Austin Butler broke into my house and demanded that I rewatch this.

I really do think this is a great movie that does pretty much everything right, but it loses me a little towards the end.

One of my biggest problems, even the first time I watched it, was how they handled the Baron and Raban's deaths. It just felt like they built up these characters to be so complex, oozing with personality, and grit, and I knew they would inevitably reach their comeuppance. But when it finally came, I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed. The Baron was just so cool and Paul just stabbed him in the throat like nothing? He was just laying there. His death is supposed to be cathartic because Paul is avenging his family, but I feel like it could've been executed in a more climactic way. Raban OMG I love Dave Bautista and everything except his death was so awesome. Again, it's supposed to be a conclusion to Gurney's subplot about avenging the Atreides throne, but it was over in 2 seconds and I wish there was just more. Feyd-Rautha's death was done amazingly and Austin Butler ATE up his role.

Another problem I have is how they handled the Harkonnen revelation. I haven't read the books so idk how Frank Herbert navigated this plot twist, but I have a feeling it was done infinitely better than this. In this movie, they just drop this bombshell, and then fail to truly show the effects of this fact. When I think about it, all it did was make Paul say "Grandfather" to the Baron as he's killing him and then "Cousin" to Feyd-Rautha before the duel. REALLY DENIS??? THIS IS IT??? I feel like the ramifications of this would be more evident in Dune: Messiah since I'm guessing it'll be about the various houses and I can definitely see how this will come into play BUT BRO THEY DIDNT EVEN BRING THAT UP. Gurney just said the houses were like "nah they don't fw you Paul" and that was it. It just felt like a copout, because they're saving all this stuff for the next movie, instead of trying to tell the best possible story for this one. I really wish they could've at least foreshadowed some of the conflict that could arise, but they don't. And this revelation lacks the weight it needs to have.

It sounds like I hate this movie, and I really don't, as someone who hasn't watched the 1984 David Lynch movie, the miniseries, or read the book. I'd be here forever if I sat here and detailed every single little thing I loved. In the face of everything it does amazingly, my grievances (other than the aforementioned ones) mean nothing, which is why I can't give it a perfect score. Maybe I'll come around to it when I rewatch this one and the first one when Dune: Messiah comes out, but until then, this is how I feel.

In conclusion, I'm kinda salty I won't get to watch this in iMAX 😭 a regular theater is good enough for my standards but the fomo hits like a BRICK everytime something cool happens (pretty much the entire movie).

Also I'm extremely tempted to get the Lego Ornithopter I've been hearing so much buzz about it I can't take it anymore.