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It seemed a bit stunt cast-y to me at first, but now I've thought about it, I kinda love it? No de-ageing, please: keep him looking old to represent entrenched and corrupt power, and to contrast with Chalamet's youth. Walken is tall and physically imposing and I'm sure he could rock a ceremonial military uniform, if they go that way. He can play cold-blooded. I'm imaging a totally ruthless, reptilian outer-space gangster who will do anything to keep his power, including cutting a deal with the Harkonnens. The Emperor is pretty much a blank slate in the book, so there's room to go in any direction you want. It's great that this is an off-beat choice and they didn't go for some old British thesp or something. Also love NmareBfly's idea of making the character like 150 years old.
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May 14, 2022 21:35
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God I can’t wait for the dream team of Christopher walken and Florence Pugh in this movie
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Jul 25, 2023 08:31
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I’m good with the change to Chani’s reaction, because I feel like it really effectively dramatises and personalises how Paul has opted for supreme power at the expense of personal contentment and being a good person. I just wish, as some others have said, that the steps leading up to that final choice were less muddled and rushed through. I also wish the movie was a little stronger on the idea that the “holy war” is outside of Paul’s control, and it’s the price he has to pay for his victory. To me, one of the most compelling ideas of the book is this tension between a manufactured messiah as a tool of social control, and that messiah as a helpless instrument of social energies. at the end of the day, he can point the Fremen at his personal enemies, but he also has to fulfil the prophecies and requirements of his role, including announcing “It’s holy war time”, whether he wants to or not. Denis might be keeping his power dry for DUNC3, but I feel like that could have been more effectively conveyed than some vague visions and then Josh Brolin on the radio at the end to the great houses who never turn up onscreen. It relegates it to exposition. I wonder if non-book-readers all grasped the significance of what happened there. Anyway, movie was an absolutely spectacular audio-visual experience, and P.S. all that being said, pragmatically and, like, ethically it’s a good thing that they didn’t actually say the word “jihad”.
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Mar 3, 2024 19:14
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Austin Butler definitely has a lot of screen presence/star power that he brings to the role. “Yet another pale evil bald guy” is not the most intriguing character on the page, but I think Butler manages to make it pretty interesting. There’s always something in his eyes that draws you to him. So yeah, I kinda get it. Walken was a real letdown for me. His casting was so weird but then I thought, well, the emperor is kinda a non-entity in the book, so maybe Denis has a strong take. The emperor as an ancient reptilian gangster or something like that. But in the movie - I dunno, I don’t even know what the vision for that character was. He’s just kinda there.
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Mar 8, 2024 19:31
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Saw this film for a second time on 70mm and oh man it really does look amazing in that format. It really adds an extra bit of life and warmth and texture. I enjoyed this even more the second time round, although I have to resign myself to the fact that a lot of the story beats and human-level stuff in Denis Villeneuve films will seem smothered or out of joint. But hey ho, I was more able to just luxuriate in the world-building this time. Along these lines, can anyone help me to parse Paul’s mindset at the start of the film? During his first real dialogue scene, when they’re eating a meal in the Fremen camp, he comments cynically that “your bene gesserit propaganda has taken root” or something along those lines, but he also suggests that he definitely plans to take advantage of the whole Lisan al-gaib thing to gain power and get revenge on the Harkonnens. Then shortly afterwards, when Jessica is comatose after drinking the water of life, he talks to the Fremen, forcefully rejects the idea that he and his mother are anything special, and insists that he isn’t interested in leading and only wants to integrate into Fremen society. So, like, what changed? He seems sincere, as this reluctance becomes a major motivation for him going forward. But IIRC at this point we haven’t seen him start to be swayed by appreciation for Fremen culture and personal affection for Chani. He hasn’t had another holy war prophetic vision between the two scenes, has he..? I know he had one in the tent in DUNC1, but he still seemed basically pro-messiah at the opening of DUNC2, or resigned to its strategic necessity anyway. Did I miss something super-obvious here?
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Mar 17, 2024 18:32
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I followed all that, although tbh I’m not sure that the attack on Sietch Tabr, as presented, can entirely bear the weight of being the turning point in this whole arc. But I was really just focusing on what seems like a weird little beat the very start of the film where it’s like: Scene one: Well, I think I’d better make the best of it and pretend to be these guys’ messiah for my own ends Scene two: I have no interest whatsoever in doing that, actually
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Mar 17, 2024 22:52
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I understand why they changed his threat to “I’ll nuke the spice fields” in the film, because they’re desperately trying to streamline this thing, and it’s NBD really - but it is sort of a shame, as it shifts the emphasis from Paul winning by embracing Fremen ecological knowledge to Paul winning by ducal advantage. It also begs the question of why no one (e.g. Leto) has thought of that before. Or couldn’t the unscrupulous Harkonnens have seized the throne via the same tactic years ago? Although, thinking about it, I guess a) going by the film alone, you could assume that the Atreides are the only house with a stockpile of atomics, right? and b) all the other houses immediately declare war in the film, so I guess Paul’s nuclear gambit doesn’t actually work… Anyway, in other news, I was looking at the screenplay for DUNC1, and I can’t believe they cut some great lines like this one: quote:DUNCAN
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Mar 18, 2024 17:42
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He genetically engineers a giant squid and convinces the padishah emperor that it’s the vanguard of a spice-eating alien invasion force. That or the water of life thing, I forget. Admiral Bosch posted:I was kind of bummed on this point until this exact moment where I read your post, and now I think it works even better with the context of him betraying the cultural integrity of the Fremen, bonus points for that further alienating Chani. You know, maybe you’re right. His big “I choose the dark side” moment climaxes at the council meeting when he puts the signet ring back on, so yeah, that does all line up pretty well.
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Mar 18, 2024 19:25
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He ain’t nuking the worms, because in the films, so far anyway, there’s no connection between the worms and spice. He’s just going to nuke, like, the ground.
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Mar 18, 2024 20:15
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