quote:
As a rabid defender of all things Dune related you have to admit that, through no fault of the filmmaker, the story is deluded and vague in alot of areas. Again Villeneuve and the performances are outstanding but the studio wasn’t in position to green light the full story right away and cost us a lot of important world building aspects of the story which decreased the weight of what’s happening. For example, the Sardaukar aren’t as formidable as they should be because of time constraints. The Harkonnens are one dimensional for the same reason. The emperor, Thufir, Duncan and a lot of other things as well. This should’ve been a Harry Potter length franchise but because of previous failures the setup had to be cut down to assure a return so we could get to the second movie. All these cuts takes away from the gravity and payoff in the story. You don’t have any pity for Paul’s enemies like in the books. You don’t understand how big of a feat it is to defeat the Sardaukar. You don’t feel the political pressure from the Guild. Those things take Dune from great to unquestioned greatest. I think this franchise will get better as it ages and the success of 2 could create an opportunity to flesh out the entire Dune universe.

I think is a reasonable take. However, I’d contend that in film making it’s better to err on the side of letting the audience fill the gaps as they see fit versus trying to over explain/keep up with the book in terms of what it can unload on a readership. DV’s whole aesthetic was minimalistic in these films so it suits having the political intrigue reduced to a minimal level for accessibility of a wide audience.

Too, it’s ok to admit that Herbert wrote a successful novel that was not infallible (his characterizations, for example, are pretty bland and wooden). I think DV put more emphasis on the individual characters while still conveying the same basic plot and philosophy of the book, at the expense of characterizing the larger groups. And as someone who is reading the books right now, I’m ok with that choice. I like both works in their respective mediums.