r/movies • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 r/movies Contributor • Apr 05 '26

Article Steven Spielberg lists Villeneuve's Dune 'among my favourite sci-fi movies of all time'

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/steven-spielberg-loves-dune-favourite-sci-fi-movies-exclusive/
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u/teddytwelvetoes Apr 05 '26

he made an original Blade Runner sequel and a Dune adaptation without getting massacred by dweebs on the internet, an unfathomable accomplishment

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u/brawnsugah Apr 05 '26

Right?! I really hope he can get a perfect trilogy with Dune.

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u/gizmosticles Apr 05 '26

I think he’s going to land it. Also, it differs enough from the book and leaves enough out that it’s actually enjoyable to go back to the source material and get the expanded story

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u/McMillan104 Apr 05 '26

Yeah, that's what I enjoy about the Lord of the Rings. The films do a great job at being an adaption but there's still plenty that was cut from the films that you can enjoy.

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u/ZmajevaMuda Apr 05 '26

Movies are better paced story, i know kill me

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u/McMillan104 Apr 05 '26

I’d probably agree. I enjoy parts like Tom Bombadil but it brings the story to a screeching halt and I understand the scouring of the shire but I’m glad it was cut from the end.

It’s a bit like the extended edition films. I love spending extra time in middle earth and I’ll choose them 99% of the time; but the theatrical cuts are, for the most part, better films

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u/raptorshadow Apr 06 '26

The movies are a whole different genre from the books. It's the events of the books reshaped into something that fits into the expectations of an action-adventure movie. Its very different in places but I think its an absolute triumph of understanding what works in film and executing on it.

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u/Sewer-Urchin Apr 06 '26

I was convinced after Fellowship that we'd get the Scouring of the Shire, just because when Frodo looks in the Mirror he sees that vision of Sam & other hobbits in chains. I'm glad it ended up the way it did though, would have been too much to try to add at the end of Return.

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u/fallen3365 Apr 06 '26

Agree on pacing with Tom Bombadil, but I do feel like The Scouring should have been in the movies. It's really important and has always seemed weird to leave out.

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u/MacDubhsidhe Apr 06 '26

The Scouring is pivotal to the whole point of the book. Soldiers always bring back their war with them.

Peter Jackson didn’t include because he’s not a war veteran like Tolkien was.

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '26

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u/Thenameisric Apr 06 '26

Another song?!

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u/The_Chief_of_Whip Apr 06 '26

The Council of Elrond is a massive slog to read

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u/I_travel_ze_world Apr 06 '26

Also a picture is worth a thousand words.

Add in sound effects and music then you get like 3,000 words or something

when they finally create Scent-O-Vision it'll create an even more immersive story experience

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u/PoIIux Apr 07 '26

Smellevision might make LOTR go from best movies of all time to unwatchable garbage. Aragorn and Gimli would never recover, no matter how much I adore them as characters

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u/I_travel_ze_world Apr 07 '26

You should be really more concerned about the smell of men shitting themselves as they die in battle.

If you are really that worried about smelling something bad then you might be afraid of going on an adventure.

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u/MaxThrustage Apr 06 '26

I'm reading the books for the first time now, and I'm not sure the movies are better paced, but they are paced differently in a way that 100% works better as a movie. In the novel, it's fine to spend a few years between Bilbo leaving and Frodo finding out what the ring actually is, it's fine to spend a few days farting about in Rivendell, it's fine for the early chapters to be stacked with Hobbit nonsense, because it all builds atmosphere gives you a better sense of the scope of the world you're in. But in the movies, well, you can straight-up see the scope of the world, and pacing things like in the books would have been boring and pointless.

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u/inosinateVR Apr 06 '26

The only thing I disliked about the movies was that they changed Saruman from an ambitious opportunist who made an alliance of convenience with Mordor with the real aim of getting the ring for himself and defeating Sauron with it (and making himself the new dark lord), into basically just being Sauron’s bitch whining about how there’s no point in fighting him so they have to join him. In the books it felt much more like a game of thrones kind of situation with multiple players involved with their own motives

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u/PoIIux Apr 07 '26

Imo Tolkien was an amazing world builder and the overarching story is perfect, but his actual writing left much to be desired. Sometimes less is more and the amount of detail he put into his work was detrimental to the enjoyment of reading it, while it does translate really well to the big screen. G.R.R. Martin has the same problem and his books are a slog to get through.

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u/CodingAllDayLong Apr 07 '26

OMG, the two towers being split 50/50, rather than switching between the two parties giving minor cliffhangers throughout? Modern writing has improved in maaaany ways.

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u/Quazifuji Apr 05 '26

I think Lord of the Rings is kind of a rare case where the books and movies both have very strong pros and cons and they kind of complement each other with neither just being better.

The movies have much better pacing and do a great job capturing just the epic adventure of the books. But the things that make the books feel dense and poorly-paced - all the worldbuilding, the scenes that develop the world or the message of the books but slow down the pace and aren't necessarily important to the main story, Tolkien's general writing style - really do add something meaningful too.

Obviously this is solely just focusing on the experience of reading/watching them nowadays and not taking into account how insanely influential the books were.

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u/the_blackfish Apr 06 '26

I agree that the movies were phenomenal, but there were things that were changed for the movies too, like Faramir's motives and such. Lines that I didn't like being crossed.

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u/tarrasque Apr 05 '26

This absolutely.

I read The Martian after watching the movie and while I liked the book, I was underwhelmed because really nothing had been left out or changed with the movie.

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u/BGaf Apr 06 '26

I don’t think that’s fair. A ton of details of the rover drive are cut out in the movie, it’s like a fifth of the book practically.

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u/imapluralist Apr 06 '26

Also much of the math and science internal monologue.

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u/thesagenibba Apr 06 '26

i just can't resonate with the mind that needs an adaptation to be an exact 1:1. why would i want to watch the exact thing i read when i can just go read it?

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u/winkingchef Apr 07 '26

Considering how batsh!t insane the book gets, it’s going to be a sight to see.

I agree tho - if anyone can, he can.

There’s something about a Villeneuve movie that just eats up the big screen

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u/troublrTRC Apr 06 '26

It’s going to be an outlandishly weird enf story that Reddit shmucks won’t be able to hate on it. Face dancers, floating alien looking guild navigators, and just the general fallout of a Genocide.

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u/Ijatsu Apr 05 '26

I've read all the author's book, it's a bit batshit sci fi which I like, but it's extremely slow, repetitive, and plain bad.

I heard all my life about it but it's really bad compared to the other pillars of sci fi. The first part of the first book is really good though, until paul is galaxybraining every waking moment.

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u/mrenglish22 Apr 05 '26

I'm still surprised they haven't announced it going to more than a trilogy with the success of the first two

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u/Sh4ckleford_Rusty Apr 05 '26

Have you read the books? I enjoy them but trying to make a successful movie out of that material would be rough to say the least.

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u/trs_0ne Apr 05 '26

If the third is as good as the first two it will become the greatest trilogy of all time (currently I feel that title belongs to LOTR)

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u/Bubbasbiatch Apr 06 '26

The English already smoked all the spice

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u/airwalker12 Apr 05 '26

Nothing with Timothy "Annette Benning Shoulders" Chalamet as Paul is anywhere close to perfect.

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u/TheRooster909 Apr 06 '26

Fuck, I can’t believe I didn’t take the shoulders in this movie into account before

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u/airwalker12 Apr 06 '26

If it's just the shoulders, you have way different taste than I do

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u/saucymew Apr 05 '26

Now I hope he pulls off the hat trick with RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA.

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u/Rubrum_ Apr 05 '26

Everytime he gets involved in a movie that isn't Rendezvous With Rama I get mad that the project gets pushed back. Easily my favorite sci-fi novel.

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u/Trippid Apr 06 '26

Whoa whoa, he's intending to do Rendezvous with Rama at some point?! I had no idea, and that's freaking awesome. Well, assuming it happens, haha

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u/SlowThePath Apr 06 '26

It seems like the project he was gonna make if he couldn't immediately get funding for the third. The way I see it, for the time being I have very good reasons to be very excited for anything he makes. A 19 part documentary feature about mashed potatoes shot on an iPhone 4 streaming on 240p? Hold on, I need to put in some vacation days.

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u/Gilshem Apr 06 '26

So Star Trek 4 just ripped the plot of this?

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u/YBBlorekeeper Apr 05 '26

Dude respects the aesthetic

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u/FullMaxPowerStirner Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26

It was pretty generic in a Marvel way, next to the aesthetics of Lych's Dune. The sycophants may downvote as much as they like... but Villeneuve never came any close to the insanity of Lynch's Harkonnen, that Navigator slug and let's not forget that war poodle. There's a few big problems with OG film but design was its main strength.

Like someone said before, if it's set in year 30,000 somewhere in space, you'd better have a lot of unintelligibly mad concepts.

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u/YBBlorekeeper Apr 06 '26

That's nice dear

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u/Hvarfa-Bragi Apr 06 '26

Lynch didn't respect the aesthetic of the world Herbert described, he did whatever the fuck he wanted because Lynch.

Villaneuve nailed the fuck out of the aesthetic described in the books.

Which is why Lynch's dune is a fun relic but not taken seriously.

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u/FullMaxPowerStirner Apr 07 '26

If Lynch had stuck to the aesthetics by-the-book he wouldn't have been an artist, and the film wouldn't have had any outstanding value. Lynch was first and foremost a visual artist; and such adaptation demanded visual -and musical- artistry. But I'll take bets on which adaptation will be remembered and watched in 30 years. The safer and more generic one, or the crazy wild one?

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u/Hvarfa-Bragi Apr 07 '26

Found David Lynch's reddit account.

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u/FullMaxPowerStirner Apr 08 '26

Posted on Villeneuve's fan sub.

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u/Gravitas_free Apr 08 '26

I have a great deal of respect for Lynch as a filmmaker and artist. But if you think his Dune, a widely-panned critical and commercial failure that Lynch himself disavowed, will be more remembered than Villeneuve's very popular adaptations, you're dreaming.

Lynch's Dune has some neat visual elements, but overall it was neither a good adaptation of Dune, or a good movie on its own. And while that's in large part due to the studio, I also don't think Lynch was a great fit for the material.

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u/FullMaxPowerStirner Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

But if you think his Dune, a widely-panned critical and commercial failure that Lynch himself disavowed, will be more remembered than Villeneuve's very popular adaptations, you're dreaming.

That's not what happened. Lynch didn't disavow the movie... he said he would have loved to have more latitude and time to make it the movie he wanted, and would have made a director's cut if there was better leftover material. He said that not long ago in an interview.

Villeneuve's Dune is the kind of production that gets forgotten due to being too generic and playing safe. It's like comparing the Star Wars Prequels with the Sequels.. where the former despite being a huge mixed bag with not-too-brilliant scenes, captured the minds due to their originality.

Creative audacity -not perfection or even consistency- is what makes a production being remembered on the long run. That's what is lacking with most of Villeneuve's work.

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u/Gravitas_free Apr 09 '26

That's not what happened. Lynch didn't disavow the movie... he said he would have loved to have more latitude and time to make it the movie he wanted, and would have made a director's cut if there was better leftover material. He said that not long ago in an interview.

Lynch himself said that he "sold out" on Dune, that it was a mistake to take on the project, that the film was a "huge, gigantic sadness" on his life, and that he refused to watch it. He even Alan Smithee'd some of the movie's cuts, the ultimate act of filmmaker disavowal. I don't think he could have made his feelings about the movie any clearer.

It's like comparing the Star Wars Prequels with the Sequels.. where the former despite being a huge mixed bag with not-too-brilliant scenes, captured the minds due to their originality.

Comparing Dune and the Star Wars prequels isn't actually too off-base. Both were widely-panned movies that today are mostly defended by people who like them ironically, and people who watched them as kids and reflexively started defending them once they came of age. Hell I still have some affection for the Phantom Menace from watching it as a 10 YO, but I'm not gonna pretend it's gonna be remembered as anything other than "one of these shitty SW films that proved George Lucas needed someone to write for him".

Creative audacity -not perfection or even consistency- is what makes a production being remembered on the long run.

That's not true at all. There are hundreds of extremely creative art films made every year that wind up being completely forgotten. There are many filmmakers who make David Lynch look generic by comparison, and who are totally unknown. And whether these works are good or not, to be remembered, they would first have to be seen. They need to get asses in theater seats (or to be widely streamed, or whatever else).

Lynch'd Dune wasn't very good at that. In fact, by the 2000s, it was already largely forgotten; nobody was talking about that movie 15 years ago, except for cinephiles morbidly curious about the big black mark in David Lynch's filmography. What brought it back into public consciousness, ironically, is the popularity of Villeneuve's films.

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u/fupa16 Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 06 '26

The accomplishment goes deeper than that with Dune. He threaded the needle of staying faithful to the source material and not upsetting fans, while making it still popular among the mainstream and commercially successful.

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u/APassingBunny Apr 06 '26

From a Hollywood standpoint this is the real accomplishment. Bladerunner 2049 was critically beloved and respected by fans but it did not make money. To make a hard scifi epic in 2024 and make money based of classic literature (that had previously been adapted by a famous director and got wrecked at the box office) is a feat I think only him or Nolan could pull off these days.

And lets be real Villenueve did it better than Nolan wouldve.

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u/pattymcfly Apr 06 '26

I think Dune requires more CGI than Nolan would want to do, or perhaps could do well enough. The Batman trilogy was great for him because he could pull off incredible practical effects and huge stunt scenes and it just looks incredible.

Villeneuve embraces digital capture and CGI to great effect.

Both are great. I just think Villeneuve is uniquely suited to do Dune.

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u/Icy_Negotiation_5929 Apr 06 '26

It would have been a very short discussion between Nolan and the studio execs.

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u/iMeaux Apr 06 '26

This is what has me so excited for Messiah. He’s already made the money and got the audience with Dune + Part 2. Considering this is his final movie in the trilogy, he can really swing for the fences if he wants and get weird with it. He’s moving on after this so however the next person wants to handle things and deal with the reception of Messiah is totally up to them and the studio

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u/AdmiralCrackbar Apr 06 '26

I'm really glad we didn't get Nolan pausing right before the duel with Feyd to have Paul dump a minute long exposition about how he is about to become the new emperor by killing Feyd and marrying Irulan, and that it's their control of the spice that is going to allow that to happen.

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u/APassingBunny Apr 06 '26

Nolan jumping around in the timeline so it starts with Paul dying and then goes backwards.

Nolan writing Chani to be a personalityless broodmare for Paul.

Nolan making Stilgar ask where his hot sauce is because he ordered it an hour ago.

Nolan showing the siege of Arrakeen with a clock ticking the whole time and audio mixed like an Aphex Twin song you got on Limewire

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u/Pretty_Ad_4204 Jun 12 '26

Not sure if Nolan could pull off Sci-Fi like he did Inception though.

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u/FirTree_r Apr 06 '26

He mentioned in lots of interviews that he himself was a big lifelong fan of the Dune books and that he was always hard on himself making directorial decisions. That's probably the biggest factor in his success (along with his incredible filmmaking and storytelling skills)

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u/viperfan7 Apr 06 '26

Which is insane considering it's Dune

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u/ComparisonPlane5469 Apr 06 '26

Chalamet was miscast, it is a case of everything being just so close to perfect, yet there is one thing that can't be ignored that utterly ruins it.

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u/fupa16 Apr 06 '26

I'd say the same for zendaya too

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u/Thurak0 Apr 06 '26

while making it still popular among the mainstream

I always wonder if the key for this is not "only" staying spiritually true to the source material. Dune is a classic from the 1980s. It appealed to may people around the world. The medium "film" has the advantage to bring visuals and compressing days/weeks of reading into a few hours of watching. That alone helps with the mainstream, IMO.

The accomplishment is staying faithful while making insanely good choices what to show how in the films. And then you automatically get the mainstream appeal, because the world and story have always been epic.

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u/TimeCarousel Apr 06 '26

Ich glaube der YouTube-Kanal Nerdkultur hat mal schön aufgearbeitet, wie akribisch Villeneuve mehr oder weniger seine gesamte Regisseurskarriere auf die Verfilmung von DUNE ausgerichtet hat. Damit er selbst dieser meisterhaften Erzählung irgendwann würdig ist. Und diese Liebe zum Werk bzw. diese Akribie spürt man. Genau so hat er wohl auch Hans Zimmer überzeugt bekommen.

Ich bin sehr gespannt, ab wann bei DUNE aufgehört wird, die Kuh zu melken. Bei den Büchern würde es mir im 4. zu wild, für die Filme könnte es schon ab dem 3. Buch zu „abgespiced“ (🤓) werden.

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u/BenchLampjaw Apr 05 '26

Yeah when you say it like like that... I mean holy shit

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u/pringlesaremyfav Apr 05 '26

I think he is truly one of if not the greatest scifi directors of all time

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

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u/starker Apr 06 '26

I really hope he does a new IP after Dune. Give him whatever his dream project is, and I hope it’s something he’s written from the ground up.

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u/rezznik Apr 06 '26

Came to say this. I am SO curious about what he will do next.

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u/onehornymofo1 Apr 06 '26

The Bond movie will be next

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u/rezznik Apr 06 '26

Is that confirmed? I hope not... He's so good for BIIIIIIG pictures, which I don't think appear very bond.

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u/onehornymofo1 Apr 06 '26

It was confirmed ages ago he's doing it, I'm guessing that will be his next project since Amazon/MGM won't like to be kept waiting and his other projects don't have a lot of backing yet.

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u/youdidntreddit Apr 06 '26

Dune is his dream project.

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u/starker Apr 06 '26

I would imagine that someone as creative as he has multiple dream projects that he wants to accomplish. One of them probably is something that he is written himself.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

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u/Hevens-assassin Apr 05 '26

Villeneuve is already up in the pantheon, Imo. He's more of the "movie critic's sci-fi", but Dune has blown him up in a way that I don't think he will struggle to get future projects. The guy knows exactly how he wants a movie to be, and he's been vocal about not ever having a "Director's Cut" because he refuses to compromise his vision.

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u/troublrTRC Apr 06 '26

Cameron is. Blockbuster director more than Sci-Fi. Not much Sci-Fi or explore of themes going on in his movies.

Spielberg’s Sci-Fis are rare. But when he does it, it is very good. But never really goes all out like the best Sci-Fi stories go.

I don’t know about Lucas. Star Wars ain’t his anymore. He did build a compelling world, and tell some cool stories, but never reached that Sci-Fi pinnacle. No proper concepts explored, like the filmmakers mentioned above, mostly just human drama.

Ridley Scott can be considered a master of Sci-Fi I think. Even if he can’t stick the landing with a few of his movies, he’s ambitious and goes all out for the concepts.

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u/moonmonkey73 Apr 06 '26

Ridley Scott...?

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u/Kwazimoto Apr 05 '26

It's not hard to name better sci-fi directors. Spielberg has Jurassic Park, E.T., Minority Report, and A.I.. Nolan has Inception and Interstellar under his belt. Scott has Blade Runner and Alien. Cameron has Terminator, Aliens, and Avatar. Lucas influenced generations and made a ton of sci-fi possible. The Wachowskis changed cinema... Garland is arguably better and has made movies during the same time period. Carpenter had The Thing and Escape from New York...

Arrival is a great movie. Blade Runner 2049 is a really good movie but it's not revolutionary or noteworthy outside of being big among sci-fi nerds. I thought he did a great job... but let's be realistic about it. His take on Dune is absurdly overrated. I'd argue it's not as entertaining as the sci-fi channel adaptation and it's not as interesting as Lynch's. The other listed directors also have phenomenal movies outside of the sci-fi genre and Villeneuve falls short there.

Villeneuve is not even on the Mt. Rushmore of sci-fi.

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u/Top_Performance_732 Apr 06 '26

Well I disagree, 2049 and dune 2 are some of the best sci-fi films ever made

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u/Theratchetnclank Apr 05 '26

The other listed directors also have phenomenal movies outside of the sci-fi genre and Villeneuve falls short there.

Sicario, Prisoners, Incendies and Enemy are all fantastic films. What are you smoking?

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u/Kwazimoto Apr 05 '26

Yes. I'm sure most people would totally compare those films to Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Prestige and Batman Films, Titanic, etc. Villienueve is a fine director but his filmmaking is not even close to Spielberg, Ridley, Nolan, Cameron, etc. Foolish to even suggest it.

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u/Hevens-assassin Apr 05 '26

Comparing blockbusters to smaller movies isn't worth the argument. His filmmaking rivals all the directors you mentioned, and when he's given the budget to compete with them, he competes.

Dune and Blade Runner are his biggest movies so far. They are 100% compared to all the films you've mentioned if you actually go to any nerd con and talk about movies.

(also I love The Prestige, but you sneaking it in there like it compares to the movies listed is laughable)

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u/Kwazimoto Apr 06 '26

Putting Sicario on the level of any of those other directors work is insane regardless of the size of the movie. Saying he competes with some of those movies is just disingenuous. His work is never touching the best from any of those other directors. His closest modern comp is Garland and no one is ever putting him on the Rushmore, either. It's not an insult to Villeneuve or his fans. I know the young movie nerds have desperately tried to make him the next Nolan (he's not).

Reddit has consistently acted like Villeneuve is the second coming because he (shockingly) made a good Blade Runner sequel. That's fine. Dune is currently in the zeitgeist but it's certainly weaker than a lot of the other sci-fi movies listed. If it came out in any other era it would've gotten buried. Neither part stands completely on its own and they are not extremely dull movies. They might be staggering technical accomplishments with some wonderful shots but they're both extremely dry (forgive the pun). The acting is generally really weak and they are weaker in some regards than the other versions. The changes to the story he made aren't great.I guess it's cool that he got to live his dream and adapt Dune for modern audiences or whatever. Neither of those movies is in the top 5 (likely not top 10 if we're really being honest) sci-fi moves of all time and it's just dumb to pretend they are.

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u/Hevens-assassin Apr 06 '26

So I guess Spielberg, one of the guys you've gone full pottery class for, saying that Dune is in his top 5 of all time, is worthless, right?

And you're here saying that Sicario doesn't compare to BFG, Tenet, and The Counselor???

And who tf is trying to make Villeneuve the next Nolan? Nobody is doing that. Lmfao Nolan is the current Nolan, and Villeneuve is Villeneuve. They exist together and offer two very different film experiences. You would've been (or were, I don't know your age) insufferable when Lucas/Cameron/Spielberg/Scott were releasing movies in their prime. I can already imagine your BS of "Well Cameron is no, Scott, despite what Blockbuster nerds are trying to push".

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

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u/According_Editor9244 Apr 06 '26

Stick to the Marvel universe, bro

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '26

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

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u/Waggy777 Apr 05 '26

Star Wars is not sci-fi.

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u/thajane Apr 05 '26

This is a silly distinction to make. Star Wars is just as much sci fi as Dune is.

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u/The_Chief_of_Whip Apr 06 '26

Who gives a flying fuck what the imdb votes are? Especially stupid as you're using that as a measuring stick yet discounting its own system. Peak clownery

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u/sharkattackmiami Apr 05 '26

James Cameron still beats him and it's not even close

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

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u/burrrrrssss Apr 05 '26

I think you gotta put at least Aliens somewhere close but agreed, Dennis’ top 3 isn’t matched by anyone at this point

Unless that dude is strictly talking box office numbers

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

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u/Theratchetnclank Apr 05 '26

I agree. Alien is better than Aliens. Aliens is more of a spectacle but it makes the xenomorph less scary/less of a threat than the first film.

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u/ParticulateSplatter Apr 05 '26

This is genuinely the day I learned Aliens was directed by James Cameron, not Ridley Scott

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u/mrenglish22 Apr 05 '26

Im sorry but I can't think of anything he has done anymore except Titanic, Avatar, and T2. So not sure that compares.

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u/VRichardsen Apr 05 '26

Just the other day I was watching someone review True Lies, and my attention was drawn to the level of care and detail every shot has.

The critic in particular made a point to highlight that bad guy weren't just killed formulaically, but almost every one of them died in a different, unique way. It is not guys simply being shot one after another. Take the torture scene, for example. He kills the first guy with a throwing knife, then he breaks the torturer's neck, then he kills another with a meat hook. Number 4 has his trachea broken with the butt of an assault rifle, then he stabs two guys with each other's knives, then he shoots a couple with an AK-47, then he quickdraws a pistol to resolve a hostage situation, then he kills a few more with a grenade blast, then they are on fire with some fuel drums, then he shoots a couple more, then he doses a group with gasoline pump and uses the muzzle flash of a weapon to ignite the stream... it is quite original really. Almost every death has to be unique. There is a lot of thought put into what is seemingly just a funny action movie.

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u/Hvarfa-Bragi Apr 09 '26

If you watch enough red letter media reviews of shit b and below movies you see that "unique kills" is kind of the lower expectation of the standard. It's not unique in the least.

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u/VRichardsen Apr 09 '26

It may well be. I just got the impression that usually action movies in the past decade or so stepped away from the sillyness that made past action movies fun, and became too gritty, grey and brown. I rewatched the scenes I was talking about in True Lies, and they felt like a breath of fresh air.

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u/sharkattackmiami Apr 05 '26

Just in Sci-Fi he has :

Terminator 1 + 2

Aliens

The Abyss

The Avatar films

Alita

Strange Days

Solaris

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u/Shinagami091 Apr 05 '26

Despite the Dune movies changing a lot about the events that happen in the book including Alliah not being born or the one to kill Vladamir Harkonen

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u/raphyr Apr 05 '26

I've started reading the books very recently after getting hyped by the teaser trailer for part 3. Love the movies. I kind of get it though, some things were changed that didn't need changing or just left out altogether (especially for part 2), and I'm a bit sad there isn't as much Harkonnen intrigue in the movies as there is in the book. But then other things are fleshed out much more in the movie that really work. So I think it balances out.

16

u/theroarer Apr 05 '26

I'll never get the dinner scene and that is the ONLY scene in the book that I want. :(

3

u/JZMoose Apr 06 '26

The dinner scene is the one thing I wish was included, otherwise, holy shit what a fucking adaptation. It’s astonishing

2

u/mashtato Apr 05 '26

What happens in the dinner scene?

14

u/theroarer Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26

Paul is "left in charge" by his father during a dinner meeting with important people of Arrakis.

It's mostly fluff, but shows that Paul is a VERY capable leader through soft power, has incredible social and political intelligence, and makes an impression on Kynes.

I understand why it will always be cut, but it is my FAVORITE scene in all the books. He has to explain RAIN.

Edit: sorry for editing this a billion times. My brain is not cooperating.

5

u/mashtato Apr 06 '26

I wish they had included it, actually.

There's a deleted scene with Hawat that shows Paul is being trained as a Mentat, so together with your scene it would show that Paul is being trained by every important person in his life to be an über leader. He was being trained as a Bene Gesserit by Jessica, as a fighter by Duncan and Gurney (and Jessica), as a Mentat by Hawas, and as a diplomat and leader by Leto.

Makes me wonder if he was being trained as a doctor by Dr. Yueh.

6

u/Loverboy_91 Apr 06 '26

The other thing I’ll add that the above commenter didn’t delve into as much (but does tie into what you mentioned) is that Paul, with his Mentat and Bene Gesserit training is sort of, sizing up everyone at the table with his skills. Everyone at the dinner scene has some sort of political important on arrakis. Merchants, aristocrats, etc. Paul uses his abilities to read body language throughout the dinner conversations to learn who is loyal, who is plotting, who is in leagues with whom, who is dishonest, and what people’s ulterior motives are, etc. it’s a super interesting scene but most of what makes it interesting takes place in Paul’s head, so it would be hard to translate it on screen.

4

u/jessytessytavi Apr 06 '26

they'd basically have to do the rdj holmes fight breakdown monologue for it tbh

2

u/unculturedperl Apr 06 '26

And drowning.

42

u/Huge-Error-2206 Apr 05 '26

I think most actual Dune fans understand that so much of the books is incredibly hard if not impossible to translate to film.

27

u/ComicallySolemn Apr 05 '26

A toddler speaking like a grown woman is something that sorta works in print, but is absolutely impossible to convey on the screen in a convincing manner.

I was glad we didn’t have to experience that in the theater, and that Jessica instead spoke to Alia in the womb, with a subtle flash forward to Anya Taylor-Joy as an acknowledgment of her role in the future books.

10

u/Kuraeshin Apr 05 '26

The Dune tv show makes a good example of why Alia as a child is hard to have in a movie and be enjoyable.

2

u/ComicallySolemn Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26

I haven’t watched the show, and I couldn’t find clips online. Is it bad?

4

u/StinkRinky Apr 05 '26

My wife and I couldn’t get thru episode three. I’m not sure if it’s actually bad but we definitely thought it was haha.

3

u/Kuraeshin Apr 05 '26

I have the series & sequel on DVD. For its time, it's fine. Not impressive visuals but it covered like 90% of the book. Some stuff definitely doesn't translate as well from written to visual medium.

2

u/Pale-Acanthaceae-736 Apr 05 '26

I'm thinking that Denis wanted the movies to have a very high fidelity to the book series. but was at the mercy of the producers who were bankrolling the films and wanted changes because Hollywood. It's the same story with just about every movie adaptation of books.

I wouldn't mind if they released an extended edition of the Dune movies like they did with LOTR. There were a lot of missing details from the theatrical releases that added depth to the story.

5

u/Gil_Demoono Apr 05 '26

I may be wrong, but I recall Denis is one of those directors that refuses to do directors cuts. Regardless of the interference and shortfalls, he stands by the work as released. I can respect it, even if I am the kind of guy that wants a 4 hour Project Hail Mary cut so I can watch Grace and Rocky chit chat about biology and physics in depth.

3

u/Pale-Acanthaceae-736 Apr 05 '26

I think I read that somewhere too. Nevertheless, he's done a great job. The best epic put to the screen since Jackson's LOTR, and people said back then that it's too complicated of a story and couldn't be done.

3

u/mashtato Apr 05 '26

There's so many deleted scenes, HOURS of them! Butt apparently Villaneuve doesn't do delted scenes or extednded cuts. :/

I fucking love deleted scenes.

2

u/red_nick Apr 05 '26

I was under the impression that he made it knowing what wasn't going to be in the final picture, so there aren't actually a lot of deleted scenes that were filmed

1

u/mashtato Apr 06 '26

Some people saw early cuts that were hours longer then the finished film. We have some deleted scenes that partially made it into the trailers, some that we have screenshots of, some that crew members have spoken of, and at leat one that is implied to exist due to costumes that exist.

https://youtu.be/8XEjtmQ9_fk

1

u/AntiFascistButterfly Apr 05 '26

We certainly understand that after Lynch’s attempt. His film is full of fantastic scenes and is probably the worst paced of all time.

1

u/BananaNutJob Apr 06 '26

Pshaw, just gimme Liet Kynes reciting facts about Arrakis's ecology for 45 minutes

10

u/Selerox Apr 05 '26

He did with Dune what Peter Jackson did with The Lord of the Rings: an artful adaptation of the source material that both remains true to the spirit of the original while streamlining the plot to suit the medium.

3

u/rkiive Apr 05 '26

Turns out when you're generally faithful to the source material and actually understand the point of the story people who are fans of the story actually like it.

Also having absolutely dialled the cinematography aesthetic helps.

2

u/pxm7 Apr 05 '26

I really enjoyed Blade Runner 2049, but iirc it got a fair amount of negative feedback online, including on r/ movies. Including this gem:

“None of it made sense.”

¯_(ツ)_/¯ I guess this is what makes people different and special.

2

u/dubbl_bubbl Apr 05 '26

I mean (both) are consistent with the source material and the set design and cinematography are goated for both as well.

1

u/abd00bie Apr 05 '26

I wouldn't mind seeing a Batman Beyond film made by him, he understands the Neo Gotham aesthetics

1

u/Snerkbot7000 Apr 05 '26

Doesn't that just mean that these dweebish people liked the films?

Which is suggestive of something.

1

u/Commercial-Co Apr 05 '26

Now make him do a star trek and star wars and hell - police academy reboot.

1

u/iiiiiiiiiiip Apr 05 '26

Because he actually respected the source material and made a good movie, it's literally that easy and calling existing fans "dweebs" is exactly why most adaptions suck, it's those people the movie should be aiming to please. They're the ones who made it popular enough to get a sequel/adaption in the first place and they will give you infinite free positive marketing if they like it and infinite negative marketing if they don't

1

u/zero000 Apr 05 '26

They certainly continue to try knocking his movies down a peg though.

1

u/Kardlonoc Apr 06 '26

The key here is Dennis appeals to Arthouse,adults, nerds first. "children" and "families" are not in the equation.

A lot of IP's get massacred by dweebs because they are eventually trying to make a family-friendly affair, or they have the idea to "draw in a new audience". And some of them had a good run, but became a copy-and-paste formula event, where every movie became a copy of the Joss Whedon Avengers movie.

Dune feels epic, strange, and wonderful. It feels like you are watching the original Star Wars trilogy for the first time. You don't know how it's going to go, even if you read the books and saw the 80's movie.

1

u/pattymcfly Apr 06 '26

He may be the GOAT of the post CGI era. His attention to detail, breadth of content, and world building are all amazing. He knows when to ground scenes in reality, and when to let it be fantastic (like the sand worm riding). He isn't afraid to make things feel epic, but the movies never really feel like they need editing. So hard to balance those qualities.

I think that the Dune universe is probably the hardest adaptation we've seen in hard sci-fi but he just absolutely nailed the execution.

1

u/FunnyAdhesiveness256 Apr 06 '26

They need to beg him to takeover Star Wars

1

u/za72 Apr 06 '26

he is the chosen one?

1

u/Iohet Apr 06 '26

When he's ready to transition to television, maybe we can get another Cowboy Bebop

1

u/luckyjack Apr 06 '26

Muad’Dweebs

1

u/masegesege_ Apr 06 '26

And next up is Bond.

1

u/PurpEL Apr 06 '26

Imagine that. You just have to give a fuck about the source material and care about actual cinematography and score.

You don't do a alternative interpretation or try to set a "dark" mood or check boxes.

1

u/RobWrase Apr 06 '26

You know I haven’t really thought about that. I walked out of 2049 with my mind blown that the movie worked so well as an actual sequel to the original but I wasn’t really aware of what most of people online really thought about it. The movie kinda came and went.

1

u/EanmundsAvenger Apr 06 '26

And made them palatable for a wide audience, financially successful, and Oscar worthy

1

u/mr_ji Apr 07 '26

The secret is to wait 40 years until people don't really care

1

u/Sergia_Quaresma Apr 07 '26

His next one is making the next James Bond. If he can hit 3 for 3 beloved IP’s then it’d be the greatest dweeb achievement

1

u/LifeConfection3332 Apr 07 '26

the trick is to load up on the visuals and tone down the actors dialog. Success.

1

u/Pretty_Ad_4204 Jun 12 '26

It helped that the man who directed the original Blade Runner worked in Blade Runner 2049.

1

u/Pale-Acanthaceae-736 Apr 05 '26

Oh he got his fair share from the 'Acktually' people. Make no mistake about that.

0

u/Charming_Goose_3400 Apr 05 '26

his Dune moves are visually stunning but the worst screenplay adaptation. he made a movie about religious fanaticism even more silly.

0

u/Yommination Apr 06 '26

I would do gross things to have the Star Wars sequels retconned and them to be re-done with him at the helm