Honestly? Against my better judgement and personal feelings I do think that this is Probably one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. Probably. However, I cannot give it more than four stars on principle. Think about this like an Ebert four stars if it bothers you, yeah?

Rewatching the SpiceDiver cut of Lynch’s Dune opened my mind a lot more to this adaptations strengths and its more glaring shortcomings. I am reminded of the scene in Part One when Jessica is presented with the Crystknife. The moment of revelation is a shock. Dune Messiah has long been my single favorite sci-fi novel. I think it is a better book than Dune and I think it’s one of the greatest American novels ever written. This movie is a borderline betrayal of Dune Messiah and I honestly I think for all the dedication behind the scenes for this to be “definitive” and “slavishly faithful” they truly took the easy way out when it comes to the fatalistic false messiah. Not just in the changes, or unsavory additions (Dijinn??)  but in the omissions. It’s not like they didn’t shoot crucial, defining scenes either. I don’t know. I feel frustrated because this is an “almost there” which is far more discomforting than a straight up deconstruction or misfire. I really don’t know how to feel. Here’s some assorted thoughts:

- Butler is great as Feyd. In my mind he’s more of a pretty boy in the book but what can you do? Obviously I am really upset about the omission of Thufir. I can only imagine what their scene together would have been like and that fills me with sadness.

- Zimmer’s (UNDERPAID, UNCREDITED ABUSED AND DISCRIMINATED) Interns seriously cooked with spice here. I was itching for a Toto tribute though…

- Feel like Stilgar was shafted by this screenplay. Really felt like it needed Roth’s sensitivity that he lent to Killers of the Flower Moon. I’m not opposed to the first few instances of Stilgar’s fanaticism being comic beats, but to me it seems like they were almost touching something that potentially could have been very effective (Stilgar’s simple faith evoking and sparking widespread syncophancy etc.) but they don’t really do enough with it.