So I just saw "Dune", the 2021 version. Strictly speaking, it´s part one. Not being very deeply immersed or versed in Frank Herbert´s story universe, I can´t really give any initiated comments. But yes, 2021 "Dune" is better than David Lynch´s version, which I probably lynched in some earlier blog post. That being said, I suppose Lynch´s film does have a certain intrinsic charm.
The similarities with "Star Wars" are obvious - not sure who borrowed from whom (Herbert´s novel is from 1965). The pseudo-Muslim and pseudo-Tuareg aspects make the film feel almost bizarre, as do the "Russian" and "Ukrainian" aspects. The film lacks the usual (and usually annoying) "one liners" typical of Hollywood flicks, giving it an unusual gravitas. The special effects department managed to make the sandworms and floating aristocrats less cringey than in Lynch´s film.
"Dune" feels dragging sometimes, but the peculiar plot did make me glued to my chair anyway (although I already know how the story ends in part two). The political implications of this desert planet opera could be "interesting" to follow. Herbert´s story is inspired by 19th century anti-Russian resistance in the Caucasus, but today the plot could perhaps be given an anti-American and pro-Palestinian spin? The hero, Paul Atreides, could be seen as a scion of some wealthy bourgeois family who breaks with his class and sides with the wretched of the earth in true Woke fashion.
Maybe somebody needs to tell the fanboys that there is an implied criticism of Messianism and jihad in the storyline...somewhere!
Thus ends my reflections.
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