Dune

The new Dune movie (2022) proved to be a character development exercise.  I found myself longing for the galloping action style of the 1998 movie.  Though the action sequences were few and far between, the scenes were artistically rendered.  A nagging thought began to creep in, three-quarters of the way through the film, that they were not going to get the whole thing done. Sure enough, the war against the emperor -one of the best parts of the book- was tantalizing alluded to by the parting words, “This is just the beginning” as the Fremen meandered over a dune.  It’s a tribute to Frank Herbert that there was enough material to produce another movie that felt fresh and filled in some of the holes left by the earlier film.  Suddenly all the naval gazing and long grey scenes where people look like they are contemplating the infinitesimal calculus, began to make sense.  There’s more.