The Long Wait Is Over + Dune Review & My Audible Wishlist #7

The moment you have been waiting for is here! Yes, I know it must seem like your world has come to a halt and you have not been able to focus on work, family, or your plans to finally make that My Little Pony/X-Men crossover movie. It may seem cruel for me to make you wait this long, but I have been BUSY.

Without further delay, here it is:

My review of Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune.. Or )UN( as the movie posters have stylized the title.

First, here is some free BONUS CONTENT:

My review of the David Lynch 1984 movie Dune.

The first Dune film, which tried to squeeze Frank Herbert’s epic novel into just over two hours, was an epic cringefest. Lynch gets an ‘E’ for effort for actually getting the movie made after many previous attempts failed, but the result wasn’t worth releasing in theaters (Lynch has since disowned the movie.) So, that version gets a grade of “Good initiative, bad judgment.” Bad judgment as in, instead of the “weirding way” martial arts method from the book, the 1984 Dune instead has sonic weapons called ‘“weirding modules.” WTF? The modules do nothing other than piss off fans of the book and add to the cost of special effects.

The next appearance of the Dune franchise in film/TV was Spice World in 1997, and that version was truly strange; I couldn’t understand how it related to the book at all. Maybe someone can explain it to me.

Then there was the almost five hour Dune miniseries on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2000. At the time, my wife and I watched eagerly, pleased at how faithfully the series followed the manuscript. The special effects were very good for the time, and the miniseries format allowed a focus on characters and story rather than rushing from one obligatory scene to the next. There was also a sequel miniseries Children of Dune that covered the books Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.

Anyway, now there is another Hollywood production of Dune, although “now” is relative; the filming wrapped up in July 2019, and the release was delayed by COVID.

The TL;DR version of my review: fantastic, with a few quibbles.

Fantastic because the movie doesn’t rush through the material. Warning: there is a VERY LONG intermission before the movie covers the second half of the book. Not “long” as in, go make yourself a sandwich. Long, as in, not until 2023.

So, the first movie ends on a major downer, with (SPOILER ALERT) the heroes either dead or banished to the desert. I am eagerly waiting for the second movie. Of course, I am also eagerly waiting for ExForce to be made into a TV show, and so far all I have to show for that is anguish and despair. Hopefully, someday I can write a newsletter about my experience with THAT process, which, UGH.

Because I’m writing this review, it is now QUIBBLE TIME!

The movie takes place on a desert planet, so why is everything so dark? The color palette mostly ranged from “gloomy” to “unending darkness.” Also, did architects from the old Soviet Union design all the architecture on every planet?

Those are style choices, and they worked to sell the message: the future is dark and dangerous, and heroes are needed to ensure the survival of anything that is good. (You will also notice the conspicuous absence of Taco Bells in the future, showing that there is nothing worth living for.)

More quibbles, which are mostly about the source material (although Frank Herbert is a genius, and I should be quiet). Duke Leto is a horrible failure as a leader. Doctor Yueh is compromised, and somehow the Atreides intel organization totally missed that glaring fact. The doctor somehow manages to drug Paul and his mother AND disable the house defenses. That is called a Single Point of Failure, and it is something you do not allow. Overall, Leto Atreides is a noble, heroic, tragic loser who let his family and troops down.

To wrap up my long, rambling, and incoherent rant (the best kind of rant!), there is a scene in the movie where Duncan Idaho runs across the airfield yelling, “Get everything with guns off the ground!” Um, knowing they were going to be attacked, shouldn’t the Atreides air power have been dispersed, with at least a combat air patrol aloft at any time? Instead, all their gunships were neatly lined up in rows on the ground, which NEVER happens in real life (except for at Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 and then ten hours later in the Philippines where US Army Air Corps bombers were destroyed on the ground). But I digress. (It’s me, so you have to expect some digressing.)

Below, my wife will offer a rebuttal of my review, although her feelings about the movie MIGHT be influenced by the presence of male eye candies Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, and Timothée Chalamet. 

MY WIFE’S COMPLETELY ACCURATE REVIEW OF MY REVIEW

Rebuttal is a strong word (and way too fancy)! I prefer to call it slamming your quibbles! Mainly, the movie was so true to the book that all of your strategy concerns are with the book, not the movie. If all of those concerns had been dealt with “appropriately,” there would have been no story because Paul would have never ended up in the desert. The “darkness” you speak of provides a foreboding atmosphere, which I think plays well to the storyline. 

Eye candy aside, the casting is spot on. Timothée Chalamet has got the brooding but not spoiled brat angle just right. Jason Momoa is a dish but also fits into the classic warrior with a heart role.

And finally, you’re right, you have no business quibbling about an amazing classic (which happens to be my favorite sci-fi book) written by a genius writer like Herbert.

RE-REBUTTAL

Note: I am NOT one of my wife’s favorite writers, so consider that.

- My Audible Wishlist - 

The Misfit Soldier by Michael Mammay

After ExForce Book 13: Fallout launches in December, while you are still waiting for the second Dune movie, check out something that I can’t wait for: Michael Mammay’s standalone sci-fi novel The Misfit Soldier. The tagline for the book is Ocean’s Eleven meets John Scalzi in this funny, action-filled stand-alone sci-fi adventure from the author of Planetside, in which a small team of misfit soldiers takes on a mission that could change the entire galaxy.”

Blah, blah, blah.

When Michael described the plot to me, we agreed it is Kelly’s Heroes in space with powered armor. THAT got me excited, and I am eagerly looking forward to reading it on February 22nd.

Evasion (Book 1: Scattered Stars) by Glynn Stewart,

Glynn Stewart, who IS one of my wife’s favorite writers, is releasing the first book in a new series this month. Evasion is set in his Scattered Stars universe, and all I can say is, if I left stars scattered around, my wife would insist I put them back where they belong before somebody trips over them.

First Light (Book 1: Resonance) by Casey E. Berger

Casey E. Berger, who is an author, a teacher, AND a physicist (clearly I am a slacker), has three books in her Resonance military sci-fi series. For me, these books had kind of an Honor Harrington feel to them, if Honor was a kick-ass special operator.