Letters from Arrakis

Part Four: A Dune with a View

Dear Reader,

If you’re new here, in these Letters from Arrakis we—Claudia, Vanessa, Nathan, and I—discuss Frank Herbert’s Dune and in this fourth and last instalment we’ll be talking about its latest adaptation by Denis Villeneuve. If you haven’t seen the movies yet, there will be spoilers.

Part One ≣ Part Two ≣ Part Three

Previously on Dune

Duke Leto moves to Arrakis to oversee Spice production per the Emperor’s decree, which inevitably leads to the fall of House Atreides. Paul escapes into the desert with his mother and joins the Fremen. Jamis challenges him, and during the Amtal, a fight to the death, Paul faces a hard choice: kill or be killed. Killing Jamis is a step towards fulfilling the prophecy. Paul knows this. He chooses this path. The path to…

…Desert Power.

Riders on the worm
Riders on the worm
Into this house, we're born
Into this world, we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the worm…

Dune Part 2 – CREDIT: WARNER BROS.

What are your initial thoughts on the film?

Alexander: I watched Dune: Part Two with a friend of mine—he has not read the books, nor has any intention to—and he loved Part One. We discussed a bit in the car on the way back, and we agreed Part Two is good, not as good as Part One, though, not because of all the changes in adaptation but more because it felt like an incomplete movie, and while there wasn’t any Jim Morrison, there is something psychedelic about Dune. Once Part Three is released, some will want to watch all three back to back, no doubt. 

Vanessa: A psychedelic-fueled nocturnal Dune marathon is definitely an appealing idea.

Nathan: I'd be curious to know what anyone would think of Part Two without having seen Part One. I'm not sure I could binge it. It's long. Anyway, I'm riding the same worm here, I think. I preferred Part One. This sequel is a spectacle, an epic film that is visually stunning in so many ways, and there's lots I loved, but … there's a tinge of Hollywood here that I didn't feel in the first film.

Alexander: Right. I did hear that for some, the sound was too much; a tour de force. During Paul’s sandworm ride, my seat was shaking, but as you say, visually and aurally stunning, yet the movie somehow remains… somewhat empty.

Claudia: A tour de force? I’m obsessed with Hansi’s music, and I love the feeling of being surrounded by that music. The scene where Paul is riding the worm is epic. Funny thing, I felt that emptiness after the first part when I left the cinema underwhelmed and very critical. I kept thinking about the film, trying to understand what bothered me. Then I decided to watch it again. And again. And again. Only after the fourth time it clicked and I completely fell in love with it. In the second part, I thought that some things were forced, like Chani’s character, the banter of the youngsters making fun of the elderly and their outdated beliefs. Jessica was too one-sided, but overall, I loved it and I’m looking forward to watching it again.

Nathan: It opened to nearly $180 million worldwide, with a rating of 8.9 on IMDB (from 200k ratings), so I’d say that the general consensus is that people enjoy Dune.

Alexander: Yes, and for me, the preferred way to enjoy Dune. Epic Science Fiction cinema.

Nathan: Those visuals! We get Arrakis as before (though peppered with far more worm), but we also get Kaitain, the Emperor's planet, and the infrared glare of Giedi Prime. In Part One, we had the lushness of Caladan placed against the stark desert, but here, there's more for the eye. Even on Arrakis, we are treated to new sights.  

Alexander: Many changes were made. Not only in terms of characters or places but also time, as one might expect when adapting for the screen; the source material needs to be broken apart and put back together, choosing the parts that make a good film, cutting, changing, or adding new bits, according to the director’s vision.

Denis: When you adapt, there's always some kind of violence toward the original material. You have to change things, you have to bend, you have to make painful choices.

Daniel O’Donnell

has dune some sifting through the spicy sands of his deliberations, which you can read here.

Let’s talk about the Ch-ch-changes

Change is the only constant in the universe. —AI

Alexander: Let’s talk about character descriptions in Dune and how or if they influenced the casting choices. We all imagine what the characters and places look like, and so forth, with or without the help of descriptive passages from the text.

Nathan: Sometimes I struggle with excessive character descriptions. It forces me to stop and try to see it. “She was wearing a long coat the colour of tar. On her feet were sturdy boots with pink shoelaces that snaked through each eyelet like fluorescent worms.” I tend to prefer things with minimal descriptions, where I end up conjuring images more from the feel of a character, their actions and voice.

Alexander: One could say Dune’s character descriptions are minimal, and yes, it does leave more room for the reader’s imagination. Let’s look at Paul.

“Is he not small for his age, Jessica?” the old woman asked. […]
The old woman studied Paul in one gestalten flicker: face oval like Jessica’s, but strong bones…hair: the Duke’s black-black but with browline of the maternal grandfather who cannot be named, and that thin, disdainful nose; shape of directly staring green eyes: like the old Duke, the paternal grandfather who is dead.

Does Timothée Chalamet fit the bill?

What about Jessica? Tall, slim, bronze hair, green eyes, small nose, full lips. Crystal clear, it’s Rebecca Ferguson. Is it not?

Nathan: It's Rebecca Ferguson with face tattoos, which I fully endorse.

Alexander: And Feyd-Rautha! Dark hair, full lips, …

Dune Part 2 – CREDIT: WARNER BROS.

Nathan: I thought Feyd was well cast. He came across a little more stronger-willed in the film. Austin did a good job of bringing psychopathic life to this character. In casting him in the role, I suppose for some that choice may … Sting. (I’ll get my coat.)

Pundemonium!

Vanessa: What about Supertoddler Alia?

Alexander: There was a lot of chatter on the net because Alia was not even listed on the IMDb cast list until the London premiere, where Anya Taylor-Joy made an appearance as adult Alia.

Nathan: Yep. I feel like this was a deliberate tease to fans. Anyone unfamiliar with the book wouldn’t have noticed. My first thought was that they were just going to be using her for Alia’s voice. Not so.

Alexander: These changes impact Part Three considerably, and I surmise Denis incorporates Messiah into these choices. We will need to see the whole movie to find out if and how it all fits together. Will Princess Irulan still call Alia “St. Alia-of-the-Knife” now that Paul, instead of her, killed their granddaddy?

Nathan: *Shrugs* Probably. So, other changes. The whole North vs South thing. I didn’t like it. It was a deliberate means to inject some tension between the Fremen and sow discord within their ranks. Did this happen in the books? No. Did it need to happen in the film? No. The South are fundamentalists? Come on. It felt weak and contrived. Maybe without the context of the book, this feels fine, but when you know the story, it just seems like an odd choice to me.

Claudia: I didn’t mind the changes. Part Two stayed quite faithful to the source material and I commend Villeneuve for appreciating Dune to such a high degree that he only made minimal changes. I did mind Chani’s frowny face, though, that sour, aggressive expression on her face for two whole hours. Also, Paul and Chani not having Baby Leto, and Paul allowing Chani to leave at the end, diminished Paul’s character. Losing their child at the hands of the Harkonnen fueled Paul’s anger and resentment, pitting him against the emperor in that final face-off. Paul Atreides from the book would have never let Chani go, she was everything to him.

Nathan: "Minimal"? I wouldn't call the changes minimal. Maybe Denis also missed that paragraph at the start of Book Three where Frank clarifies several years have passed!

Why did Denis make these changes?

Claudia: Let’s ask him!

Alexander: Denis? Denis! He’s gone. Absent like Thufir and Fenring, chilling in the dunes for all we know. Count Fenring scenes were filmed but got cut, so there is no Fenring to refuse to fight Paul for the Emperor at the end and no Thufir to sacrifice himself.

"He's a character I absolutely love, but I decided right at the beginning that I was making a Bene Gesserit adaptation.” —Denis Villeneuve

Claudia: They cut scenes? We have to get our hands on them and watch them! Sacrilege!

Alexander: A Bene Gesserwrong adaptation! This explains why we didn’t see much of Baron Menace in Part Two.

Nathan: Is that his surname now? Menace?

Alexander: Well, he has since become a Phantom, out in the desert, and not even the worms care. But enough about the bad guys. What did you think of the chemistry between Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya?

Nathan: Side note. Jo walked out of the cinema less in love with Timothée this time… Not sure what that means. I liked the chemistry. I believed it. I felt for Chani and her worries.

Claudia: The chemistry between Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya was THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING! I wanted to cover my eyes every time those two had an intimate moment. Most unromantic couple I’ve ever seen on screen. These two were completely disinterested in each other romantically. Even Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes had more chemistry in Romeo + Juliet, even though they hated each other.

Vanessa: I can't comment as I haven't seen it yet. Dune has an ensemble cast with lots of big names. Where are the new talents? I wonder if they thought they needed the big names to draw people into cinemas. Based on the first film, though, I would say the films stand very well on their own. They could have cast new faces; pity they didn't.

Nathan: Yeah, I haven’t looked over the full cast list, but certainly across the major roles it’s a list of top names. Of the characters who had short appearances, I did really enjoy the portrayal of Idontrulan by Florence Pugh, plus Léa Seydoux as Lady Fenring, and Tony Cook as the Harkonnen Scanner Operator. (OK, so I plucked that last one from the bowels of the IMDB cast list I’m scrolling as we talk. Maybe Tony will be Googling himself and stumble across this post. “Hi, Tony! Nice job with the scanner!”) I just don’t care for Christopher Walken. At all. He always plays Christopher Walken.

Claudia: Speaking of the cast, Javier Bardem was absolutely fantastic and he carried the weight of the whole film. Every time he was on the screen the cinema roared with laughter or gasped with emotion. For me, he was the star of this film.

Alexander: But do we connect with any of the characters? Do we care who wins or loses?

Nathan: If we’re still on Changes here, then as I said, I cared for Chani. Especially at the end. It’s a lot better than Jessica’s brief and piss-weak paragraph of words that closes off the book. Feels like they’re setting up for more of a focus on her in Part Three.

Claudia: I cared for Paul in the book and I cared for Paul in the movie. He is so lonely, struggling to find a way out of the web of fabrications and deceit that threatens to choke him while turning into this monster, this Kwisatz Haderach, hoping to find that narrow path towards salvation. But he’s trapped in the quicksand of fate and the more he struggles the deeper he sinks.

Vanessa: It seems like a lot of detail was cut, which is only natural for a film adaptation. No one but the true nerds will watch an extended version including every single detail (see Lord of the Rings). Just as natural that it dumbs down the story, making it more palatable to the general public. In my opinion, this cuts much of what makes Dune the book great though. If you judge the film on its own, it might be great, but judging it as an adaptation, I'm not sure.

Nathan and Alexander: Hey, true nerds right here!

Imagination vs Adaptation

Alexander: Imagine all the thumpers, lying in the sand today, ah… we all know what sand looks like, it isn't hard to do, what a desert, what Arrakis looks like. But who is going to collect all those thumpers? Didn’t they learn in all those tens of thousands of years that littering is not OK?

Dune Part 2 CREDIT: WARNER BROS.

Vanessa: Obviously, the worms ate them all. Refuse incinerators of the desert?

Nathan: Haha. Jo leaned over and asked me the same thing. For an ecologically-focussed society, it does feel like littering. Surely someone does the rounds to go grab them. Or maybe the worms do eat them. Where was that lore in Dune’s appendix, Frank? (*Slowly grabs book to check because never actually read the appendix…*)

Alexander: Maybe the Fremen, being recycling pros, go in and, you know, recycle the shit out of those thumpers? Maybe they have Thumper-Retrievalists, working for Thumper Inc., hanging out all over the desert 24/7, no hazard pay, breathing spice all day, trying to grab that thumper before it goes down the hatch. Stilgar has a special fine-tuned thumper. I suspect he would love to have it back.

Denis: Yeah, it’s a thing you ask yourself. Is there something that they can find back there out of the digestive system of the worm? … 

Claudia: Denis, admit it, you hired the Burning Man crew to go clean up after your film.

Alexander: Okay, enough about thumpers and where they go or have been… In Part Two, we get to see Giedi Prime. Did you picture the arena fight the way Denis did? Did you have that in mind when you read Dune? A triangular arena? And those creepy black “bullhorn” picadors mocking the Atreides bullfighting history?

Nathan: Are you talking to us, Alexander, or someone else? Your eyes have a faraway look when you say “you.”

Alexander: You? Me? Him? No, you, all of the yous! Denis Villeneuve wanted to make that distinction between Giedi Prime and Arrakis. He said, “We can’t do a gladiator scene with sand because it will look like Arrakis. How about black and white?” Greig Fraser then had the idea of filming in infrared. Ingenious!

And so one of the passages I found most boring in the book is transformed into one of the most impressive scenes in the movie.

Nathan: It’s a great technique. Has it been used before? It gives a black & white vibe but with much more intensity.

Dune Part 2 CREDIT: WARNER BROS.

Vanessa: I'm looking forward to seeing that, both the infrared and the excitement! If done well, playing with the medium can be great, and I approve of this choice for a mass-marketed film.

Alexander: Fraser used it in other films before, but all that fancy tech would be nothing without Roger Yuan. He is the guy you want as a stunt coordinator. The fights were fantastic, fierce, intense. Denis gave him a small and well-deserved part in the movie, too.

Claudia: The Giedi Prime moment that I enjoyed the most was the seduction scene. The chemistry between Countess Fenring and Feyd-Rautha was sensual, dangerous, and electrifying. This made the ensuing romantic scenes between Paul and Chani even more cringeworthy.

Nathan: Léa Seydouxed him. (I'll get my coat again.)

How does the ending compare to the book?

Alexander: The movie sets up Dune Messiah more efficiently with Paul’s transformation, which is less apparent in the book, where one may consider him a hero in the end. A good choice, considering what is to come. Not everyone was on board with Dune Messiah when it came out.

“The serialized “Dune Messiah” was named “disappointment of the year” […] readers wanted stories about heroes accomplishing great feats, he said, not stories of protagonists with “clay feet.” —Brian Herbert, Introduction to Dune Messiah

Nathan: Closing all the character arcs in rapid succession in the end and focusing so much on revenge did the movie no favours.

Claudia: The ending didn’t do Paul justice. There’s a misunderstanding that the making of the Messiah was Paul’s doing. It was not. It was the doing of many people over many generations. At the end of the book, he is a 17-year-old boy forced into a life that he didn’t choose. I am truly surprised how little compassion there is for this young man who was manipulated into a situation that he cannot control, despite his desperate attempts. Also, there was no Fenring to refuse to fight for the Emperor, no Thufir to sacrifice himself for Paul, no creepy little Alia to kill the Baron, and no Spacing Guild when Paul threatens to “obliterate all spice fields” with atomics instead of killing the sandworms with the Water of Life.

Vanessa: Maybe Denis thought, blue water as a threat wouldn’t cut it.

Paul took a deep breath, said: “Mother, you must change a quantity of the Water for us. We need the catalyst. Chani, have a scout force sent out ... to find a pre-spice mass. If we plant a quantity of the Water of Life above a pre-spice mass, do you know what will happen?”
Jessica weighed his words, suddenly saw through to his meaning. “Paul!” she gasped.
“The Water of Death,” he said. “It’d be a chain reaction.” He pointed to the floor. “Spreading death among the little makers, killing a vector of the life cycle that includes the spice and the makers. Arrakis will become a true desolation—without spice or maker.” […]

“He who can destroy a thing has the real control of it,” Paul said.

Alexander: A long-winded, convoluted threat, isn’t it? Also, it’s kind of a secret that they have all that smurf juice. Imagine…

Paul: “Back off, or I pour Usquaebach on the worms!”

Emperor: “LOL!”

Nathan: OK, so I had to Google that. Clever. You know, in the book, Chani stays by Paul's side, yet in the movie, she doubts him and begins to become worried about his motives. Paul attacks the Houses straight away. Things change, but ultimately we end up reaching the same point.

Which Dune did you enjoy more?

Nathan: Movie. As we’ve said before, the book is full of great ideas but as a piece of literature, I don’t like it. Of course, without the book, there would be no movie, so …

Claudia: I appreciate the book for its ideas. There is literature for the sake of literature and there are books like Dune that attempt to reach higher in the realm of philosophy, ecology, politics, and social critique. They make us contemplate humanity from a novel perspective, they are a mirror and an oracle. Such writers make us think. The movie does a good job of addressing some of the themes in Dune. I also think that, as a society, we are more open to Dune today due to the struggles we’re currently facing. The movie complements the book very well.

Alexander: Movie, hands down. I wonder… can one enjoy Dune: Part Two without Part One? And if not, then there is an issue? What will all those changes mean for Dune Part Three? 

Paul: I don’t know. I am not the messiah…

Stilgar: Only the true Messiah denies his divinity! 

Paul: What? No! I am the… anti-hero.

*audience gasps*

Alexander: One needs no crystal ball to know that Dune: Part Three is going to be difficult.

The remaining books have their fans and detractors, but the general consensus is the saga never comes close to achieving the dramatic heights of the first novel. Dune director Denis Villeneuve himself has said the books become increasingly “esoteric” and therefore he only wants to adapt the next one, Dune Messiah. He is said to be nearly finished with a script for a potential Dune: Part Three. But Messiah has plenty of challenges, too. —The Hollywood Reporter

“Dune Messiah was written in reaction to the fact that people perceived Paul Atreides as a hero. Which is not what he wanted to do. My adaptation is closer to his idea that it’s actually a warning.” —Denis Villeneuve

Verdicts

Alexander: ★★★★ 
Visually and aurally stunning adaptation that stays true to the overall theme, with good performances, but the characters felt hollow.

Nathan: ★★★★ 
Four for me as well. Stunning, epic, a real romp, but with some choices that leave me a little baffled as to why and with characters I’m just not that invested in. I’ll forever be wondering how they got everyone onto the worm.

Claudia: ★★★★★
Five stars without any doubt. Even though I didn’t like Chani’s character and found some of the deviations from the book questionable, I think that Dune: Part Two was beautifully made, with exquisite music, cinematography, acting, emotion, and storytelling. It is a feast for all the senses.

Vanessa: I have yet to see it. Fun fact: It actually premieres on March 15 here in Japan.

Now to you

Did you watch Dune Part One and Two? What did you think of the movies? Let us know your thoughts and impressions.

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