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For those of you who have just joined and are wandering where to start reading Humanity Lost, start here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-8-ongoing-91659721?

Right so, my spoiler free opinions on Dune: part 2. For me personally, as someone who thoroughly enjoyed the first book (not so much the sequels) and returns to it from time to time, I thought it was just a pretty good adaptation, overall an enjoyable watch. Obviously as someone who has read the book many times, my perception of the movie is slightly different to someone who’s first experience of dune this was, so I can’t speak to that aspect of things. If you just want to know if I’d recommend watching it, I would. I really liked all of the scheming between the great houses and the power politics in the source material, but unfortunately this was lacking for the most part in this two part series. The baron barely talks (like, at all) and the baron featured in this retelling certainly isn’t the same character from the books, who is quite an interesting, intelligent and conniving character. The baron in this movie probably is all of those things, we just don’t get to see it, he just floats around and grunts a few words, that’s it. Dennis’ portrayal of the baron made me laugh a few times to be honest, reminding me of that “unbothered moisturized flourishing” meme of the bloke wallowing in the pond 😂 I’ll include it in this post just in case you don’t know what I’m on about. 

Dennis left a little too much out of the first movie that should have been in there and it left part 1 feeling very spaced out and slow as a result, part 2 does not suffer from the sparseness of part 1 and is genuinely better on all metrics. Whilst part 1 left a lot out and felt quite empty in parts, part 2 didn’t feel too rushed. I’ve seen a lot of people saying this is one of the best movies they’ve ever seen, I certainly don’t think so, it was just a competently made big budget movie in 2024 and that’s saying a lot. People are just so used to wading through the quagmire of slop content these days that it elevates dune part 2 through contrast. 

A common criticism that I saw a lot of my artist friends sharing is that part one looked so drab and boring, I share this view, however part 2 improves on this also. The designs and environments in this movie were just more interesting to look at, especially the Harkonnens, Giedi Prime and the emperors temporary base at Arrakeen. 

There were some fantastic scenes which were a spectacle to watch on the big screen, particularly whenever the sand worms were involved. The soundtrack sounded massive and also reminded me of blade runner at times. The big pay off at the end did feel incredibly short though mind you, which felt off considering that’s what it was all building up to. (***spoiler warning, skip to the end of paragraph***) I liked some of the decisions that Dennis made, particularly the way he handled the dynamics between lady Jessica and her prescient daughter who talks to her in her womb. I understand why he didn’t have Alia walking around as a super intelligent child though, that would have felt dissonant with the very serious tone of the movie.

Anyway, overall it’s a pretty alright movie, I’ll give it a 7/10. I‘d still say that I prefer the David lynch version though, it just has more character. 

Thanks so much as always for your support, I’ve got quite a lot to do this weekend, but I’ll be back on Monday with something new to show you. Have a great weekend everyone, I’ll see you all soon!