Denis either didn’t get Dune (doubt it, or at least I’d like to believe so, seeing how fascinated he’s been with Dune, historically, but he’s a visual artist and not a philosopher/writer so it’s always possible) or was forced by money people for money reasons to drastically change some important characters in ways that make no internal sense (but are more appealing to the Western audience). Both movies are basically just well shot, very pretty spectacles and, if you’ve read Dune, you know the essence of it is in the silent reflection, logical inferences and ideological battles, so even at their core the movies failed to understand Herbert. Idk, it’s just a mess, a very pretty one but “random religious disunity in a group that actually believes and is currently being subjugated by the great powers” and “spicy, annoying, immature New-Yorker who’s supposed to be the ideal, loving and wise woman (and much of the reason why the plot advances at all) for a man assaulted by visions and the pressure of power” definitely soured the whole watching experience.
I look at it more that Denis made a lot of choices to remove a lot of the more esoteric elements to fit that it was a movie and a sequel made years later. A lot was removed from the book, but it still feels well paced for two movies.
And if you’re going to make significant cuts, you might as well cut out the really weird shit.
He kept all the magic thingies and even added an element that was not present in the books with the random female voice/voices “speaking prophecies” to Paul. But more importantly, he ruined a main character, transforming her into basically a contemporary American. It might be well paced, it might be pretty, but it’s not Dune and it doesn’t make as much sense as it should have had they not messed with it for the sake of larger audiences.
Books and movies have very different options and rules for storytelling. Changes must be made and those decisions will never make everybody happy. I realized at one point that a movie or show, even if it’s retelling a story from a book, will never match my expectations. It’s always just another entry in that stories universe. That allowed me to enjoy adaptations more.
Must? Idk about that. Will, sure, for financial reasons usually, but there were too many big, nonsensical changes in Denis story… This is like making Sam from LOTR a sneaky, dishonest fella but keeping the rest of the story as it is. 🤷
A book can just tell you what a character is thinking, your focus as a reader is always exactly where the writer wants it to be, because there is nothing to focus on but the words. None of that translates to movies. The broad rule for screenplays is that one page translates to one minute of runtime. You can’t directly translate a 400 page book into a screenplay. You must adapt it and make changes. Some are easy, because descriptions of how something looks like become an image. Others are difficult.
Denis either didn’t get Dune (doubt it, or at least I’d like to believe so, seeing how fascinated he’s been with Dune, historically, but he’s a visual artist and not a philosopher/writer so it’s always possible) or was forced by money people for money reasons to drastically change some important characters in ways that make no internal sense (but are more appealing to the Western audience). Both movies are basically just well shot, very pretty spectacles and, if you’ve read Dune, you know the essence of it is in the silent reflection, logical inferences and ideological battles, so even at their core the movies failed to understand Herbert. Idk, it’s just a mess, a very pretty one but “random religious disunity in a group that actually believes and is currently being subjugated by the great powers” and “spicy, annoying, immature New-Yorker who’s supposed to be the ideal, loving and wise woman (and much of the reason why the plot advances at all) for a man assaulted by visions and the pressure of power” definitely soured the whole watching experience.
I look at it more that Denis made a lot of choices to remove a lot of the more esoteric elements to fit that it was a movie and a sequel made years later. A lot was removed from the book, but it still feels well paced for two movies.
And if you’re going to make significant cuts, you might as well cut out the really weird shit.
He kept all the magic thingies and even added an element that was not present in the books with the random female voice/voices “speaking prophecies” to Paul. But more importantly, he ruined a main character, transforming her into basically a contemporary American. It might be well paced, it might be pretty, but it’s not Dune and it doesn’t make as much sense as it should have had they not messed with it for the sake of larger audiences.
Books and movies have very different options and rules for storytelling. Changes must be made and those decisions will never make everybody happy. I realized at one point that a movie or show, even if it’s retelling a story from a book, will never match my expectations. It’s always just another entry in that stories universe. That allowed me to enjoy adaptations more.
Must? Idk about that. Will, sure, for financial reasons usually, but there were too many big, nonsensical changes in Denis story… This is like making Sam from LOTR a sneaky, dishonest fella but keeping the rest of the story as it is. 🤷
A book can just tell you what a character is thinking, your focus as a reader is always exactly where the writer wants it to be, because there is nothing to focus on but the words. None of that translates to movies. The broad rule for screenplays is that one page translates to one minute of runtime. You can’t directly translate a 400 page book into a screenplay. You must adapt it and make changes. Some are easy, because descriptions of how something looks like become an image. Others are difficult.