I read Frank Herbert's book, Dune, when I was in high school and really don't remember it much except that it was great and a little scary. At that age, I probably didn't get the subtext message.
I never saw any movies of it so I decided to watch both the 1984 Dune by David Lynch and the 2021 Denis Villeneuve version sequentially. I'm going to talk about both of them here.
This may not be a popular opinion: Lynch's version is brilliant and the Villeneuve Dune is absolute shit. Here's why:
First, is the Villeneuve Dune slick? Yes, absolutely. I should hope so considering it's nearly 40 years after Lynch did his, for crissake.
Are the character's in David Lynch's version kitschy and over the top? Yes! That's one reason it's so much better! It's Sci Fi, duh! You watch Marvel movies and suspend disbelief for incredible, imaginary super powers? All of Lynch's characters are downright gritty and believable within this particular surreal fantasy.
By the end of the Lynch Dune, I had sympathy for nearly every character in the film. Even the villains caught my emotions. Paul Atreides character development was realistic and attractive.
Villeneuve's characters? I felt like my neighbor came over and asked, "Hey, can you come to watch my kid's junior high school play?" "Sure, Denis, just let me fill my 1-liter flask with tequila first."
Villeneuve's characters were so damned flat and lifeless that they evoked NO emotional response whatsoever. Although I occasionally sit through a bad flick, I can't remember recently watching a movie as awful character-wise, as the 2021 Dune. If I were an actor on that set, I would be silently screaming. How does a director even do this?
Oh, and where's the creativity? It's 46 years since George Lucas founded Industrial Light & Magic, and Denis can't create one single, new, goddamn space machine 46 years later? (One could argue the hummingbird copter is new, but it's not so creative when you realize that we didn't even know how hummingbird wings actually worked until this millennia.)
But here's the real clincher: the screenplay. David Lynch gave us a complete story. Sadly, he didn't have the final cut and disowned his film when the critics panned it. Despite the fact that Lynch is a true artist and genius, the studio took 45 minutes out of the film. 45 minutes! Even ruined by the studio, even 40 years later, Lynch's film has a clear vision and carries the timeless message that Frank Herbert intended. I would LOVE to see the original cut!
Villeneuve, on the other hand, stopped abruptly in the middle of the book. I now realize that Denis is not about the story. Denis is all about the franchise money, and that sucks. As a result of the bad screenplay, this 2021 version doesn't even carry the socio-political statement it was supposed to have. I want my 155 minutes back.
I don't watch Part 2s, especially when it comes to void-of-creativity and void-of-character-development Hollywood movies. You can take your bad franchise and shove it up your sci fi black hole.
Admittedly, I loved Blade Runner 2049, but this is so disappointing, I may never watch another Villeneuve film again. Do yourself a favor and see David Lynch's version of Dune.