes. But it’s literally how religions work. That’s the point.
Austin butler the one who played feyd actually suggests that feyd should sound like his uncle(stellan skarsgard) because since he grew up with the Baron, the Baron would be a big influence on him in many ways
Harkonnen's are not bald in the books, Feyd-Rautha for e.g. is described as round of face, with dark sullen eyes and black ringlets of hair if memory serves (I've not read it since the early 80's). Villeneuve's decision to shoot the arena scenes in Infra-Red to highlight the light of the black sun is a stroke of genius though, so the bald heads obviously work much better for his vision of them.
@Nulli_Di Fully authoritarian, with no room for dissent, so the sameness of everyone, male and female, being bald is fitting. Much like Camazotz in A Wrinkle In Time.
I think having his sister in the womb and "speaking" with/through Jessica comes across a lot less silly than the alternative.
"No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero" - Frank Herbert
Denis clearly didn't want to tackle the Alia story line from the book, so he accelerated several years into under 9 months. He also left out the spice orgy after Jessica drank the Water of Life, and that was where Chani saw Paul and her future together in a spice induced vision. She did not know the specifics of it, just that she and Paul were partners that had to navigate difficult times, and would find only respite from it together. By sharing that vision with him, she was more like Stilgar was portrayed in the movie, but not out of belief in prophecies, because she saw the future Paul envisioned.
George, I am so glad to hear you say that Paul is not the hero of the story, just the main character.
George, yes, Dune Messiah has recently been officially confirmed by studio Legendary to be in the works (it only had been rumoured until early April). Anya Taylor-Joy will play the role of Alia, most certainly. And you know who is likely going to make a comeback as well!
And yeah, as others have pointed out, entire Geidi Prime exterior scenes were shot in infra-red, hence the very different look than the usual black and white. I really don't know how that works, seeing as infra-reds aren't visible to the human eye, surely there's some other manupilation here, but it truly gives the entire thing a unique look.
They shot the “black and white” scenes with infrared cameras. Look it up on RUclips, it was an interesting challenge for the cinematographer.
"I do think the movie... had to rush through the experience and change Paul and Jessica had."
I have to agree with George here. I mean, Chani is pointing out how Paul doesn't know how to properly walk across sand, and only months later (as his sister isn't even born yet) he's leading enough Fremen to overpower the combined Harkonnen and Sardaukar forces in that final battle. In the book, it's much longer.
I understand why it was done this way as there is only so much time in a film. Still, that is one of the few gripes I have, and I kinda wish Villeneuve did a few years time jump halfway through or something.
It’s also why Chani is pouty in the end. In the book Jessica is her friend and she is fully prepared to be Paul’s concubine. Because they rushed the time among the fremen, chani couldn’t develop the way she did in the books. It’s a little sad, since it will either be immediately undone or be forced to part wildly from Messiah.
Probably didn't want a talking baby. Looked silly in the 1984's version. Different in books than on screen. Having a foetus speak telepathically is more "accessible", in a weird way. That's my guess to why they did this anyway. Maybe it's something else.
@@TheGavraelI don’t think that’s why chani is like she is. I think it’s because they wanted a character that points out the artificial nature of the prophecy and is skeptical of the whole thing.
@@vhufeosqapthis reason as well. Chani understands tactics enough that she will be able to understand politics given enough time.
That is not the main reason at all. It was pure girl boss reason.
I never thought of Stilgar as Morpheus until this movie. I’ve probably read Dune a dozen times. The beauty of DV’s love for the source material is that even when he changes things, he pays so much respect to the original work in the way he does it. The rebellious youth Chani and her friends, are critical to the movie goers ability to understand an important theme of the book: prophecy is destruction. Paul knowing in this movie that his relationship with his love will be damaged by the choice he eventually knows will be his only possible one, is foreshadowing how that choice will play out in the third movie. Brilliant. Just brilliant.
40:40 the first book takes place over 3-ish years, so yea it'd make sense why it'd all feel like its happening really fast
The pronunciation for Chani matches how you would pronounce it in French, and the first time Denis Villeneuve read the novel, it was the French translation
@SorcerSundryFrank didn't reveal how he pronounced the names till a ways after, and when he did he said he was fine with everyone pronouncing them how they wanted. Half of the readers have been pronouncing it the way the movie did for years--and it sounds better.
“Chah-Nee” seems to me the best pronunciation. She is Fremen and the Fremen were heavily inspired by Arabic culture and language. It makes sense that it’s not a long “a” sound and that it matches the vowel pronunciation of “a” in words like Sayyadina, Sihaya, and Stilgar.
Written as it is, and given the Arabian vibes of the Fremen culture, I think the French pronounciation wouldn't be far off. The English one, on the other hand...
The pronunciation of Chani is also how you would pronounce it in Spanish. And maybe all or most romance languages I am guessing.
Chani is a very common Hebrew nickname for Hannah, so I've always read the name as starting with IPA /x/, rhymes with Bonnie.
"Put your right hand in the box."
Don't mind if I do. Oh, that wooden box.
Oh, wait... her personal box is kinda wooden too... 👌😁
'Only the Mahdi would deny he is Mahdi'.
Lovely Monty Python joke here: from 'Life of Brian' :
Fanatical follower: 'Only the messiah would deny he is messiah, and I should know, I've followed a few!'
Brian: 'What chance does that give me, then? Oh, alright, I AM the messiah!'
Crowd: 'He IS the messiah!'
This book and two movies are about how all charismatic leaders come with a 'danger to your health' warning.
Paul could just be eating breakfast and Stilgar would be like “AS IS FORETOLD”
"He had TWO eggs, exactly like the Mahdi!"
@@jaredragland4707 "Only the Mahdi would deny The Prophecy of the Two Eggs."
denis was actually gonna have austin who plays feyd speak with his normal voice like dave who plays rabban did but austin insisted on training his voice to sound like stellan bc obviously feyd grew up with vladimir and would likely sound like him
The sand riding scene was almost all practical effects. The huge dune was artificial and underneath it were trucks with buckets the created the collapse of the dune. They actually filmed the stunt guy falling into it.
@14:25 the warrior name he chooses is first mentioned in his vision in the tent with his mother in part 1. Paul is using it to his advantage here.
I appreciate the film version of Chani over the book version. In the book, Chani is a passive and complete supporter of Paul. Also, in the book, Paul is consistently questioning the ethics of the path he's being steered toward -- but these doubts are all inside his head. Transferring those themes of doubt from Paul's head to Chani's voice was an elegant solution for the film adaption -- and it makes Chani a more interesting character as a bonus.
The other major change from the book to the film that I'm not 100% on board with is how they shortened Paul's time with the Fremen. Instead of squeezing the timeframe down to Jessica's length of pregnancy, in the book he's with the Fremen for YEARS before running into Gurney Hallack again. But I can guess they rushed it in order to avoid having to include Paul's toddler sister running around doing creepy things in the film
(book spoiler: it's not Paul who kills the Baron).
the pacing is a bit weird ye. i find zendayas performance the weakest to be honest. not much going on there. batista has a limited role, but that's more the character i think. the visuals are rediculously good though:-))
Personally idc about the shortening of time since I’m the book we skip over soooo much stuff so cutting that big time skip out and making all the scenes flow felt better
@@ConClasher3I think internally the pacing works well in the film, but his acceptance among the Fremen and rise with the Fedaykin would make far more sense over a longer time span than the few months it’s given. I personally think it was the right choice to make that trade off though, avoiding having to try pulling off the absolute miracle it would’ve taken for general audiences to at all accept “wizened stabby toddler” in a film with this serious of a tone. It works a lot better being able to focus on the already weird enough for non readers suspension of disbelief for what they went with.
Chani is passive? I guess she is just a fierce warrior, knife demon and a Bene Gesserit in training, you know, just passive🙄
They also could have used the spice change to explain away why Jessica's pregnancy was extended - a necessity to allow the baby to adapt better.
41:26
"The chain mail is so sss- awesome."
I know what you were gonna lmao. 😂😂😂
As far as the sludge bath, it is unique to the movies. I assume since the first time we see him in it is after he survives Leto's poison it is some sort of therapeutic treatment. Practically it does a good job of hiding Stellan Skarsgards prosthetics.
Is it weird that it looks really really comfy? Like a slightly treacly hot tub.
@@agp11001 lol. I don't know it looks too oily to me. Like bathing in barrels of crude.
I’d love to know where the idea came from. I’ve always had silly daydreams about a miracle cure for all illnesses and injuries, and the way it would work was always a sludge bath - that’s how the healing substances reach every part of the body. Just makes sense to me.
@@mm9773 Can't remember if that sludge bit is in the books (don't think so), but one similar thing in pop culture that comes to mind is the Lazarus Pit R'as Al Ghul uses...
For me, the key line in the movie (not included here) is Stilgar answering Paul's reluctance and scepticism by roaring "I don't care what you believe, *_I_* believe" - that's the whole thing, right there.
"Only the true Mahdi denies his divinity!"
a black sun absorbs light... that is why everything turns black and white.. its amazing!
If I recall from the book correctly, not even the Bene Gesserit knew Jessica's parentage. Their plan was to join the Harkonnen and Atreides bloodlines via Jessica's daughter, but she defied the sisterhood and gave Leto a son, who turned out to be the Kwisatz Haderach a generation earlier than planned by sheer accident.
The BG know (they are the ones who took the Baron's seed), they just kept it from Jessica and the Baron. The long heritage of both sides is very important to their plan to create a Kwizatch Haderach. Jessica learns it through the Water, just like Paul does, and the Baron when he meets Alia (or Paul in this case).
I always thought that the Kwisatz Haderach coming a generation early is part of why Paul was flawed as a character. He was very close to being the 'chosen one' but not 100%.
Yes. Paul was supposed to be a girl, in which case the plan was for her to marry Fay Rautha, who is approximately the same age, uniting the two bloodlines.
Bene Gesserit knew it all.
@@LordVolkov - If I remember correctly from the novel wasn't the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam ordered by the BG to have relations with the Baron (which ended badly as Mohiam avenged her abuse from the Baron by infecting him with his disease) in order to give birth to Lady Jessica.
That leitmotif in several tracks in this film, especially how it's used in the final minutes and credits, lives rent free in my entire body. It's such a mixture of emotions, and it matches the gravity of the ending perfectly.
Pretty sure all the screen adaptations pronounce Chani with a hard ch and “ah” sound. Like the cha-cha + knights who say “ni!”
The SciFi Channel miniseries pronounced it CHAY-nee (hard ch)
sietche is said with almost two syllables in the audiobooks, same with Atriedes.
In this movie when they would say the name of the sietch it sounded like they were saying tabL and that’s very different from tabUr in the books etc.
I've watched the 1984 Dune, which pronounces her name CHAH-nee, and so that's how I said it in my mind as I read the books. Preparing for Dune 1, I listened to the audiobook and winced whenever I heard CHAY-nee. It would've been okay, except that all I could think about was Dick Cheney, the US Vice President during George W Bush's terms. He was a really awful guy.
@@mtascp05 oh no haha, I hadn’t even thought he of Dick Cheney
@@DataCab1e ah, i misremembered then. Thanks for the correction!
I believe the change in Chani's character helped make the books message concerning the dangers of charismatic leaders more obvious.
You really should've added a "that's so cool!" counter for this episode...
The visions started before he went to Dune. And Austin Butler trained to sound like The Baron.
paul didn't know how this fight would end, as feyd is also a possible Kwisatz Haderach
Re: Pronunciation. Given that Herbert's son & granddaughter served as producers on the movie, and that Herbert personally narrated excerpts from his novel... Villeneuve was well aware of how Herbert intended to pronounce all the names.
Yes Dune Messiah has been greenlit...He told Anya Taylor Joy the same thing he told Zendaya, you will have a small part in the first movie but you'll come in the second one...I can't wait for Alia...Things are going to go off the rails.
Chani's name 'desert spring' is such because she is the daughter of Liet Kynes, descendant of Pardot Kynes, who came to Arrakis to 'green' it.
The botanical testing station was one of many. Turning Arrakis green, ending the reliance on spice was a three hundred year plan. The huge underground stores of water are a major part of this. Which is almost forgotten in the two films, but not in the book.
Remember the man watering the trees in Arrakeep? 'Why do it?' 'An old dream'.
Rebecca Ferguson needs to play Greek Godness or something. she radiates that aura :D
These two Dune films are MAGNIFICENT!! I first read Dune in high school, in the 1980s, and I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for someone to actually do this story justice. Of all the changes made to the story for the sake of the movie, I think I dislike what they did with Chani at the end the most. It absolutely did not go that way in the book, but I won't spoil it for you. I assume, if he's doing Dune Messiah, they'll clear it up then and did that scene the way they did for a kind of cliffhanger.
That bit at the beginning with him denying being the chosen one made me think of Life of Bryan. Maybe Paul Atreides is a very naughty boy.
11:30 Chani be like "Are you House-splaining desert walking to me?" 😂
Simone's Sting joke is priceless.
Watching you two since 2020, love that you seem to be having the time of your lives every watch. It’s what keeps me coming back. Love that you enjoyed this so much, too.
"Sand Mountain, Part 2", nice!
47:48 I mean, they casted Tim Blake Nelson in a main supporting role and shot multiple sequences with him and they didn’t even put him in the Final Cut of the movie 🤷🏻♂️. Thufir Hawat, the mentat from the first movie is in the same boat as well. They even got a special thanks in the credits for their time.
Quick fun thing I learned about this movie:
The Throne Room near the end is a practical set and is absolutely gorgeous, I recommend checking out pictures of it. Also it's kinda sad that I'm so amazed they built a set, most movies would just do green screen.
They've built a lot of really huge and impressive setpieces for this movie.
17:57: His dreams always proceed his time on Arrakis. 18:52 also thats drum sand--which are patches of sand that are easier for the worms to hear/sense the vibrations of movement; the first movie talks about it.
"I hate to say it but he's also kinda hot"
THATS WHAT I'M SAYIN 😂
Simone hit the nail on the head. Those extensions the Fremen use to breathe while under the sand are called "sandsnorks."
I always wondered how the thumpers determine if worms come straight up to eat something vs sideways to be ridden like a taxi. Is it explained in the books?
The barons bath is a spice emmulsion used to heal the baron (spice conserves life, spice prolongs life). the baron became a spice addict why he continues to enjoy prolonged bath sessions.
I left the movie with a profound feeling of "Whelp, the citizens of the Empire probably would have been better off if Feyd, the literal psychopath, had killed Paul in that Duel."
With the way he behaves i'm not sure which outcome would have the least deaths in the near future versus total deaths over the next 10,000 years - maybe he'd get murder hungry and want to massacre every single House. If sadistic Harkonnen peeps were in charge for the next 10k years perhaps the Empire would even collapse entirely, who knows.
It's a good metaphor for people in this day and age who are so miserable with their life, that they vote just to shake the system up, unconcerned if that change is good or bad--"Some people just want to see the world burn."
And I doubt it would have been that much better with Feyd as emperor. We know for a fact the Emperor was dangerous but interested in stability and maintaining the status quo, something neither Paul nor Feyd were interested in, for different reasons.
Nope, that's the sad part and Paul knows it. By taking the position of the fremen's messiah he already set in motion the holy war. If he died it would be as a martyr and the war would go on without him. It was going to happen no matter what.
Paul calling his first worm always reminds me of the National Lampoon parody novel. In their scene, Paul seeing all the fremen running away was a sign that he dialed his thumper too high. :D
The book ends with Chani doubting Paul's devotion to her, and Jessica trying to persuade her, and we don't know how she receives it...
Momoa's casting and attiitude sets up the 3rd movie so well. Just like Brolin for Gurney.
The arena scene in theaters was simply insane
The best sequence of the whole movie.
It was meh.
Great reaction guys! Yeah, Anya Taylor Joy was confirmed as Alia in the last part of Denis Villeneuve's Dune tryptich. But then, we'll also have a very nice surprise with old characters... :)
In an interview (1st part promo), Timothé Chalamet was saying that he was a huge fan of Villeneuve's movies. Among the usual big movies, he named "Polytechnique" whcich he had seen and been blasted by it. I also can vouch for it.