The Bookwyrm

That....was a dark movie.

I mean, I knew logically that the story wasn't that happy, but I don't think I realized it until I started watching and was like...

Oh.

The world was beautiful. Denis Villeneuve is a master at worldbuilding; and I don't mean the written kind, the stuff Frank Herbert already did. I mean the feel of the world. The vibe, for lack of a better world. He brought the Fremen culture in all it's complexity to life, made their struggle real, their traditions real, their customs real, their hopes and dreams and fears real. Arrakis is a lived-in world, and Villeneuve did an awesome job portraying that.

Also, the Harkonnens are terrifying. They did very well establishing that...When Paul said something along the lines of "That's how we'll survive. We'll be Harkonnens," it scares you, because you've seen what those people are. They're monsters. And you don't want him to become the same.

Also, Jessica's "Do it" is far better than Palpatine's. Just saying.

Speaking of Jessica, her shift is also terrifying. You truly see that she is a Bene Gesserit. She's playing the long game, but with her own twist. The only thing she has left to live for was Paul, and she put everything she had into placing him on the path she foresaw. The Fremen had their own fanatical worship and belief in Paul, but Jessica had her own, in a way...

There were some beautiful parallels between Gurney's spice-harvester scene and Paul's in the first movie. It kind of highlights Paul's growth and change.

Also the scene where the Fremen fought off Rabban after their ornithopter strike had a parallel, at least in my mind, with the Atreides massacre in part 1. The tables turned on him.

Alright, let's have a chat about Alia.

I actually like what they did here. By making her a character, aware, with her own emotions, thoughts, feelings, and even dialogue, all while being unborn, you get a sense for why the Bene Gesserit consider her an abomination. You see why they're scared of her. In many ways you are scared of her, watching the movie, because she seems to have such knowledge and influence.

I kind of wish they'd let Jessica kill the Baron...But what happened made sense for what they'd set up.

I need to re-read Dune and Dune: Messiah now... I'm curious to see how Chani's character is going to develop in the next movie. Her ending is vastly different from the one in the book, which ends with a touching line from Jessica...We'll see how this all turns out.

This movie was awesome. Scary, yes. Saddening, yes. But thought provoking and beautiful at the same time. Well worth the wait.