Was going through my old posts in search for reviews to add to the site and turned out I tried watching this in 2021, and liked it far less. Here's what I wrote then:
I dropped it after around a third.
I felt like creators did not try to learn on past attempts (although some do consider this a slower remake of Lynch's version). I watched Lynch's version (2 in fact, if not 3) and Hallmark TV series version and both had something in them, that this version lacks, at least in my eyes. Lynch's version had a sense of grandeur to it and some of the scenes, especially those with Baron Harkonen. Those in particular had that kind of insanity, that was felt in the book(s) as well, when the character was described. Villeneuve's version feels like it's... Small. I could not feel the the size of it all. Knowing what comes after what has ever been adapted to the screen - it just does not do it justice.
When compared to TV series, I could compare the pacing, of course, but since 2021 movie is, indeed, slow on the uptake, but so was the book and there was reason for that. No, what I do not like are colors. I am not talking about the colors of the clothes or anything like that (although I do talk about lack of red hairs in at least 2 actors, that have to have red hair for very important reasons).
You know how using different cameras, different lenses and different studio lights make frame have certain "tints"? Like, if you watched Game of Thrones, you probably noticed, that different areas had different tints to them: snowy were a bit more bluish, valleys a bit more green and desert more red? Because it kind of how we perceive such areas in real life.
2021 movie lacks that. Completely. And it could learn from the TV series: in short scenes of Caladan, you felt the the moisture in the air by looking at them. In scenes of Salusa Secundas - you felt cold, you felt how inhospitable the prison planet was. And you felt the scorching hot and dry air of Arakis. Because it's supposed to be like that.
Lynch's version was not that good, but it was, at least vibrant, so it did not feel that faulty to me. But Villeneuve's just seem to use the same colors through-out. It can be just the badly colored version, that I was watching, but trailers were mostly the same: washed out and somehow sanitary. Everything looks like "Dexter: New Blood". Except with Dexter it makes sense, since it's a cold region at winter, duh.
I know it may sound silly, but this is a movie. A movie based on a book, that did not age quite that well, unless you go into very intricate philosophical or religious details, that it had. You want the colors to be proper, because that's what makes it more immersive, helps you believe in what you see.
There were also some other minor things, that I did not like: the start of the movie from freemen perspective, Paul not saying the litany out loud (I do not think he did say it out loud in the book, but it still makes much more sense, than Jessica saying it behind the door)...
And overall it was not that bad, but still, it felt like it was not made by people who read the books and were inspired by them in any way. This felt more like: "Hey, there is a bunch of nerds who have wet dreams about proper movie based on Dune, we can exploit that: how difficult it can be in modern day and age?".
Thing is - it is. It is difficult: book was written in different era, and it was not about the "show" (at least for the first 4 books: last 2 books from Frank were so-so, IMHO), but more about global questions that may still hold interest even today. I believe, that this is what fans really want.
But what we got is more like an "ok" watch.
Proves once again, that the time you watch something can affect the experience quite a lot.
