Dune (Denis Villeneuve, October 1, 2021) Movie • Page 46

Pardon the third post in a row, but I wanna keep sharing some of these racial/cultural critiques when I come across them:

 

The first book doesn’t really explain why Spice is crucial to interstellar travel in too much greater detail either beyond just that it helps expand the mental capabilities of the guild navigators and that without the Spice to do that then interstellar travel is not possible. It’s all another consequence of the world not having any computers.

 

The movie explained the spice space travel stuff in one sentence, just like the book. Navigators take the spice to go galaxy brain so they can see the safe paths.

 

I hadn't read the books in years, and the more I was thinking about this and trying to remember, I thought I remembered that the book was written in a way also where parts of the action take place off-screen so-to-speak, where he actually doesn't write out a scene where someone else would like have a big action scene or something like that. I can't come up with any other way to describe what I'm trying to say better, and it sounds frustrating when I say it out, but it's always something I've liked about his writing style with the first book in particular, but also with the other 5 books he wrote as well. I remember sampling the books written by his son and the other author that continue the series and, among other weaknesses, they weren't written in this style and kinda reminded me of mediocre movie tie-in novelizations.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that something that struck me as odd and annoying on my first watch of this movie was most likely extremely well thought out by the filmmakers and ultimately the best choice.

 

seeing this today in XDX and dolby, stoked

 

Starting a 2nd watch now, let’s gooo

 

looks like it! and that’s not including the rest of today

 

Love love loved this. Can’t believe we live in a world where “nerd” culture has come far enough that this could be the next big thing. I’ve already heard lots of coworkers, family members, etc talking about this who have definitely never read the source material.

 

That’s almost 10 million more than it was tracking for, and I imagine the second weekend will be quite good considering word of mouth.

 

Looove to see it. Now if the streaming is also showing strong results (which I bet it is) that’s even more exciting.

 

Kwisatz Haderach

"Kwisatz Haderach was a term used primarily by the Bene Gesserit. It was an old Chakobsa term that translated literally as "Shortening of the Way".


Origins
The term originated from the Bene Gesserit's prescient powers, and their inability to venture into a specific region of prescient knowledge. This region, though mysterious in nature, was known to be unattainable to females. Specifically, the spice melange allowed the Bene Gesserit to unlock genetic memory, but only on their maternal side. Female humans carry two X chromosomes, while males possess an X chromosome and a Y chromosome. A Kwisatz Haderach would be capable of accessing genetic memories stored within both chromosomes, while those memories were inaccessible to Bene Gesserit. Memories from male ancestors are still accessible to females with access to genetic memory (Alia is able to make contact with the ego memory of Vladimir Harkonnen for instance) but due to the lack of the Y chromosome, the memories were incomplete. Accessing the full paternal memories was impossible for the Bene Gesserit, and the very thought of trying was terrifying to them. Further, melange also exposed the Sisterhood (and others) to a limited form of prescience - thoughts, feelings, images into the near future, but no more.

Bene Gesserit Attempt
The Bene Gesserit desire to uncover this knowledge and its associated powers, drove them to initiate a long-running genetic breeding program. This would yield a male with mental powers capable of bridging space and time and that he would be under the direct control of the Sisterhood. The Bene Gesserit knew that not only would their Kwisatz Haderach possess Other Memory on both the male and female side, but that he would be able to predict the future precisely. He would be Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, Mentat, and Guild Navigator, all in one.

After the emergence of this male - Paul Atreides - the term Kwisatz Haderach was also understood as meaning "one who can be many places at once", and became synonymous with Paul. In time, it also came to encompass his sister, Alia Atreides, and his son Leto Atreides II, since they all had similar abilities.

The initial Bene Gesserit plan was to breed the daughter of Duke Leto Atreides to a Harkonnen male, which would produce the Kwisatz Haderach. This was to be the culmination of more than 10,000 years of careful breeding. This plan would have seen the end of the centuries-old feud between the Great Houses Atreides and Harkonnen, and placed a prescient, Bene Gesserit-controlled male on the Golden Lion Throne, the Kwisatz Haderach. However, because of her love for Duke Leto, the Lady Jessica disobeyed her fellow Bene Gesserit and gave birth to a son instead of a daughter, to give him an heir, Paul.

It seemed fairly certain from early in Paul's life that he would in fact be the Kwisatz Haderach, since he showed an ability to see into the future. It was when he was fifteen years of age that the Bene Gesserit sent a Reverend Mother to test Paul's prescience and his training in the Bene Gesserit ways. This event appeared to be a significant catalyst for the events that would befall the universe for the next several thousand years. Paul's testing with the Gom Jabbar, as well as the Sisterhood's silent complicity in his father's death, proved to instill significant negativity in Paul against the Sisterhood. As a result, when he reached young adulthood, and ascended to the Golden Lion Throne, he vowed that he would never be under the control of the Sisterhood. Because of this, the Sisterhood lost control of their breeding program, their Kwisatz Haderach, and the possibility of placing a Bene Gesserit on the throne."

 

I know money is still money, but it doesn't feel like studios realistically adjusted their expectations in light of the pandemic. I know they shifted their release strategies and juggled dates around and stuff, but it feels like they are still using pre-pandemic box office comparisons and numbers when looking at how successful a movie is at the box office.

I am the biggest movie buff out of anyone I know in daily life (not online) and I wouldn't be caught dead inside of a movie theater right now. I've been waiting decades for a solid movie version of Dune, and you honestly could not pay me to go watch this in a theater still. Not yet.

I'm not knocking anyone that goes to see this in a theater, it's just not for me yet. This seems like a movie that is meant to be seen on the big screen if ever there was one.

* Edited to add that I know this movie must have cost a ton to make, and typically would need to make a shitload at the box office to be considered a success.

 

Everyone was wearing a kn95 at my viewing. Also I believe cinema is only for the vaccinated here.

it was a bit annoying but worth it.

 

this was always gonna be a gamble, it's an auteur making a dense 2 and a half hour movie based on a cult classic, and obviously the cast is stacked but Zendaya is only in it for 7 minutes so if that's why you're going you'll probably be disappointed

 

my favorite part is that he knows about and references Shai Hulud the band several times.

 

The Regals are not requiring it. But honestly I’ve been to two dozen or so movies since theaters opened back up and people have had their masks on 80% of the time, if not better.

then again, we live in Portland, soooooo…

 

Loved this and am really glad I saw it in a cinemark xd theater

 

Watching a 2nd time, this time with subtitles, when the Baron is eating food at Duke Leto's dinner table, he says "You have a wonderful kitchen, cousin"

Didn't pick up on this the first time; the Baron is Lady Jessica's father, so I'm not quite sure how that makes Leto the Baron's cousin, as he's one level down from the Baron in a family tree. So who exactly is he referring to then

 

Kinship or friendship?

 

Alright, finally sitting down for this. Let’s go.