[rado]

It got progressively bad and by the end the director's touch was nowhere to be seen, just rushing to finish the story and blasting that overbearing Hans Zimmer score. Then the final line "This is only the beginning" came. Meanwhile, “Blade Runner”, “Arrival”, “Prisoners”, “Sicario” are all great.

[eganist]

That's a hot take. What didn't you like about it, specifically? Aside from the best score ever made by Hans Zimmer?

[tokai]

It has always weirded me out that Zimmer keeps getting jobs. His overly pathetic drone has always been like a parody soundtrack. But people plays it straight as if he is actually making something that adds to the movies. Dune was peak Zimmer so if you like him I guess it makes sense to call it his best. But to me it was him making fun of himself with a straightface and nobody calls him out on it.

[Tycho]

The score was actually quite thoughtful, attempting to use rhythm and harmony and vocal style that was fitting for the universe, ie. very far removed from our current styles.

[eganist]

Please give this a watch with an open mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93A1ryc-WW0

I promise it's worth your time. Being honest, I fell in love with the score before I even knew it was Zimmer's, and once I found out, my first thought was "of course."

To each their own, but if you want an idea of what went into the score, that video above is insightful.

[tokai]

I have seen it. Appreciate you sharing it though. Point is I don't buy his angle. To me it wasn't a fresh take on sounds of the future. It meshed bad with the movie and was a bunch of trite tropes like detached arabic-like wails and dry buzzers. Soundcloud is full of amateur electronic artists doing it better. But in the end its all taste, and I wouldn't call the movie (and soundtrack) bad. Just not anything near good. I'm kind of envious of you who like it.

[zuminator]

Would you mind a giving a few links of SoundCloud artists doing it better? I love weird atmospheric spacey music but it too often sounds derivative.

[magicalhippo]

While I loved the overall production, for me the choice of actors for several of the side characters actually made it feel like a more generic Hollywood action movie.

For me it had been better to pick less well-used actors than Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem etc. Just robbed it of some of the mystique I think.

[theshrike79]

You need big names if you want big bucks nowadays.

Unless you're a studio onto yourself, there's no way you can get $150M+ of funding for movie with only no-names as leads.

[magicalhippo]

Not saying they had to go no-name though, plenty of good known actors out there who hasn't been in a bunch of blockbuster movies recently etc.

But I get what you're saying. Sad, because it really detracted from the movie for me.

[theshrike79]

Mid-price movies disappeared when streaming became a thing.

We either get low-budget stuff (10-20 million), mostly horror. Or movies that are huge gigantic blockbusters that MUST succeed.

The mid-price stuff is gone. The ones that have enough budget to make a director's vision come true, but not so much that it brings in people from The Company suggesting their pet things to be added.

[magicalhippo]

I'm sure they're out there, but it just boggles my mind that someone would decide to go watch Dune or not based on say Jason Momoa having a few minutes on screen.

[kevinventullo]

Totally agree. Casting both Bardem and Brolin was particularly rough for me since my mind jumped immediately to No Country.

[rado]

Jason Momoa was 100% Jason Momoa. His (lack of) characterisation was so bad I stared at his scenes in disbelief.

[bena]

To be fair, Patrick Stewart was 100% Patrick Stewart when he played the role.

[jhbadger]

Although that's really only recognizable in hindsight. In 1984 Stewart was still a fairly obscure character actor who had minor parts in BBC shows like I, Claudius.

[rado]

The first half was about world building. It was atmospheric and interesting, however elusive. Right in the middle when the s** hit the fan, the film started sinking in the quicksand of plotting and by the end the director was MIA. The second half was so Hollywood I felt it was written by Kathleen Kennedy.

[theshrike79]

"the end the director's touch was nowhere to be seen"

...did we see the same movie? It's a Villeneuve piece through and through.