Well, yeah, you're right, I was just trying to give them the most charitable interpretation possible.
Saw it and liked it very much The bad: I don't think the movie is slow - I think the soundtrack is slow.... and CONSTANT. I love the work of Hans Zimmer, but it was just too much soundtrack. They whisper the dialogue way too much. Made it hard to hear and understand some parts of the movie. The end of the movie was kinda anti-climactic. The good: From the trailers, I thought the lead character (Timothée Chalamet) was poorly cast and would do a terrible job. He actually did an excellent job and so did the rest of the cast. Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Mamoa, Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista all did excellent work. The visual effect and CGI were excellent. The story is too complicated to go from start-to-finish in one movie, and I'm glad they're not trying to. The soundtrack sounds great (even though there's too much of it) I will watch again (probably several times). It is definitely be best visual representation of the story.
The only thing I didn't love was (a) lack of screen time for Yueh and the Baron (b) it ended in a weird spot. But it's really good.
I am a fan of Dune so really wanted this movie to be good: Biased 7/10 - Cinematically was amazing, really takes you into that world - Great cast, wish though they had a little more diversity at the top levels. Arab owners of the oil being saved by the white man, its 2021 people - Felt like it was rushed in parts where it makes little sense, is there no concept of controls, how the attack occurred with security systems in place was silly - May not appeal to wide enough an audience as the story in itself is complex and the delayering was not as satisfying IMO
If a 4 hr cut, the stuff not shown better be part 2. At 2+ hr in length, the theatrical cut actually felt good, didn't drag. I fear a 4hr edition, may ruin the current generally positive reception of the film.
Villeneuve has publicly stated that the current cut is the directors cut, in response to Momoa asking for a director's cut.
Saw it over the weekend and loved it. Definitely difficult to find an ending when the decision is to split it into two movies. I think Denis did his best there. I thought it was interesting that he didn't go out of his way to explain every little thing in the world building. Some of it people will just have to work out for themselves or be a bit of a mystery (like the mentats and why they were necessary). Also liked that the director replaced some of the unfortunate voiceover from the 1984 version with characters speaking, but speaking in languages the on screen characters wouldn't know so as to make it more of a moment for the viewer, but not take you out of it (like when Liet-Kynes remarked "He shall know your ways as though born to them" in the Fremen language). In some cases that wasn't possible and it made things a little awkward, like when Shadout Mapes presented the Chrysknife to Jessica...you would have to have read the books to understood everything that was going on in that scene. In general, very happy with what we got. Reasonably pleased with the box office response so far and I hope the studio decides to make part 2.
People were favorable to the Synder Cut because it gave their fans what they wanted and had the benefit of lowered expectations. I think the edits were fine if it was done to showcase eye candy with just enough detail to get the movie going. Denis's films are known to "drag" at the expense of scenery but if this were 30 years ago, the pacing would be just fine.
